![]() ![]() A prayer schedule was tacked to the back of the door: 5.30am, 8.30am, 9am, 12.15pm, 5.30pm, 6pm and 7.45pm. Brown, 1960s-style floral bedding lay on the single bed a crucifix and a portrait of a nun hung on the wall (there was no mirror) and a Bible was left in the drawer. All money and possessions are surrendered on arrival, and the community lives on joint funds. They promise to remain in the community for life, commit to chastity, and live for God, not themselves. Benedictine nuns are defined by the vows they take: obedience, stability and conversatio morum (sometimes translated as “fidelity to monastic life”). She has been at the abbey for 40 years and joined the convent when she was my age. She was, perhaps understandably, nervous about me going to stay with the nuns.Īs I wheeled my (admittedly big) suitcase up to Minster Abbey, I was met by Mother Nikola. ![]() She has many terrifying stories of getting the cane for no reason and was left with plenty of Catholic guilt. Could having less, and focusing on simpler things, actually make me feel more satisfied?Īlthough my mum was taught by Benedictine nuns at school, I wasn’t brought up to follow a religion. I had decided to swap my lifestyle for theirs, and to see what would happen if I gave myself fully to a world where your only relationships are with a higher being, and with your sisterhood. ![]() So one Saturday morning three months ago, I caught the train from London to Ramsgate on the Kent coast in order to be welcomed into the guest house of a group of 11 Benedictine nuns for a week. ![]()
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