In this episode of the Compendium, we delve into the audacious tale where eight Belgian nuns orchestrate an unlikely escape from a life of stringent spiritual commitments to chase a dream of freedom in the sun-drenched South of France. Explore how Sister Anna and her cohort leveraged a surprising Belgian nuns legal loophole exploitation to sell their ancient convent and fund their new lavish lifestyle. This scandalous nun story, wrapped in secrecy and drama, challenges the expected norms of the Order of Saint Clare and highlights profound Catholic Church scandals.
We'll take you through the planning, the escape, and the aftermath, as these nuns navigate legal complexities and ethical dilemmas. From the quiet streets of Bruges to the luxury of a French castle, their journey invites us to question the balance between spiritual devotion and personal fulfillment. This episode is a rollercoaster ride through faith, betrayal, and liberation.
We give you the Compendium, but if you want more, then check out these great resources:
Send us a Text Message and get a shout out in Listner Mail!
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Credits:
In this episode of the Compendium, we delve into the audacious tale where eight Belgian nuns orchestrate an unlikely escape from a life of stringent spiritual commitments to chase a dream of freedom in the sun-drenched South of France. Explore how Sister Anna and her cohort leveraged a surprising Belgian nuns legal loophole exploitation to sell their ancient convent and fund their new lavish lifestyle. This scandalous nun story, wrapped in secrecy and drama, challenges the expected norms of the Order of Saint Clare and highlights profound Catholic Church scandals.
We'll take you through the planning, the escape, and the aftermath, as these nuns navigate legal complexities and ethical dilemmas. From the quiet streets of Bruges to the luxury of a French castle, their journey invites us to question the balance between spiritual devotion and personal fulfillment. This episode is a rollercoaster ride through faith, betrayal, and liberation.
We give you the Compendium, but if you want more, then check out these great resources:
Send us a Text Message and get a shout out in Listner Mail!
Connect with Us:
Support the podcast:
Credits:
[00:00:00] Adam Cox: So at this convent, it was Sister Maria that was in charge, and she got into trouble for being too, and I quote, worldly, for religious life.
[00:00:08] Kyle Risi: Oh, okay, she, she had her own thoughts.
[00:00:10] Adam Cox: She had her own thoughts, yeah.
[00:00:11] Adam Cox: So the church didn't like the fact that she was pulling up to local churches to deliver communion hosts in her Mercedes Benz while smoking a thin cigar.
[00:00:21] Kyle Risi: Well, I have to ask just real quick, what is a communion host? Uh, isn't that
[00:00:26] Adam Cox: when they give communion? Oh, she was a communion host.
[00:00:28] Adam Cox: Oh, she was? Yeah. Sorry.
[00:00:31] Kyle Risi: Ooh. The new communion host is a pimp.
[00:00:34] [00:01:00]
[00:01:00] Adam Cox: Welcome to The Compendium, an assembly of fascinating and intriguing things. If you're tuning in for the very first time, then we are a weekly variety podcast where where Where each week, Kyle Recy normally tells me, Adam Cox, everything he thinks I need to know about a topic that I will find both fascinating and intriguing.
[00:01:18] Adam Cox: We cover stories from darker corners of true crime, historical events, and incredible people. We will give you just enough information to stand your ground at any social gathering. But today, I'm back in the driving seat. I'm your host, Adam Cox. And I'm your co host, Kyle Recy. Thanks for tuning in. And in today's episode of the compendium, we're exploring on how half in today's episode of the compendium, we're exploring how health In today's episode of the Compendium, we are exploring how hell hath no fury like a Belgian nun scorned.
[00:01:43] Kyle Risi: Hell hath no fury like a Belgian nun scorned? Yeah. Are we talking about nuns today? We're talking
[00:01:49] Adam Cox: about nuns. Are we
[00:01:50] Kyle Risi: going to the Catholic Church?
[00:01:52] Adam Cox: We are, yeah. We're talking about a group of nuns in Belgium that did some
[00:01:57] Kyle Risi: Interesting,
[00:01:57] Adam Cox: but funny stuff.
[00:01:58] Kyle Risi: Oh my [00:02:00] god. I've no idea and
[00:02:00] Adam Cox: this is a mainstream story.
[00:02:01] Adam Cox: Is it it is? We're diving into a tale that sounds like it is straight out of a 90s comedy heist movie but it's all true. I assure you The year is 1990 and it was a pretty significant year NASA launched the Hubble Space Telescope, the Baltic states declared independence from the Soviet Union, Nelson Mandela was released from prison after 27 years, demolition of the Berlin Wall had started, and just as impressive as all those things, it's also the year that eight nuns in Belgium died.
[00:02:29] Adam Cox: It's also the year the eight nuns in a Belgian coven decided it's time to shake things up and go on the run. What? Yeah. A run from where? Were they imprisoned? Well, they're on the run from the church. Oh, scandalous.
[00:02:41] Kyle Risi: Yes.
[00:02:41] Adam Cox: Did they drink too much communion wine? Is that what it was? Well, they had been dedicating their lives to God for all those years and the church, following the rules, being good nuns, as good nuns should do.
[00:02:53] Adam Cox: And they decide something terrible And they just, and they decide to do something so unexpected that they sell a bunch of valuable items, including the convent itself. [00:03:00] Do you mean they stole from the church?
[00:03:02] Kyle Risi: Well,
[00:03:02] Adam Cox: you know, potato, potato. And what they do with that money, well, like anyone that comes into a bit of cash, they go on a good old fashioned shopping spree.
[00:03:11] Adam Cox: Wow. And one of those things is a castle in the south of France.
[00:03:15] Kyle Risi: Really?
[00:03:16] Adam Cox: Yeah.
[00:03:16] Kyle Risi: Oh my god, this is a ride of a, of a lifetime.
[00:03:19] Adam Cox: Yeah, it should be a fun one, this one. Let's do it. But before we go into the details, of course, first things first. Time for all the latest things.
[00:03:27] Kyle Risi: This is the segment of our show where we catch up on all the week's happenings and share a quick tidbit, strange fact or laugh at a bit of weird news from the past week.
[00:03:39] Kyle Risi: So Adam. Baby names, . I, for one, I'm really glad because I was looking through the list of baby names for 2024. And I was really relieved to see that some old classics, some, normal names were coming back into popularity, like Lizzie, Noah, Steve, Oliver, Bruce, didn't I hear actually that Gary was a dying [00:04:00] name?
