old lady nuns

May 5, 2012 8:56 PM

Idle curiosity about nuns.

Do any orders allow older women to join? I know in the distant past widows would join convents, but what about now?

posted by fifilaru to Religion & Philosophy (8 answers total)

A former secretary of my boss became a nun a few years back. I never met her, but was under the impression she was closer to his age (mid 60's) than mine (late 30's).
posted by Lucinda at 9:16 PM on May 5, 2012

A friend of mine, while exploring options to become a Catholic nun, met one person who had entered the convent in her forties after she'd raised kids.
posted by XMLicious at 9:16 PM on May 5, 2012

If you take a look at anunslife.org, they have some information on this. From "How to Become a Catholic Nun":

f. You must 18 to 40-ish years old.

Although the age limit used to be confined to 18-25, communities accept women up to age 40, and many accept women beyond their 40s and into their 50s. If you are in the higher range of age, don’t be discouraged from pursing religious life. Often this is addressed on a person-by-person basis.

They also have a whole list of blogs run by Catholic nuns, which make for some really interesting reading if you have the time.
posted by shamash at 9:35 PM on May 5, 2012 [2 favorites]

Ann Russell Miller, San Francisco socialite, entered a cloistered Carmelite covent at age 60.
posted by Rosie M. Banks at 7:22 AM on May 6, 2012 [2 favorites]

I don't know the specific order, but anecdotally I do know someone who was t least 35 who became a nun.
posted by radioamy at 8:54 AM on May 6, 2012

At this point there is such a shortage of nuns I think most orders welcome older widowed and never married women, as long as they fit other criteria for the order.
posted by mermayd at 11:13 AM on May 6, 2012

People have already answered your question (i.e., "it depends on the order, some do, some don't"). The reasoning behind not allowing a "late vocation" to join your order is that it's generally much harder to be formed properly according to the particular order's charism if you're too set in your ways. It may be more difficult to break incompatible habits of personality or lifestyle that just don't fit with your new group, or it may be difficult to accept spiritual direction from someone younger than you, etc. etc.
posted by resurrexit at 8:16 AM on May 7, 2012

I will say that even though you might think orders are willing to take anyone and everyone due to the shortage of vocations, it is my understanding that it is rather the opposite.

Generally entering the convent at 18 or 19 years old is no longer allowed. Most orders require women to have attained some level of higher education, and even to have good credit. Additionally, most orders would hesitate to take on older nuns, I'd imagine, because they would not provide enough income to alleviate the cost of their retirement.
posted by jaksemas at 4:53 AM on May 8, 2012