2023-09-04 09:00:26
They prepare the move and take out the black and white photos that recall their engagement, sometimes more than half a century ago. They are only eight sisters in the convent of the Visitation in Saint-Héand (Loire).
If they leave it, it is to still fulfill their vocation: to be a presence of the Church in real life. They even go so far as to ask to be dispensed from their perpetual vows. And yet: this final stage is turned towards the future. To be faithful is to leave everything behind.
The departure of Jacqueline, Thérèse, Monique and their sisters is a resolute choice. How to be “present to people”? For these nuns, there is no other way out than to leave. They evoke the “costume”, this black dress that they endorsed with enthusiasm in the 1960s. “We thought that would change after the council…”, sighs one of them, while another insists: “Faith is not in the churches. »
“I gave my life for the world”
All retired, they are making a new start: “It’s a profound choice that opens me to a new life”, another sister said. Another adds: “I was told that by becoming a nun I was the bride of Christ… Not at all: I gave my life for the world. »
Half a century ago, workers’ daughters joined the young women of good families. And they still sing The International. But the time is no longer for major upheavals.
Filmed with modesty by Camille October Laperche, the sisters share a daily life made up of simple gestures, of fraternal life. We hang the laundry to dry, we complete the last binding work.
The convent will become a complex of apartments and studios. The eight sisters will live together, in a house to their measure. And engage again. They no longer have either veil or religious habit, but nevertheless keep the freshness of their initial commitment: “We cannot remain indifferent to the growing weaknesses. »
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