[00:04:00] Kyle Risi: I
[00:04:00] Adam Cox: think so. Little baby Gary. Yeah. It's very much a late thirties to early forties name. It needs to die.
[00:04:08] Kyle Risi: But like, God, do you remember like early 2020s? Like . It was a real trend for people to kind of come up with some really unusual, interesting names, either the spelling or kind of an unusual take on a name.
[00:04:20] Kyle Risi: Yeah. So like, for example, someone might say, um, this is baby Tiffany, you know, but they've spelt it T I P H P H double I double N triple I triple E.
[00:04:30] Adam Cox: if that spells Tiffany, sure.
[00:04:32] Kyle Risi: But it got me wondering, like, um, like what, one second, but it got me wondering, what other interesting names are out there that could be used for a decent baby name that, would be, sorry, but it got me thinking what other names are, but it got me thinking what other words could we use for some baby names that would be perfect if only we just didn't realize.
[00:04:40] Kyle Risi: The meaning of the word.
[00:04:42] Adam Cox: Oh,
[00:04:43] Kyle Risi: no. Okay, So try your hardest to just focus on the sound of the word right rather than the meaning of it Okay, and you'll to see that actually they make really great names if it wasn't for the meaning You I'm worried, but okay.
[00:04:58] Kyle Risi: So, name number one. [00:05:00] Asdma.
[00:05:00] Kyle Risi: Asdma. Asdma. What do you think?
[00:05:02] Adam Cox: Yeah, I guess so. Maybe A Z M A. Asdma.
[00:05:06] Kyle Risi: Exactly. See, if you change the spelling, it makes it a great name. Um, Blinker.
[00:05:11] Adam Cox: Blinker.
[00:05:12] Kyle Risi: Hey, Blinker.
[00:05:13] Adam Cox: That reminds me of Blanket from Street Fighter.
[00:05:15] Kyle Risi: Yes! Yes, it does. It's a great name, right? Yeah, okay. Yeah, if you didn't know the meaning of it, great name.
[00:05:20] Kyle Risi: Um That's my favourite. Rosacea. Rosacea? That, I don't know, is that a word? Rosacea is like a condition that you have where you get like really red skin or you can see kind of like some veins popping out on your skin and give you a red complexion. Some people confuse it with like alcoholism.
[00:05:37] Adam Cox: Right, okay.
[00:05:38] Adam Cox: Or gout. But what is rosacea? To be honest, I don't reckon most people know about rosacea so I think you can get away with that one.
[00:05:45] Kyle Risi: Okay, what about this one? Calorie.
[00:05:51] Adam Cox: Hey, Calorie. it's a lot like, I mean, um, Mallory. So yeah, I can see that one.
[00:05:56] Kyle Risi: Yeah. Sounds, sounds like a great name. So, um, then we have, [00:06:00] Rab . No, you
[00:06:01] Adam Cox: can't. Hey, little baby Rab . can't.
[00:06:04] Kyle Risi: No, that's no
[00:06:04] Adam Cox: way. Oh, my
[00:06:05] Kyle Risi: sugar is exposed. ,
[00:06:07] Adam Cox: you cannot call a baby Rab.
[00:06:09] Kyle Risi: But if you don't know the name, the, if you don't know the meaning of the word, rabies sounds great.
[00:06:12] Kyle Risi: Rabies okay. Yeah. Uh, feta,
[00:06:19] Adam Cox: with a pH.
[00:06:19] Kyle Risi: Yeah.
[00:06:21] Adam Cox: like the cheese? No. With a pH. Yeah,
[00:06:23] Kyle Risi: with a pH. Great, right? And my personal favorite, Felony. Felony?
[00:06:32] Kyle Risi: Yeah, I quite like Felony. Yeah, because it's quite close to Melanie, so why not just like Felony. Felony. Sounds musical, I like that. It does, yeah. So yeah, it just got me thinking about what names would be great if you, uh If you could use them if they weren't off limits, but these words are kind of like off limits really.
[00:06:45] Kyle Risi: Yeah, and I guess
[00:06:46] Adam Cox: if you guys have heard of a baby with a weird name,
[00:06:49] Kyle Risi: write in. Write in. Actually I did I did hear one that someone, someone did come up with one. Um, I'm gonna say the word because it's a naughty word, but This woman was yeah, so I did hear about them again. So I did hear about another one. So this woman was at a cashier Sorry, this woman is what hear about another one This woman was working as a cashier and this woman came up to check out and she was like, oh you got such a beautiful baby Oh, she's so cute.
[00:06:58] Kyle Risi: What's her name? And she went, um, [00:07:00] Cuntly And she was like, excuse me. She's like, yeah, a lot of people don't like it, but we really liked it So we just thought we were gonna go with it And I'm like, is the, the C word not that big? Well known in America. Right. For her to get away with calling her her thinking it is okay to call daughter cu because if this is Australia or the uk, that'd be a no-no.
[00:07:19] Kyle Risi: Right? No. Yeah.
[00:07:21] Adam Cox: But they have that word there. They know surely what it means.
[00:07:23] Kyle Risi: They do know what it means. They don't
[00:07:24] Adam Cox: say it very often. They don't say as much as we say it. No, we like a good old that. But, um, how are they spelling it? Is they spelling it exactly how I'm thinking? It's spelled no idea how they're spelling it.
[00:07:32] Adam Cox: Mm. I
[00:07:33] Kyle Risi: can just
[00:07:33] Adam Cox: go
[00:07:33] Kyle Risi: on what she said, but can you imagine calling your daughter company?
[00:07:37] Adam Cox: I don't know how many times we can actually say that.
[00:07:40] Kyle Risi: Hey, it's a name, we're not actually saying the word. Okay,
[00:07:44] Adam Cox: yeah, alright, moving on. So,
[00:07:46] Kyle Risi: what have you got for us today?
[00:07:47] Adam Cox: So, what I've got is kind of following on from one of the episodes we've done last year, um, on the Loch Ness Monster.
[00:07:54] Adam Cox: So, NASA has been urged to help in a new search to find Nessie. Okay, interesting. So, [00:08:00] after our episode, I thought, as a whole big hoax exactly,
[00:08:02] Kyle Risi: did they
[00:08:02] Adam Cox: not listen to our episode? Well, that's what I thought, why didn't they? We should send it to them. We should do. But apparently, between the 30th of May and the 2nd of June, which is coming up.
[00:08:12] Kyle Risi: Yeah.
[00:08:13] Adam Cox: They're doing another search for the Loch Ness Monster. Because people still think it's out there.
