When did you last see a Nun?

[gatsbygirl20]

I was quite interested in them at one time and the psychology of nuns. I noticed on a few occasions over the years that they tend in groups to revert to giggly schoolgirlish behaviour which has always made me wonder about frozen emotional development and narcissism. Some nuns clearly couldn't handle the strictures of that life and like some priests ended up developing a vicious side which was all about control and repression as far as I could see. Like seminarians over the decades they are an interesting psychological study group and unusual in western terms.

Always found it interesting also that of those nuns who were warped by the attempt at the strictures of celibate convent life they seemed to reserve a certain ire for prettier girls in classes they controlled and often wondered whether this was a subconscious desire as part of their psychology of repression to attack reminders of the life they themselves might otherwise have had.

Yes, in some cases there may have been stunted emotional growth. You are right about the "giggling schoolgirl" syndrome...

One nun who left the convent in her 30s told me that she did not really miss sex, because she had not been sexually "awakened" as they used to call it....

But in her 30s she developed an overwhelming longing for a child. She said it was like a terrible physical pain that just had to be assuaged. She could not sleep or teach. It drove her from the convent even though she was terrified of leaving. She married and had children, and had to receive therapy to deal with a lot of unresolved stuff....

Priests and nuns used to call celibacy "The little Crucifixion". But for this nun it was the denial of the possibility of having a child and of motherhood...

[vinoboy]

Surprise surprise , imagine meeting a bigot on a thread about the Catholic Church.

It says alot about you Crumbs.

What is it with you that you call us Roman Catholics instead of Catholic.

Is your bigotry that heavily ingrained ?

I had three people in the family that were Nuns.

3 in the family -that expalins a lot about you and your hatred of Protestants.

[eskrimador]

I see them all the time on Friday and Saturday evenings.

They seem to move around in gangs going in and out of pubs (spreading the good word I guess) but they're always singing although I don't recognise the hymns they sing.

For some reason. they's habits seem to be made of plastic nowdays.

They always have a novice with them. The novice always has a red "L" on her but they give her all the attention.

[Bandheacseoir]

When did you last see a Nun?

Do films count?

[gracethepirate]

As I explained in my post, I hold no resentment against nuns because of the cruelty I experienced as a child from them. I was knocked from my desk once by a screaming nun hitting me about the head with a cane. I was eight years old. This was not unusual in primary schools at the time. At least one nun seemed to have cracked up and was probably not safe around kids. We kids could sense that, and we were terrified of her crazy, violent, unpredictable behaviour....

The thing is, nuns tended to be terrible snobs and were more cruel to the children of the poor (as I was) than to the middle and upper-class kids in boarding schools....

But working for and with nuns has been a wonderfully positive experience. They are amazingly good at their jobs, and they brought a rigour and belief in traditional high aacademic standards that is in danger of being eroded by all the new-fangled thinking in Irish education.
They were the first highly educated women that I ever met. They were brilliantly educated in the humanities and in languages--especially French. All seemed to be gifted administrators....

I count some nuns among my good friends these days. Some are very bitter about the way the Novitiate broke their spirit in the early days. One told me she still has nightmares about a cruel Mistress of Novices who was in charge of her early training as a nun. She has never got over it, and feels that something irreparable was destroyed in her during those impressionable years....

Some people can shrug off cruelty and harshness from the past (I seem to be able to)

But not everybody can. They are damaged by it. And they never forget..

gatsbygirls20:

I never experienced or saw what you have described "a screaming nun hitting me about the head with a cane". Yes, there was corporal punishment in primary school, but not like that. The only time a nun was in trouble occurred when N Vertessy went bonkers in Grade 6 and the nun was reprimanded for not keeping control of her class. NV went around hitting all the girls, except me because I looked him in the eye and glared at him, the rest just cowered at their desks and Sister Giovanni stood dumbstruck at the front of the class. She was young and very pretty and all the boys really liked her. You could see little strands of red hair slipping out from under her veil.

And once again I am grateful for my education and the fact I lived in a working class town: the nuns couldn't be snobbish because there were no upper-class kids! And I don't know if they would have been if there had been such students. I do remember reading about such snobbery though in Angela's Ashes, something I never encountered in Australia. One nun, Mother Martin, did have an "elite" in her class. These were the smartest ones, based on intelligence rather than wealth or class - similar to that in The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie.

I don't think anyone who shared my schooling was damaged or had bad memories of those years. Maybe we have been lucky, or maybe this is the case for most catholic schooling and those who were damaged have since made the most noise - as they have every right so to do.

[tokkie]

I just caught the very end of 'The Nun Story' this afternoon. I love that movie. I'm a massive Audrey Hepburn fan.

I hopped off the sofa, and asked my EVMSU, when was the last time she saw a Nun. She said she saw one in town (Dublin City ) last year.

My Gran Aunt was a Nun, she died in 1990 or something. I've seen home video footage since of her in the olden days. She was a Sister in the convent in Rathmines I think. Back in the olden days ('50s) they had rules about leaving the gaff.

I haven't seen a proper Nun in yonks. Are they finished ?

Where's all the nuns gone ?

Friday. Grafton Street. She was rooting though her bag and talking to a homeless gentleman. I presumed she was giving him some dosh or something to that effect.

[Stroke]

I teach senior infants from time to time (5/6 yr olds), there is a workbook that they use in English that has a picture of a nun (complete with a traditional nun's head dress) as an object for the children to indentify and colour if it has the initial or ending "n" sound. This particular book has been in circulation for about 10 years now, and each year, without fail, I have to explain to the children what a nun is. Doesn't matter if I am in an all-native Irish country school, inner city multicultuaral or middle class posh Convent school, I have yet to meet a child who can tell me what the lady with the head dress is or what she does....

All 4 of my first teachers were nuns who wore the habit, and we all knew what these people did, but since they ditched the habit the identification of these ladies has diminished....

[LamportsEdge]

Decreasing selections and downsizing of vocations by the old holy spirit must have hit the sale of Ford Fiestas something terrible. Mind you it must have improved road safety somewhat in Ireland. People who think angels will take care of all the safety stuff on a long journey- thngs like braking, traffic lights, ensuring the speedometer never approached sinful pride of 40 miles per hour and all that kind of thing are a bit alarming on the road in fairness.

I recall asking the grandfather why there always seemed to be at least four nuns to a Fiesta even if they were going to the shops- he said 'the weight of evidence ... they never travel without backup witnesses'.

[gracethepirate]

Decreasing selections and downsizing of vocations by the old holy spirit must have hit the sale of Ford Fiestas something terrible. Mind you it must have improved road safety somewhat in Ireland. People who think angels will take care of all the safety stuff on a long journey- thngs like braking, traffic lights, ensuring the speedometer never approached sinful pride of 40 miles per hour and all that kind of thing are a bit alarming on the road in fairness.

I recall asking the grandfather why there always seemed to be at least four nuns to a Fiesta even if they were going to the shops- he said 'the weight of evidence ... they never travel without backup witnesses'.

I think all the nuns have taken up bicycling so that some motorists can still have something to complain about on p.ie.

[rgaok]

I saw enough of them in my awful convent secondary school. horrible women, most of them.