THE NUN’S DIARY

I was browsing an antique mall in Denton, TX a few years ago with my family when my mother brought to me a nun’s diary. She thought I would like it and let me purchase the diary to take home. It was an idyllic mother-daughter moment which makes the diary all the more special to me. At university as an undergrad, I secured honors distinction for my degree by undertaking a special project about the Black Madonna and handmade a wooden tabernacle to house the mother Mary and baby Jesus with dozens of handsewn votive hearts spilling out. After graduate school, I was selected for an archivist position in a convent in New York that I politely turned down due to my circumstances at the time. While I am not actively religious, I held an interest in the feminine aspects of Christianity. Needless to say, a nun’s diary was a once in a lifetime antique mall find!

I was hoping for saucy entries of gossip or a secret affair when I first opened the nun’s diary. No, she was not distracted from her purpose. Maybe there would be drawings, postcards, or snapshots. Yes! There are a few cutouts and other visual keepsakes tucked in, or glued to, the 300+ pages. The nun documented her devotion to God in text with an enthusiastic discipline. Her dedication to her religion is joyful, yet strict like an athlete training for a ritual marathon. I really admire that balance and mental strength.

To call the handmade book a diary is a misnomer because it is a devotional with thematic sections, not a log with dated entries. I know it belongs to a nun, and not an ordinary woman, because there is a handwritten section specific to vows including her obligations to the Lord and her Sisters. There is also a section devoted to martyrdom. There is particular admiration for Mother Mary because her convent or church was most likely named for, and dedicated to, Mother Mary.

The woman signed her typed Consecration with her name Patricia Miller in August 1952, which is the earliest date in the devotional. By December 1953, she signed it again as Novice Mary Margaret Rose. Then again added her inscription to the Consecration in March 1954. Novice meaning new Nun. The church or convent to which she belonged was possibly The Immaculate Heart of Mary, but there are several Catholic convents and churches with the same name across Texas and the USA. Sister Rose could have also traveled throughout her tenure. There is a postcard from Boston, Massachusetts, USA and a small flier for a Christian youth event in St. Louis, Missouri, USA. Either way, she was settled enough to potentially collect and use the supplies needed to make and upkeep the devotional. Many nuns are not completely cut off from the outside world. A typewriter, pens, postcards, scissor, glue, a hole punch, and binder are all evident supplies for the devotional. I numbered the pages in pencil immediately when I bought it and hope to preserve the devotional further because it is delicate. This is why I wanted to digitize the devotional in its original state and share it with you.
Please enjoy this devotional.

Have a Pleasant Day!
-Rae