[00:08:18] Kyle Risi: Yeah. Yeah, people do. People haven't heard our
[00:08:20] Adam Cox: episode, that's why. People don't know about the deathbed confession. Exactly, but the thing is, I think people recognise that the photo that we talked about and Marmaduke, that is fake.
[00:08:32] Adam Cox: But they still think that the Loch Ness monster exists. But based on what? Well, uh, there's still sightings, supposedly, of this, this, and I've always said, like, it's like a prehistoric, or some sort of dinosaur that's living in the lake. And I think it's, like, Scotland's second biggest loch, or something. Mm. So, that's, it's pretty deep, it's like over 200 meters, or something.
[00:08:49] Kyle Risi: It's one of the deepest, isn't it? Yeah. Well, it's a huge amount of water.
[00:08:53] Adam Cox: And so , they think there's still something living there that they haven't found. And the Loch Ness Centre has urged the space agency, [00:09:00] NASA, to lend its expertise in a fresh hunt for the legendary creature.
[00:09:04] Adam Cox: And last year, one of the biggest searches of Loch Ness in the highlands concluded with a hydrophone capturing loud underwater noises and several potential sightings.
[00:09:14] Kyle Risi: Of what
[00:09:14] Adam Cox: though? Well, this is it. Could be anything. Yeah, but they still suspect that there's something out there that's unknown.
[00:09:19] Kyle Risi: But the thing is though, the The, the Loch Ness monster they think is a plesiosaur and a plesiosaur lived during the Pleistocene era, which was millions and millions and millions and millions of years ago.
[00:09:29] Kyle Risi: It wasn't not even 20, 000 years ago that that part of the world and that lake was completely covered in ice. In fact, it was the last ice age that made that lake through its scoring and the glaciers sliding across the ground that forged that lake. So, unless something survived hundreds of millions of years in a different lake elsewhere in the world and then someone plopped it into that lake after the Ice Age, I don't see how it could be a Plesiosaur living in there.
[00:09:58] Adam Cox: Well, I don't know and I'm not sure I believe [00:10:00] it either but
[00:10:00] Kyle Risi: And I'm shocked that someone like NASA would believe it.
[00:10:02] Adam Cox: Well, they haven't said yes yet. No, they're not gonna say yes. Like, we're busy with space stuff. Um, Um, but supposedly there's been 1156 sightings recorded. Since, uh, I think 1934 when the official Loch Ness Monster Register began.
[00:10:17] Adam Cox: Um, so yeah, people are still out there, so, I don't know, in the next couple of weeks we'll find out if NASA did get involved. And if, um, Nessie is out there. She's not out there, Adam.
[00:10:27] Kyle Risi: It's a big ol fat hoax. But hey, it'd be interesting to see what people do. I like watching people just taste their tails.
[00:10:32] Kyle Risi: Yeah. Especially when it's like, supposed to be big, credible people like NASA. I hope they do get involved. That
[00:10:37] Adam Cox: would be good. That suggests that there is something. But I just thought it was really funny that we covered this story and yet people still believe there's something there.
[00:10:44] Kyle Risi: Yeah. Like we are the complete authority, right?
[00:10:47] Kyle Risi: We send out an episode and we expect the whole world to listen to it and to, to believe it. Yeah. We're up,
[00:10:52] Adam Cox: we're up there with the Oxford English Dictionary. Yeah. Forbes. Yeah. What's your
[00:10:55] Kyle Risi: sources? Uh, the compendium of podcast, Kyle podcast, and Adam, [00:11:00] obviously.
[00:11:00] Adam Cox: Soon, soon this will be real.
[00:11:02] Adam Cox: I think that's all the latest things.
[00:11:04] Kyle Risi: So, runaway nuns, Adam.
[00:11:09] Adam Cox: So our story today, starts in Bruges in the late 1980s.
[00:11:14] Adam Cox: Now, Now Bruges, for those who might not know, is this absolutely stunning city in Belgium and it's like a postcard. , cobblestone streets, picturesque canals and buildings that have been standing for centuries. Have
[00:11:25] Kyle Risi: we been there?
[00:11:26] Adam Cox: We have been there. Have we? Yeah, . That's where you got Stephanie the Skull.
[00:11:29] Kyle Risi: Oh yes,
[00:11:30] Kyle Risi: so Stephanie is like some kind of bull head?
[00:11:33] Adam Cox: Yeah.
[00:11:34] Kyle Risi: Skull, that we found with giant
[00:11:36] Adam Cox: horns? Giant horns. You found it, you bought it, and then we had to somehow Take it back to the UK through like customs and we're like how are we gonna get this through because those horns were weapons
[00:11:46] Kyle Risi: They were huge, weren't they?
[00:11:47] Adam Cox: You could use them to, I don't know, hurt someone. Impale someone. Yeah Yeah But we got them through security, no problem.
[00:11:52] Kyle Risi: And now she hangs in our bedroom Oh, we should probably put a picture of that on the Instagram. Yeah, we'll show you. So she is now Completely painted black, she has no horns, and she has a crown of [00:12:00] red roses over her head.
[00:12:01] Kyle Risi: I think she looks great. She looks good. What a find. What a find.
[00:12:04] Adam Cox: Anyway, carry on, so Bruges. Bruges, um, so Bruges has these ancient buildings, and one of them was a convent which dates all the way back to the 1500s. Now, this wasn't just any convent though, it was home to a group of nuns from the Order of Saint Clare, or as they're more commonly known as, the Poor Clares.
[00:12:20] Adam Cox: The Order was founded earlier by St. Clare of Assisi in 1212.
[00:12:26] Kyle Risi: What a brilliant name.
[00:12:27] Adam Cox: Assisi. St. Clare of Assisi. Assisi, yeah. Assisi, yeah. She was one of the first women to write a set of guidelines and her house rules were particularly strict, requiring extreme poverty, no property ownership and total reliance on handouts from the local communities in which her convents were situated.
[00:12:44] Adam Cox: Which, I find it odd that someone would, like, start this. This is how I want people to live. Extreme poverty. Yeah,
[00:12:50] Kyle Risi: What if it takes a while for your convent to get off the ground and there's no handouts for, like, six months? What are you gonna do? What are you gonna do, Cece?
[00:12:56] Adam Cox: Cece? Well, I don't know what she did, but this is what she started. She put this in [00:13:00] motion, which lots of nuns would then begin to follow for centuries afterwards. Right. And so, everyone within the poor clergy, since since then, had led a very minimal, then had led a very minimalistic lifestyle. So owning a castle was most likely never on any of their nun wish lists.
