Austrian nuns win reprieve in abandoned convent

Three Austrian nuns in their 80s who escaped from the nursing home where they were housed have been told they can remain in their former convent “until further notice”.

However, church authorities say they can only survive if they stop posting on social media.

Sister Bernadette, 88, Sister Regina, 86, and Sister Rita, 82, are the last three nuns at the Kloster Goldenstein Monastery in Elsbethen, outside Salzburg.

The three nuns say they were removed from the convent against their will in December 2023.

In September, they moved back in with the help of former students and a locksmith, angering church officials.

The nuns’ superior, Dean Markus Grassl of Reichersberg Abbey, called on the nuns to return to the care home, saying their decision to return to the monastery was “completely incomprehensible.”

The nuns’ story sparked worldwide interest. Supporters helped them with food, electricity and social media, and posted videos of the nuns’ daily lives.

These photos show the nuns at prayer or at lunch, and include Sister Rita’s exercises. I recently acquired a pair of boxing gloves.

The Goldenstein Sisters have amassed nearly 100,000 followers on Instagram and several thousand on Facebook.

Now, nearly three months after the standoff, the dean’s spokesman, Harald Schaeffel, told the Austrian news agency APA that the nuns can stay for now.

This comes after a meeting held earlier this week, where a proposed solution to the standoff was proposed.

Harald Scheffel told APA that nuns could stay in Kloster Goldenstein, but only under certain conditions.

These include abandoning their social media activities.

Church officials also want the nuns to ensure that the closed part of the monastery will not be accessible to people who do not belong to the order.

In return, they will be allowed to stay and receive medical care and spiritual support from the priest.

The nuns have not yet agreed to the terms.

“Now it is up to the sisters,” Harald Schiffel told APA.

The BBC has contacted them for a response.

The three nuns spent most of their lives at Schloss Goldenstein Castle, which has served as a convent and private school for girls since 1877. The school, which began accepting boys in 2017, is still in operation.

Sister Bernadette attended the school herself, arriving as a teenager in 1948. One of her fellow students was Austrian actress Romy Schneider, one of the world’s biggest film stars of the 1960s and 1970s.

Sister Regina arrived at the convent in 1958 and Sister Rita in 1962.

The three nuns went on to work at the school as teachers for many years. Sister Regina was the school’s principal.

But the numbers of nuns dwindled. In 2022, the building was taken over by the Diocese of Salzburg and the Reicherberg Abbey, an Augustinian monastery.

Dean Markus Grassl of Reichersberg Abbey became head of the nuns and the community was officially dissolved at the beginning of 2024.

The remaining nuns were granted lifelong residency, as long as their health and mental capacity permitted.

In December 2023, the decision was made to move them to a Catholic care home, where they felt miserable.

At the beginning of September, Sister Bernadette, Sister Rita and Sister Regina returned, with the help of a group of former students.

The nuns told the BBC at the time that they were determined to stay.

“Before I die in a nursing home, I would rather go to the meadow and enter eternity that way,” Sister Bernadette said.