Austrian Nuns Escape Care Home, Return to Beloved Convent

Sat Sep 13 2025 12:17:40 GMT+0300 (Eastern European Summer Time)

After being relocated to a care home against their wishes, three elderly nuns have made a daring return to their convent in the Austrian Alps, expressing joy and gratitude at regaining their independence.

Three nuns in their 80s have returned to the Kloster Goldenstein convent after being moved to a care home in December 2023. The nuns were assisted by former students and a locksmith to regain access to the convent, which had been their home for decades. While church authorities expressed concerns about their living conditions, the nuns expressed their happiness at being back. They had faced isolation in the care home and are determined to live out their lives in the convent despite challenges ahead.

Three Austrian nuns in their 80s have run away from the old people's home where they were placed and gone back to their former convent.

Sister Bernadette, 88, Sister Regina, 86, and Sister Rita, 82, are the last three nuns at the Kloster Goldenstein convent in Elsbethen, just outside Salzburg.

They regained access with the help of former students and a locksmith.

Church authorities are not happy - but the nuns are.

I am so pleased to be home, Sister Rita said. I was always homesick at the care home. I am so happy and thankful to be back.

The trio say they were taken out of the convent against their will in December 2023.

We weren't asked, Sister Bernadette said. We had the right to stay here until the end of our lives and that was broken.

The three have spent most of their lives at Schloss Goldenstein, a castle that has served as a convent and a private girls' school since 1877. Sister Bernadette attended the school herself, arriving as a teenager in 1948. One of her classmates was Austrian actress Romy Schneider.

In 2022, the convent was taken over by the Archdiocese of Salzburg, leading to the official dissolution of the nuns' community in early 2024, although they were granted lifelong residence rights.

In December 2023, church officials decided to transfer the nuns to a Catholic care home where they felt unhappy.

Finally, on September 1, the three nuns moved back, supported by former students.

I have been obedient all my life, but it was too much, Sister Bernadette said.

Upon their return, there was no electricity or water in the convent, but local supporters have stepped in to help restore basic amenities and have been delivering food and groceries.

Provost Markus Grasl from the abbey expressed concerns regarding the nuns' decision to return, stating that the convent's rooms no longer meet the requirements for proper care. He emphasized that the care home had been providing vital and professional medical care.

Despite their precarious living conditions, many former students and supportive visitors are helping the nuns settle back in at Goldenstein, restoring life to a place they consider home.

The nuns, determined to remain at the convent, have expressed their resilience amidst the challenges of aging.

Before I die in that old people's home, I would rather go to a meadow and enter eternity that way, said Sister Bernadette.