[00:13:15] Adam Cox: So imagine a life where you're dedicated, where you're dedicated to simplicity, that your daily routine involves a whole lot of prayer, you're scrubbing more floors than you can count, and meals that are from And meals that are far from gourmet. It's a lifestyle marked by extreme austerity.
[00:13:28] Kyle Risi: That sounds awful.
[00:13:29] Adam Cox: Yeah. And living under such conditions, the poor Claire's also adhered to some pretty stringent vows, One of them being chastity, meaning no romantic relationships, and it's a life of rigorous discipline.
[00:13:42] Kyle Risi: So are there any other priests living in the convent?
[00:13:45] Adam Cox: There's no priests in
[00:13:46] Kyle Risi: this convent.
[00:13:46] Adam Cox: So
[00:13:46] Kyle Risi: basically the rule is no lesbian non sex?
[00:13:49] Adam Cox: Well, not that I'm aware of anyway. But it's interesting that you bring up priests because on the contrary, um, They lead a very different lifestyle to nuns. Oh really? So many folks believe that religious leaders, [00:14:00] such as Catholic priests, take a vow of poverty, but actually they do not. Diocesan priests don't even make vows, they just make promises of chastity and obedience.
[00:14:10] Adam Cox: Isn't that
[00:14:10] Kyle Risi: the same thing?
[00:14:11] Adam Cox: A promise and a vow? Well apparently they're different is what I read.
[00:14:15] Kyle Risi: I think they're the same thing.
[00:14:16] Adam Cox: So they make promises which they can break, whereas a vow you can't break.
[00:14:20] Kyle Risi: But what about an unbreakable vow? Well Because like an unbreakable vow is a vow that you can't break, but a vow you can break.
[00:14:27] Kyle Risi: Well, they make
[00:14:29] Adam Cox: What? I don't know, but priests basically seem to get it easier than monks or nuns.
[00:14:34] Kyle Risi: Of course, I mean, they're probably like white, straight, well, questionable. They're probably white men, so of course everything's easier for them, isn't it?
[00:14:41] Adam Cox: Exactly, and, you know, they seem to retain some of the wealth of the church while you've got these nuns that don't have a lot, relying on handouts.
[00:14:49] Adam Cox: And then you've got priests in probably, I don't know, designer Gucci robes or something. Shit.
[00:14:53] Kyle Risi: Shit. So, no sex, no alcohol, they have nothing, they just gotta scrub floors all day.
[00:14:58] Adam Cox: And do a lot of prayer.
[00:14:59] Kyle Risi: And [00:15:00] do a lot of prayer, to, like, some kind of straight white man. Of course they're gonna rebel.
[00:15:04] Adam Cox: Why men were allowed something better, but then this woman came up with these rules in the first place. So, we gotta blame Clara of Cece.
[00:15:11] Kyle Risi: Yeah, that's true. So, so you're saying that she didn't need to come up with these rules?
[00:15:16] Adam Cox: Well, I didn't dig into her life story, but she came up with
[00:15:18] Adam Cox: them .
[00:15:18] Kyle Risi: I see. Okay.
[00:15:19] Adam Cox: Anyway. So the lifestyle of the poor Claire's is one of extreme seclusion from the world. Let me try again. The lifestyle, so the lifestyle of the poor Claire's is also one of extreme seclusion from the world. So outside their convent, they don't really leave it to be honest.
[00:15:27] Adam Cox: Uh, and they live by a rule that strictly prohibits personal ownership and anything that they must rely on solely from these, um, donations. So the concept of working for personal gain is also off limits. So, you know, there's no way for them to kind of get any luxuries and things like that. And so this was a way of life that, understandably, doesn't exactly appeal to the masses.
[00:15:46] Adam Cox: And people wanting to join the Poor Clares dwindled significantly over time, especially as women began to experience greater independence and equality from like the 1960s and 70s. 1980s, the number of new [00:16:00] nuns joining the Order had plummeted to an all time low.
[00:16:03] Kyle Risi: Well, that's the thing, like, you take away any worldly pleasure and you're not going to really get many takers, really.
[00:16:09] Adam Cox: Not really. And that posed a significant dilemma for the church because strategic decisions, because distric because strategic decisions had to be made regarding the placement of the few new nuns they did receive. And it was a delicate balancing act determining which convents would be getting new members to ensure their survival and which ones would inevitably face decline.
[00:16:30] Adam Cox: And it was pretty crucial, not just for the continuation of the convent, but for who would be caring for the older nuns. Because if you didn't have a new young nun coming in, And all you've got is a bunch of OAPs, who's going to look after them when they have a fall?
[00:16:44] Kyle Risi: Sure, no, I get it.
[00:16:45] Kyle Risi: Fall. That's the thing, when you get older, you stop falling and you have falls. Have a fall. And the thing is,
[00:16:52] Adam Cox: if they're all 80, a fellow 80 year old is not going to pick up another 80 year
[00:16:56] Kyle Risi: old. I mean, by the sounds of it, with as much as they're working, I doubt they're even getting to [00:17:00] 80, they're probably like 45 and they're like,
[00:17:02] Adam Cox: Oh, my back.
[00:17:03] Adam Cox: Oh.
[00:17:04] Adam Cox: Yeah, and the thing is, these nuns didn't have a spouse or a family to rely on easily. So they had to rely on each other to get them through their golden years.
[00:17:14] Kyle Risi: Sure.
[00:17:14] Adam Cox: One of the sisters at the convent was a lady called Sister Anna. She was the mother superior. And during the mid to late 80s, she received some disheartening news and that the bishop had decided that her convent wouldn't be receiving any new nuns, essentially signalling, essentially signalling that it was on the chopping block.
[00:17:35] Adam Cox: And this news didn't really sit well with Sister Anna, especially considering the state of her convent and everything that she had done. Um, there's only eight nuns remaining and Sister was actually the youngest at 61. And the situation was pretty bad because the oldest, Agnes, she was 93, she faced significant health challenges, being deaf, blind, and immobile.
[00:17:57] Kyle Risi: Shit.
[00:17:58] Adam Cox: So you can only imagine the kind of [00:18:00] pressure Sister Anna was kind of feeling, how she was going to be able to look after her family. All these nuns, and especially if she's the youngest, it's gonna be on her. And with no one coming in to replace her, then, yeah, what's gonna happen when she needs help?
