According to the BBC, three elderly nuns—Sister Bernadette (88), Sister Regina (86), and Sister Rita (82)—decided at the beginning of September to leave the nursing home where they had been admitted in December 2023 and return to the Goldenstein convent in Elsbethen, near Salzburg (Austria). With the help of former students and a locksmith, they reopened the locked doors of their home and settled back into the rooms they had occupied for decades.
The nuns stated that they never gave their consent to leave the convent. “They didn’t ask us,” Sister Bernadette denounced in statements to the BBC. “We had the right to remain here until the end of our lives, and that was broken.”
The background of the dissolution
According to Catholic News Agency (CNA), in 2022, in application of the Vatican norms Cor Orans, which require a minimum of five nuns to maintain an autonomous community, the convent became joint property of the Archdiocese of Salzburg and the Augustinian Abbey of Reichersberg. Rector Markus Grasl was appointed responsible and signed a contract with the nuns that guaranteed them lifelong residence, as long as their health permitted.
The forced transfer to the Schloss Kahlsperg residence in Hallein was decided after several hospitalizations of the nuns and with the argument that the convent lacked adequate conditions. Grasl defended that the measure was taken “after intense conversations with all parties involved, including the sisters.”
Denunciations by the nuns and official rejection
The three nuns maintain the opposite. According to CNA, they claim to have felt “displaced” and pressured to sign the contract without fully understanding its terms. They have also denounced the disappearance of 50,000 euros in cash and the lack of access to their accounts, accusations flatly rejected by the ecclesiastical authorities.
The Archdiocese of Salzburg and the Abbey of Reichersberg insist that all decisions were coordinated with the nuns and that their concerns were respected, especially the continuity of the local school associated with the convent.
Popular support and media pressure
A group of about 30 former students and supporters has mobilized to help them with food, medicines, and care. In addition, the nuns have opened an Instagram account, nonnen_goldenstein, where they already have nearly 40,000 followers and share scenes from their daily life: prayers, communal meals, and household chores.
For many of their former students, their return is a victory. “Goldenstein without the nuns is not possible,” Sophie Tauscher affirmed to the BBC, recalling the indelible mark they left on several generations.
Critical reactions
Meanwhile, the ecclesiastical authorities express concern. Sister Beate Brandt, superior of the Federation of Augustinian Canonesses in Germany, condemned the nuns’ attitude as an act of disobedience. For his part, the rector Grasl’s spokesman spoke of “a feeling of helplessness,” although he assured that “no coercive measures are contemplated” and reiterated that the residence guarantees “medical attention and care of the highest quality.”
Despite this, the nuns remain firm. “I have been obedient all my life, but this was too much,” Sister Bernadette assured. And she added with determination: “Before dying in that residence, I prefer to go to a meadow and enter eternity that way.”