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lite.cnn.com - on gopher - inofficial
ARTICLE VIEW:
Elderly Austrian nuns break out of nursing home and back into their
former convent, defying diocese
By Issy Ronald, CNN
Updated:
11:10 AM EDT, Tue September 16, 2025
Source: CNN
Three octogenarian have defied their diocese, run away from their
nursing home and returned to their former convent in , , which they are
now occupying.
On September 4, Sister Regina, 86, Sister Rita, 81, and Sister
Bernadette, 88, returned to Schloss Goldenstein, the Alpine convent and
girls’ school where they had spent most of their lives — much to
the displeasure of the local church.
On arrival, the nuns found that their former residence no longer had
electricity or running water, so their supporters brought them water
and emergency generators, CNN affiliate ORF .
The sisters’ former students have been helping and organizing a daily
routine for them, while a family doctor is available to offer medical
care, ORF added.
Since returning to the convent, the nuns have become active on
Instagram, amassing more than 10,000 followers in little over a week.
On , they document their daily routine of praying, eating and attending
mass together as well as their now-frequent interviews with journalists
from all around the world.
They also show themselves slowly navigating the monastery’s stairs,
in the absence of a stairlift, which they say was removed, and cleaning
up the semi-derelict building. In one video, 88-year-old Sister
Bernadette can be seen plunging a blocked sink.
The long-running dispute between the nuns and their superior, Provost
Markus Grasl, dates back to the end of 2023 when the nuns say they were
removed from the monastery against their will.
But it escalated last month when the nuns made several allegations
against him and the Archdiocese of Salzburg in the Austrian press.
When the sisters left their nursing home, Grasl issued a statement
saying the situation was “completely incomprehensible” to him,
adding that the women had been involved in “intensive discussions”
about their future.
“The rooms in the monastery are no longer usable and in no way meet
the requirements for orderly care,” he said. “It is clear than an
independent life in the Goldenstein Monastery is no longer possible,
particularly due to the precarious health situation of the sisters.”
On September 6, he released another statement, saying he feared the
nuns “are overestimating themselves and that a medical emergency may
occur.”
When contacted for comment, Reichersberg Abbey, which has been
responsible for the monastery since 2022, directed CNN to Grasl’s
statements.
ORF reported that when Reichersberg Abbey assumed responsibility for
Schloss Goldenstein, it said it would allow the nuns to remain there
for the duration of their retirement as long as their health allowed.
The nuns’ long-term future at the monastery is still uncertain,
though they now have electricity and hot water in their rooms, ORF
said. They remain firmly opposed to returning to the nursing home.
“Before I die in that old people’s home, I would rather go to a
meadow and enter eternity that way,” Sister Bernadette .
However, a spokesperson for Reichersberg Abbey told ORF that returning
to the nursing home is “unavoidable.”
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