[00:18:12] Adam Cox: Sure, this is a classic survival story, man. It is another, we like a survival story. We do! So she must have felt pretty betrayed by the church after all she'd given. And so the church authorities later did argue that there was simply not enough young women joining the sisterhood to maintain the convent.
[00:18:29] Adam Cox: And that although the inhabitants of that convent were old, they could have lived there for as many years as they would have liked and, you know, they could have moved on. Um, but what would happen is once they had moved on then the church would take back all the valuable items and the convent itself and they would keep it.
[00:18:44] Adam Cox: Right, I see. And so the sisters maybe suspected that that's what would happen. Um, but they weren't happy with the fact that the church would get back all those goods if they're the ones that are looking after these relics and paintings and things like that. Um, and so for them, they were like, well, actually, do we not have a [00:19:00] say in any of this?
[00:19:01] Adam Cox: So Sister Anna knew her options were limited and moving to another convent was possible, but the thought of leaving her home, her sisters, and the life that she had in Bruges was far from ideal. So,
[00:19:11] Adam Cox: Also, when she joined the church, she had to give up all her personal belongings and any inheritance she received from her family over the years. And the rules were pretty clear and strict on this, that she wasn't to own anything. So she's
[00:19:26] Kyle Risi: given everything up and then they say, yeah, sorry, we don't have a place for you anymore.
[00:19:29] Kyle Risi: You've got to move on and she doesn't get her shit back.
[00:19:31] Adam Cox: Yeah. You can imagine she being pissed at this, right? Yeah. Poor sister Anna. So she's frustrated and, um, she does build a relationship with the convent's groundkeeper who was 35 years old at the time. It was a groundskeeper, wasn't he? No, his name's called Robbie Crabb.
[00:19:46] Adam Cox: So Groundskeeper, Willie . . That sounds like a very Scottish name. Um, I don't think he was Scottish. I dunno what his nationality was,
[00:19:53] Marker
[00:19:53] . Robbie, Robbie, MCC Crabtree. Ron Ronnie Crab.
[00:19:56] Kyle Risi: Mm. It's it's ground keeper's. Willie's cousin.
[00:19:59] Adam Cox: Okay, [00:20:00] fine. Um, so she confided in him what was happening and asked him for some advice.
[00:20:04] Adam Cox: some suggestions on what she could do with her sisters. And Ronnie proved to be quite the resource and he certainly thought outside the box. He didn't just offer advice, uh, and maybe like sell some items. like He helped Sister Anna engage with the modern world from setting up a bank account, to even introducing her to the idea of investing in racehorses and even owning a farm.
[00:20:26] Kyle Risi: Oh, slippery slope, man. Bank account, then the next thing you're gambling and she's like, I like this.
[00:20:31] Adam Cox: Well, the thing is, Well, Ronnie was actually all in on helping Sister Anna find a way to kind of improve her life. Yeah,
[00:20:37] Kyle Risi: because he's like, do you know what? I'm an old man. I can't get a young woman anymore. But he's 35.
[00:20:42] Kyle Risi: Oh, there you go. I'm a young man. I really like old women. But you know what? It's really difficult to find an old virgin. And if I can get this woman's just to slip up a little bit and she's like, take a different road, I'm gonna, I could even bag a whole [00:21:00] convent of virgins. Old virgins. No, no.
[00:21:06] Adam Cox: Um, as far as I'm aware, there's no
[00:21:08] Kyle Risi: Robbie McCrabtree!
[00:21:10] Kyle Risi: Oh, did I say that right?
[00:21:11] Adam Cox: That's Ronnie. Oh, Ronnie. You keep saying Ronnie.
[00:21:13] Kyle Risi: I'm not listening, Adam.
[00:21:15] Adam Cox: I'm joking, I'm joking. Right. Anyway. Um, as far as I'm aware, there's no, uh, romantic relationship between the two, uh, but it was interesting, you know, given that she was, um, twice his age, and twice as sexy.
[00:21:27] Adam Cox: So he's 35, she's 61. Yeah, , they're an unlikely duo in that the fact that he is almost half of her age, uh, but they strike up this relationship or friendship, um, in order to get back at the church and help secure a better future, not only for sister Anna, but also her other sisters.
[00:21:44] Adam Cox: So he's a good guy and he's probably taking a cut, but you know, everyone's winning at this. Except maybe the church, they're not winning. Um, Now, because the priests tended to keep their distance, they rarely visited or checked in in any meaningful way, which was lucky for the convent [00:22:00] as they could maintain their autonomy, which would allow Sister Anna to do or carry out her secret operation, and this was done over the course of 18 months.
[00:22:09] Adam Cox: And to be clear, it did take, and to be clear, it did take some time to put into action and Sister Anna was willing to play the long game while she discreetly sold off the convent's collection of artworks, antiques, relics, and gold, all sorts, in order to get the proceeds that she could then invest into other ventures.
[00:22:26] Adam Cox: So now, Sister Anne was very careful not to just reveal the plan straight away to her fellow sisters, because she knew that would, could risk them alerting the priests. Sure. And they still had, you know, a sense of duty that they had to the church. So during this 18 months, she had to subtly influence the mindset of her fellow nuns.
[00:22:43] Adam Cox: And she shared her vision of a future that didn't include this Cold stone walls of the Bruges convent, a future that promised more than the rigid, monotonous life that she had led, or they'd all led under the church's strict guidelines.
[00:22:55] Kyle Risi: But the thing is though, like, I don't know how persuasive that's going to [00:23:00] be, by painting this picture of something different, because all of these women chose that, chose this life.
[00:23:07] Adam Cox: I think they chose that life, but I think the fact that they're now being forgotten about is why they're like, well, okay, we need to do something about it. We can't rely on just the church anymore. Sure,
[00:23:17] Kyle Risi: that's the persuasive thing for me though, is the betrayal. You've chosen this, you've given up all these things, and now you've been betrayed, or you've been forgot about, you've been sidelined, and no one's looking after you anymore.
[00:23:27] Kyle Risi: That's the thing, rather than painting this picture of this
[00:23:27] Adam Cox: Well, I think for them, it's about gaining control and having some influence on their future, their destiny.
[00:23:32] Kyle Risi: Sure. Interesting.
[00:23:34] Adam Cox: So she tapped into this sort of shared sense of injustice amongst the nuns and all of whom had endured these harsh winters in a building that never was meant for comfort.
