Elderly Austrian nuns break out of nursing home and back into their former convent, defying diocese

Nuns Regina, 86, Rita, 81, and Bernadette, 88, are occupying their old convent. (Angelika Warmuth/Reuters via CNN Newsource)

Three octogenarian nuns have defied their diocese, run away from their nursing home and returned to their former convent in Salzburg, Austria, 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 reported.

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 their account, 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 their 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 told the BBC.

However, a spokesperson for Reichersberg Abbey told ORF that returning to the nursing home is “unavoidable.”