Did she become a Nun?.....

rye470 · Post by **rye470** » Wed Nov 09, 2005 4:18 am

Hi All,

Can anyone help me here? I've been trying to trace a Great Aunt for ages with no luck. The thing is, I have a strong suspicion, that she may have become a nun.

Many years ago, a wee woman 'read my cup', and apart from telling me I had 'the gift', told me that there were Nuns in my family. I have to admit that this made me laugh. You just don't get protestant nuns.

I arrived home and thought that this little tidbit would confirm my fathers opinion that it was all rubbish. I have to say I was more that a little surprised at his reaction. He started ranting that it was all rubbish and the woman was an idiot. The way he was carrying on was the surprising bit. My dad just didn't get wound up about anything.

Not long after that I discovered that my Gran had been born and raised a catholic and had "changed" when she married. This apparently had not got down well with her "devoutly catholic" father.

Anyway, too get back to my original query, does anyone know if there is anyway of finding out if my Gt Aunt became a nun?

Andy · Post by **Andy** » Wed Nov 09, 2005 9:44 am

There should be records (fire, flood and air raids aside) but it may require a bit of a search and polite greasing of "Church Fund" cogs to get the information.

The first thing you have to do is establish what "Order" she joined.

If you know where your Grandmother lived there is a chance that your Great Aunt joined an Order already in that area, however this was not always the case. These records should be available from the Diocese archives of that area.

Becoming a Nun isn't automatic, first a girl or young woman would become a Novice to begin her training. During this period she may have been sent to an other area or Country before being tonsured (getting the hair cut) and taking her vows.

Although Nuns are given a new name as a "Bride of Christ" for ALL other legal purposes her birth name will have been recorded in censuses and her death.

Post by **joette** » Wed Nov 09, 2005 1:30 pm

This happened in our family too my Grandfathers nephews daughter became a Nun in USA. Have not been able to trace her.I was suprised to hear how well the very mainly Presb. family took the news.Maybe the fact that it was overseas & nobody outside the family need know.
My Brother-in-Law's Aunt is a retired Mother Superior & what a character she is.She was in a closed Order for years with no contact with the outside world.However things changed & she ended up in an Order attached to a School.She is very happy to talk of her life.She served mainly in England but returned to Scotland to "retire" & lives in a Diocesan House.We have a great time together & she is always on my visit list when I go home.She is a great one for Family History & I wish she were my relative.We agree more than disagree on God.
What area would your Great-Aunt have lived? It was seen as a great blessing in RC families to have a Nun or Priest in the family & was often the way for them to recieve an education.

rye470 · Post by **rye470** » Fri Nov 11, 2005 4:20 am

Hi Andy and Joette,

Many thanks for both your replies.

Joette,

Your B.i. L's aunt must be such an interesting person. We all have relatives who have great stories to tell, but she has lived a life which very few of us can even imagine. I have to admit to being a little surprised that she had "retired". I imagined that once you had become a nun you were with an order and remained with them until death. Just shows how little I know.

Andy,

Have a sneaking suspicion that she was actually just along the road from you. My Gt Grandfather died at the Little Sisters of the Poor convent in Greenock. He appears to have been doing gardening work for them after he retired. This seems to have been a bit far to go for voluntary work from Johnstone. I know there was a train line between Johnstone and Greenock until the 1970's (my mum made me carry a banner protesting it's closure. I'm from Linwood.) Could this have been a way of seeing his daughter.

A newly found relative, also from Linwood, has been in touch with the convent and been told that they couldn't confirm wether she had been a nun there or not. Apparently the way in which she said this is reason enough to pursue our line of enquiry.

Anyway, if anyone knows anything about an Isabella Hamill, born Johnstone, Renfrewshire in 1902 that I don't, please put me out of my misery.

Many thanks again, Joette and Andy.

Christine.

nancy · Post by **nancy** » Fri Nov 11, 2005 1:10 pm

Hi Christine,I remember my mum's disabled elderly aunt moving into Little Sisters of the Poor,Greenock,to be cared for in the 50's.She too was from Johnstone,so i think probably that was one of the nearest places.The Sisters now have a new convent,which can be seen on their website.You may be able to get help on there

Good luck,Cheers Nancy

rye470 · Post by **rye470** » Sat Nov 12, 2005 4:26 am

Thanks Nancy,

I'll have a look.

Christine.

Post by **paddyscar** » Sat Nov 19, 2005 7:24 am

If you can locate your missing relative's school record, you may find a clue there. It is very likely, if the school was run by an order of nuns, that a young girl would join the novitiate of that order. Also, if there was a hospital in the community, that may have been another 'source of inspiration'.

Frances

tishgibbons · Post by **tishgibbons** » Sat Nov 19, 2005 8:45 pm

I don't want to make your search more difficult but ... Many young girls joined orders of visiting nuns - i/e. nuns would go around the country visiting schools and encouraging young girls to join up. Two of my great grand aunts became nuns in this way. One went to Texas and died of a broken heart (they say) while the other was taken to Africa and had some great adventures. Mind you these girls went at 14 and 15 years of age - wasn't that horrendous! What their grandfather, a Presbyterian, made of all this, I would dearly love to know!

Tish