[00:23:44] Adam Cox: The idea of this warm, comfortable retirement wasn't just appealing, it felt like a deserved reward for their years of service. And so with this shared sense of purpose, the nuns rallied behind Sister Anna. Nuns rallied behind Sister Anna's plan, with the exception of one of the sisters, Sister Clara, who [00:24:00] does alert the church about some of the stuff that Sister Anna is up to.
[00:24:03] Adam Cox: And she tries to suggest that Ronnie Crabb is the man that's to blame, not just Sister Anna. Um, but more on that later. We'll come back to Sister Clara. So Sister Anna, having laid the groundwork and secured the unanimous support of her nuns, um, she finds a deal, um, she finds a location for a new beginning.
[00:24:20] Adam Cox: And that is this majestic castle in the sunny and warmer climate of the south of France. And she announces her intention to place down a deposit on their future home from some of the sales and investments she had been making.
[00:24:31] Kyle Risi: Mm hmm.
[00:24:31] Adam Cox: Some describe this new castle as somewhat run down, but a castle all the same,
[00:24:35] Adam Cox: Sorry. But to secure the castle, there is one thing that they do have to work around, and so Sister Anna has discovered a legal loophole that would allow the ambitious plan to go ahead. Now, I don't know too much about legal jargon, but the convent operated as an independent non profit. And so this status meant it had bylaws that could be amended, that could be amended by its members.
[00:24:56] Adam Cox: So in this case, the nuns, and by reaching a unanimous [00:25:00] decision , they altered these bylaws to permit the rest, to permit the sale of the convent and the use of the money they make from the sale themselves, bypassing the need for Vatican approval. So what they're able to do is because they all have a say in it, if they all agree mutually to this decision, sure, they can basically.
[00:25:18] Adam Cox: Choose what happens to that convent. I
[00:25:19] Kyle Risi: see. Okay, so smart. Yeah,
[00:25:21] Adam Cox: exactly. And I think the Vatican had no idea that One, they suspected that these nuns would ever do that, and so they probably never thought What?
[00:25:29] Kyle Risi: Women? Women thinking for themselves? Bwa ha ha ha! Exactly. They'd never
[00:25:33] Adam Cox: do that. Exactly that. They, why would they think that these innocent nuns would ever look at this legal loophole and go against them?
[00:25:41] Adam Cox: Yeah. Never would have suspected that. But Anna's got a bank account, so, meh.
[00:25:46] Adam Cox: Ronnie had sourced an agent that was able to secure a quick and lucrative turnaround with this major property development company. So, before the bishop could even catch wind of their plan, the 16th The 600 year old convent had been sold [00:26:00] for the equivalent of around about 770, 000, which might not seem like a lot in today's money.
[00:26:06] Adam Cox: Um, it'd be under, well, I think it'd be just over like 2. 2 million. Um, but for them, it was. Uh, important to do a quick speedy sale before the Vatican could find out about what they were doing. Yeah man, gotta be
[00:26:17] Kyle Risi: quick, gotta be quick.
[00:26:18] Adam Cox: Yeah, so the property company actually got the, the convent for basically a steal.
[00:26:22] Adam Cox: That was a really good price.
[00:26:23] Kyle Risi: So what are they gonna do with the convent? You said they was bought up by a, a real estate developer. Are they gonna turn them into houses or like?
[00:26:30] Adam Cox: I would have thought so. Converted, converted uh, convent flats sound quite appealing.
[00:26:33] Kyle Risi: It should have turned into like a, like a seedy nightclub.
[00:26:35] Kyle Risi: Yeah. That would have turned the Vatican, like, furious. Made him really angry. Maybe. Maybe. Or a strip club. A brothel. Nun themed brothel. They come along and they're like, Oh, all the nuns are turned into prostitutes. Sister Anna! Oh no!
[00:26:49] Adam Cox: Where are all these new young nuns from? Yeah. Um, so with the convent solved, it was time for the sisters to make a trip to their new home.
[00:26:58] Adam Cox: And whilst they may have had a [00:27:00] removal van, they did not follow in a minibus or several cars. Oh no. They caught the bus. They caught the bus.
[00:27:05] Kyle Risi: Did they? No, they didn't though. Oh no.
[00:27:08] Adam Cox: They wanted something better than that, Kyle. Okay. They wanted to move forward with their lives, so they hired the only option that they could think of. What? I don't know.
[00:27:18] Adam Cox: An Uber? A pink limousine. Oh,
[00:27:22] Kyle Risi: of course.
[00:27:22] Adam Cox: Equipped with a full bar. Oh, of course. They went down in style. But, of course, poor sister Agnes, you know, she's blind, deaf and immobile. She followed behind. In an ambulance.
[00:27:37] Adam Cox: Yeah, she needed a little extra help. I'm holding on. I'm holding on, guys. So they weren't going to leave any nun behind. No nun left behind. And so arriving at their castle, which was equipped with a swimming pool and a tennis court, but it didn't have running water. So it sounds kind of mixed in terms of quality.
[00:27:56] Adam Cox: They
[00:27:56] Kyle Risi: haven't
[00:27:56] Adam Cox: got their priorities straight. Do you
[00:27:57] Kyle Risi: know what this, this castle needs? A [00:28:00] jacuzzi. How are we gonna
[00:28:01] Adam Cox: fill the jacuzzi?
[00:28:02] Kyle Risi: Don't worry, we're nuns. We work all day, all night. We'll just come up with buckets and buckets and buckets of clean water. We'll,
[00:28:08] Adam Cox: we'll pray
[00:28:08] Kyle Risi: for rain.
[00:28:10] Adam Cox: Shut up, I gotta
[00:28:10] Kyle Risi: pray!
[00:28:12] Adam Cox: Um, so yeah, that's why some people said it was kind of a bit run down, but hey, it's a step up from the convent at least.
[00:28:18] Adam Cox: It's got some tennis courts, um, and you can imagine them. They're soaking up the sun, they're having a cocktail, they're lounging around the pool, maybe a spot of tennis on Tuesdays if their hip would allow it. So yeah, it was a, it's a really nice life retirement home for them. Sure. Ronnie continued to give them financial advice, helping them acquire a fleet of 11 racehorses.
[00:28:39] Adam Cox: Six luxury cars, and even arranging for three of the nuns to have matching top tier Mercedes complete with car phones and TVs. Shit!
[00:28:47] Kyle Risi: They're going all out!
[00:28:49] Adam Cox: Oh yes, I mean I, I, don't think nuns would have learnt how to drive. So they would have just been chauffeured around. Yeah.
