It’s not every day you see a locksmith forcing the lock of a 16th century building on the orders of three elderly ladies dressed in black. But what happened last September in front of the gate of the Goldenstein Convent, just outside Salzburgin Austria, was not an act of vandalism, it was a homecoming.
When the door gave way, Sister Bernadette (88 years old), Sister Regina (86) and Sister Rita (82) they didn’t tiptoe in. They regained possession of their cells by barricading themselves inside, armed with power generators, supplies and a smartphone.
Thus began what the Austrian press calls “the nuns’ revolt”: a story that intertwines the loneliness of old age, canon law and the viral power of TikTok. Because the three nuns have put the Church at a crossroads: forcibly evict three fragile women of God or accept that, in the age of social media, blind obedience is no longer the only rule of the game.
«Rather than die in a retirement home», said Sister Bernadette (the most charismatic of the trio) as she arranged her things in the still unheated convent, «I prefer to lie down in a meadow and thus enter eternity».
To better frame the story it is necessary to take a step back: what happened? At the end of 2023, the Diocese moved the nuns to a Catholic retirement home. Officially for “health and cost reasons”, but the three denounce degrading living conditions: “inedible food, staff who don’t say hello and isolation”, they also claim to have been deceived about the temporary nature of the transfer.
After more than a year and a half they decide to implement their plan: a secret escape. Thanks to some exceptional accomplices (former students and supporters), they succeed in their undertaking and “escape” from the RSA.
In this whole affair their secret weapon was the use of social networks: the group understood that the silence behind this story would make them “disappear”. They then create a profile on Instagram and TikTok, where they post videos of their daily life inside the occupied convent, updates on their health and appeals. «Our followers are the only defense»they declared. This is because, being now a media phenomenon, they could not be evicted by force without creating a global scandal.
Markus Grasl, superior of the Reichersberg Abbey which manages the property, proposed a truce: the nuns can remain in the convent (with medical assistance provided by the Church), but under some conditions: immediate closure of Instagram and ban on speaking to the press, restoration of seclusion and they must give up their lawyers.
The trio of nuns not only rejected the agreement, calling it a “noose contract”, but also requested, through a formal letter, the removal of the Grasl person in charge, accusing him of mismanagement.
To date the situation presents itself as a ok corral between the parties. The nuns do not want to give up their position, at the same time they cannot be evicted: the damage to their image would be too great.
