Carmelite Nun After Raising Big Family

[tinytherese]

I had a classmate in college whose grandma is a Carmelite nun. After having 7 kids she got a divorce and annulment from The Church. Later, she discerned a call to the religious life. The community required her to ask permission to join from her youngest kid, my classmate's mom. She was 17 at the time. I don't think she liked the idea at first, but eventually allowed her to do it.

My classmate shared that her grandma encouraged her to join her convent. (I don't know the name.) She didn't do it, but can you imagine living in the same community as your grandma?

[graciandelamadrededios]

I think this happened to Barbie Acarie, one of the people instrumental in bringing the Reform in France.  It is Mother-Daughter story though.

 

The following is taken from https://www.carmelitesisters.ie/blessed-mary-of-the-incarnation/:

"Very soon after her husband, Pierre Acarie, died in 1613,  Barbe settled her affairs and asked to enter Carmel as a lay sister, she wanted to go to the poorest monastery and entered at Amiens where her eldest daughter was sub-prioress.  She took the name Sr. Mary of the Incarnation and made her solemn profession on April 8th  1615, but her health had deteriorated a great deal.  She only lived five years after Pierre’s death.  Barbe was sent to the Carmel at Pontoise,  as the superiors thought it might be beneficial for her health, but she died there on the Wednesday of Easter week, April 18th 1618. Sister Mary of the Incarnation was beatified on June 5th 1791. Her Feast Day is kept on April 18th  in Paris and in the Carmelite order."

Edited December 16, 2022 by graciandelamadrededios

[Nunsuch]

There are at least 4 divorced founders of religious congregations in the US. And too many divorced and widowed members to count. This is not very unusual.