[00:28:55] Adam Cox: They're not doing donut rings.
[00:28:56] Kyle Risi: I'm surprised I even know how to, like, what are they doing with these [00:29:00] racehorses? Who's looking after them?
[00:29:01] Adam Cox: I don't know if they're just, like, keeping them, or whether they're loaning them out and getting into gambling, because it kind of feels like they're all about making money.
[00:29:07] Adam Cox: So, for me, they would race them, right? Amazing. Um, so yeah.
[00:29:12] Adam Cox: And so, as much as we'd like to believe this is where their story ends, on a high note, in blissful freedom, you know, living out their golden years, reality has a way of rearing its ugly head.
[00:29:23] Adam Cox: But before we get into that, now's the time to take a quick break and we will be back to talk about just how their plans were foiled.
[00:29:31] Kyle Risi: I think it's a great opportunity.
[00:29:33] Kyle Risi: Oh,
[00:29:33] Adam Cox: let's do
[00:29:33] Kyle Risi: it.
[00:29:34] Adam Cox: Kyle, our Belgian nuns, they are living their best life in the south of France after successfully going on the run from the church.
[00:29:41] Kyle Risi: Yep, drinking margaritas, you know, praying for rain.
[00:29:45] Adam Cox: They're having a great old time, realizing you don't have to live a life of poverty and still be a good person of the church.
[00:29:52] Adam Cox: Meanwhile, back in Belgium, the Bishop, Reverend Roger Van Geer Louis, Okay. Completely disagrees. And he's [00:30:00] feeling Oh, does he? Yeah, he's not so keen on this. I don't like this. He's feeling the sting of the sister's departure and the sale of the convent, so he seeks out legal advice, hoping to overturn the nuns actions.
[00:30:12] Adam Cox: Armed with Vatican attorneys, he aims to challenge the legality of the sale. But fortunately, for Sister Anna and her fellow nuns, they did their research. Yeah, she read the bylines, man. Yeah. She knows what she's doing. And , their adherence to the legal guidelines protected their sale of the convent.
[00:30:28] Adam Cox: So whilst that was valid, the church was like, well, we still don't agree.
[00:30:33] Kyle Risi: And she's like, tough shit.
[00:30:35] Adam Cox: The bishop, uh, nor the Vatican were, weren't willing to let this go. And they probably felt like they were made to look stupid, which they did. I
[00:30:42] Kyle Risi: mean, men, notoriously rich white men.
[00:30:44] Adam Cox: I
[00:30:44] Kyle Risi: mean, Hate
[00:30:45] Adam Cox: that. And in a bid to reclaim some element of control, because, you know, they, they needed to get won over, the bishop offered to buy the convent back for the same price the property developers had paid, and tried to kind of lure the nuns back saying it'll be better.[00:31:00]
[00:31:00] Adam Cox: And the nuns thought long and hard about the offer. I imagined for all but five seconds, and we're like, nah, we're good. They've grown fond of their new life and saw no reason to return to their old and deprived ways.
[00:31:12] Adam Cox: Equally, despite their new luxuries, Sister Anna said they had never felt closer to God than they had when they were in Bruges.
[00:31:18] Kyle Risi: It's
[00:31:19] Adam Cox: funny what a little money'd all do. Yeah, exactly. God's
[00:31:22] Kyle Risi: like, hmm, these chicks have got money. I'm gonna connect.
[00:31:28] Adam Cox: essentially said that they still retained that devout sort of Christianity and everything like that. Um, they just could do that in a castle. That's cool.
[00:31:36] Kyle Risi: Yeah, yeah, why not?
[00:31:38] Adam Cox: The Bishop, Reverend Roger Van Heerlooey, not ready to give up on that just yet, requested the return of the priceless artefacts and the heirlooms and the artworks that once sat in the convent.
[00:31:48] Adam Cox: However, one
[00:31:48] Kyle Risi: They sold them all, didn't they? Exactly. When he went
[00:31:50] Adam Cox: to check, they were like, uh, they, they stripped this place clean. There is nothing we can get back.
[00:31:56] Kyle Risi: Who did you sell it to? Well, there is a pawn shop on 7th [00:32:00] Street. So maybe you should go check that out.
[00:32:04] Adam Cox: And so they couldn't get anything back.
[00:32:06] Adam Cox: There was nothing there for them to reclaim. And that angered them even further. And, uh, they felt even, you know, more embarrassed. And so, um, whether the news or the sisters, This just angered the Vatican even further, which left the church authorities bewildered and even more embarrassed. And whether the news of the sisters spread to other convents, or whether the way the church was treating convents in general, Not sure, but the church learnt of another incident nearby.
[00:32:23] Adam Cox: Oh,
[00:32:24] Kyle Risi: a domino effect! Yeah,
[00:32:25] Adam Cox: yeah, is in a place called Newport, which is it? Newport? Yeah. You mean, you mean, you said it weird. Do you just mean Newport? Well, no, not Newport in South Wales. There's a place in Belgium. Which looks like Newport, but maybe with a French accent. New
[00:32:39] Kyle Risi: port? New port. New port.
[00:32:43] Adam Cox: Anyway, their mother superior there had converted part of her convent into a luxury boutique hotel.
[00:32:50] Adam Cox: Oh god. Oh god.
[00:32:51] Kyle Risi: That's gonna like, escalate pretty quickly. Before you know it, it's gonna be a brothel. Well, she needed to make some extra cash.[00:33:00]
[00:33:02] Adam Cox: And so it seemed like a wave And so it seemed like a wave of entrepreneurial. of entrepreneurial spirit and defiance was sweeping through the ranks the nuns in Belgium.
[00:33:10] Kyle Risi: Uh huh, yes, why not? They all got a bug. They're sick and tired of being treated like shit by the, kind of, the males of the Catholic Church who aren't Giving.
[00:33:19] Adam Cox: Yeah, just sharing the love. All those priests and Gucci. I want a bit of that.
[00:33:23] Kyle Risi: Preaching Gucci.
[00:33:25] Adam Cox: So at this convent, it was Sister Maria that was in charge, and she got into trouble for being too, and I quote, worldly, for religious life.
[00:33:32] Kyle Risi: Oh, okay, she, she had her own thoughts.
[00:33:33] Adam Cox: She had her own thoughts, yeah. The church did not like You made
[00:33:36] Kyle Risi: our nun stink!
[00:33:38] Adam Cox: So the church didn't like the fact that she was pulling up to local churches to deliver communion hosts in her Mercedes Benz while smoking a thin cigar.
