Best books about nuns

[GraceUk]

It's not a book but a DVD about the Carmel at Notting Hill in London called No Greater Love. That is well worth watching I think both for discerners and folk just interested in the Carmelite way of life.

[gloriana35]

Though it is a mini-series, not a book, and I doubt it would be helpful in discernment, the Australian production "Brides of Christ" (available on DVD) is an excellent perspective on history. The crises and ideas the Sisters face or express is a very accurate picture of what was going on in many communities at the time. Some elements are elaborate dramatics (typical of books and films for the mass market), but I was impressed by how the series captured much of what I saw in many Sisters I knew well. (The saddest part is knowing that some of these trends would lead to the demise of many religious communities. It takes place during the 1960s.)

[Nunsuch]

Brides of Christ is available in its entirety on YouTube. 

[JHFamily]

Though I have not yet read it, for those who are interested in enclosed, cloistered life, "Walled about with God" by Dom Jean Prou OSB.  A reviewer said, " This book is a must for people considering the enclosed or cloistered life as well as for the curious."

[Dymphna]

Well, if we're not talking about nuns only, maybe I'm not the only one here able to read German or Dutch. I can recommend Thomas Quartier OSB, "Heilige Wut. Mönch sein heisst radikal sein" (Holy Anger. To be a Monk means to be radical). The author is a German Benedictine in a Dutch community he joined a few years ago (he's now in his mid-fourties). He writes about his motivation for becoming a monk and his development as a monastic on a reflected, spiritual and at the same time practical level. Makes me wish I had a monastic vocation :-)

Edited May 2, 2019 by Dymphna

[Guest]

Thomas Merton's "Seven Storey Mountain" is another good read:

"A modern-day Confessions of Saint Augustine, The Seven Storey Mountain is one of the most influential religious works of the twentieth century. This edition contains an introduction by Merton's editor, Robert Giroux, and a note to the reader by biographer William H. Shannon. It tells of the growing restlessness of a brilliant and passionate young man whose search for peace and faith leads him, at the age of twenty-six, to take vows in one of the most demanding Catholic orders--the Trappist monks. At the Abbey of Gethsemani, "the four walls of my new freedom," Thomas Merton struggles to withdraw from the world, but only after he has fully immersed himself in it. The Seven Storey Mountain has been a favorite of readers ranging from Graham Greene to Claire Booth Luce, Eldridge Cleaver, and Frank McCourt. Since its original publication this timeless spiritual tome has been published in over twenty languages and has touched millions of lives." https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/175078.The_Seven_Storey_Mountain

[GraceUk]

I read the Seven Storey Mountain a good number of years ago. I must read it again.  There was a programme on Ewtn a few years ago Watchmen of the Night again about Cistercians. It was in French but I think with subtitles. I missed it because they changed the schedules. It's not been on again since but it sounded really good.

[clareagnes]

Reading A Right to Be Merry was one of the best guides for me to discerning a call to cloistered contemplative life, and to the Poor Clare Colletines. Another much more recent book that I highly recommend for those attracted to PCC communities is Dedicated to God, an oral history of the Rockford Poor Clares by Abbie Reese. (She later did a documentary about one of the Sisters who was a Novice at the time called Chosen, which I haven't seen.) This book was not only helpful in helping me understand contemplative and cloistered life, but also in discerning vocation in general. The Sisters are very down to earth and open about their own discernment of calling, challenges in the life, vows, etc. Highly recommended!

[PrayerSupporter]

For anyone interested in the dvd mentioned above, you can learn more about (and purchase if you want) Chosen: Custody of the Eyes here: https://www.chosenthefilm.com/

 

[AveMariaPurissima]

Chosen is a lovely documentary! If you have access to FORMED you can watch it there as well.