[00:33:49] Kyle Risi: Well, I have to ask just real quick, what is a communion host? Uh, isn't that
[00:33:53] Adam Cox: when they give communion? Oh, she was a communion host.
[00:33:55] Adam Cox: Oh, she was? Yeah. Sorry.
[00:33:59] Kyle Risi: Ooh. [00:34:00] The new communion host is a pimp.
[00:34:01] Adam Cox: Yeah. Imagine her just doing like a wheelie, driving up and getting out on her high heels.
[00:34:06] Kyle Risi: I've done it. Can I take home? Can I take home the extra wine? The wine that wasn't drunk? Thanks.
[00:34:11] Adam Cox: So, she was , facing a future with only three nuns left in her convent and no prospects of new members joining.
[00:34:17] Kyle Risi: Mm
[00:34:17] Adam Cox: hmm. So she took matters into her own hands, she prioritized, she prioritized her well being and financial security, and she began she began producing in Semele producing and selling communion wafers. Um, so the bread that's given out at Holy Communion. As a savvy move to try and get a bit of extra cash.
[00:34:29] Kyle Risi: But who's she selling the wafers to? The only customer for communion wafers is other churches.
[00:34:34] Adam Cox: Yeah, I guess that's what she was doing. She's going around saying, hey, you need some more wafers? I got some.
[00:34:38] Kyle Risi: No, I just ordered from the church's catalogue. Now I'll do you a good price though.
[00:34:42] Adam Cox: Yeah, I'll keep you double.
[00:34:46] Adam Cox: And not stopping there, Sister Maria expanded her entrepreneurial efforts by making guest appearances at various events and functions a bit like a local celebrity on the party circuit. Who's gonna want her?
[00:34:59] Kyle Risi: Do you know what [00:35:00] guys, um, great club opening. I think, as a star attraction, should be Sister Maria.
[00:35:06] Adam Cox: Yeah, and even people would want them, uh, at her, you know, And people would want her to host their wedding as well. So she was really well. Yeah, she was clearly a character. Yeah. But her lifestyle choices eventually caught the attention of the church And they obviously disapproved of that and wanted to demote her but sister maria was like Nah, I'm not going anywhere.
[00:35:23] Adam Cox: Uh, she also inherited a considerable amount of money from her uncle, which of course she was not supposed to keep, given her vows as a nun. And so she was like, screw that. And so she then used that money to transform half the convent into a boutique hotel, leveraging the same legal bylaws that had allowed the poor clairs in Bruges to sell their convent.
[00:35:41] Adam Cox: And so this move was intended to Uh, secure her retirement, essentially, because she spent all this money. She had completed the boutique hotel with Persian rugs, Pink marble tiled bathrooms, A swimming pool, a gym, and she would charge a premium amount to stay the night.
[00:35:58] Kyle Risi: Wow.
[00:35:59] Adam Cox: How much was she [00:36:00] charging? Do you know?
[00:36:00] Adam Cox: Um, it was around about 400 I think it was, but I don't know if that was US dollars or Aus dollars. But anyway, that's quite a lot. Aus dollars? I was looking at different reports from Australia and
[00:36:10] Kyle Risi: Oh, I see. Okay. It's like, what's happening?
[00:36:12] Adam Cox: And I didn't fact check that. Oh, okay.
[00:36:14] Kyle Risi: You just lifted this straight off
[00:36:16] Adam Cox: someone else's research.
[00:36:17] Adam Cox: Yeah, it's a news article. But anyway, I think for 200 or 400. Sure. It's still quite a lot for 1990s. Yeah,
[00:36:25] Kyle Risi: 1990s money, man. It's good money. Yeah.
[00:36:27] Adam Cox: Um, so, Sister Maria's new business venture gained a lot of media attention, and that added to the church's anger at the time. And because this, uh, happened at the same time as what was happening in Bruges, Um, there's this narrative of Belgian nuns just going AWOL, or up against the church, and carving their own sort of future.
[00:36:44] Adam Cox: This meant that Sister Maria had to go and she was eventually given the sack, but newspapers were having a field day with this story as well as the nuns from Bruge. Mm-Hmm. . In response to the media frenzy, the church found itself in a precarious position trying to navigate the PR storm as best as [00:37:00] possible.
[00:37:00] Adam Cox: And so the bishop issued a statement expressing bafflement of the nuns' action and emphasizing the church's concern for the, the nun emphasizing the church's concern for their wellbeing over any material losses. He painted a picture to say that the church simply wanted its nuns back, safe within the confines of their Belgian home.
[00:37:16] Kyle Risi: And if they could also just quickly bring back all their inheritance that they've gotten.
[00:37:20] Adam Cox: Yeah. And all the
[00:37:21] Kyle Risi: artefacts, then that'd be great as well.
[00:37:23] Adam Cox: And we can keep the Boutique hotel going. Yeah, yeah. That's fine, we'll earn some money from so you can imagine. These nuns didn't want to return to a life of sparse meals and kneeling on hard wooden floors. You know, that wasn't quite as appealing as having morning cocktails with the pool boy. I don't know if that actually happened, but I hope it did. Um, so the nuns living, uh, their new lives in France were quick to call out the hypocrisy of the church's statements.
[00:37:45] Adam Cox: They pointed out that the church's readiness to abandon them in their old age, contradicting the sudden concern that they had for their welfare, um, that they were trying to, like, portray in the media. They were like, nah, that's, that's not true. So to sidestep the bad impression the church could gain from vilifying the [00:38:00] nuns, the church then spun a narrative that cast Ronnie Crab, the, the, the groundskeeper as the scheming villain behind it all.
[00:38:07] Kyle Risi: Mm.
[00:38:07] Adam Cox: Using the information that Sister Clara, uh, that the sister that grasped on Sister Anna, they used her information to kind of create this story and use to go after Ronnie the church made it clear that it was Sister Anna seen as the mastermind. Um, and that she needed to be excluded from the church while the others portrayed were just, you know, victims or were duped by Ronnie.
[00:38:27] Kyle Risi: Innocent bystanders.
[00:38:28] Adam Cox: Yeah, and a delegation consisting of a judge, some police officers, and a journalist made their way to visit the nuns in the south of France. And their mission was to uncover the truth behind the church's allegations and that, you know, the nuns were being held against their will.
[00:38:42] Adam Cox: And what they found was, It was entirely different. Oh God. The nuns were thriving. They were far from duped or anything like that. They loved their new lives. They were fully conscious and proud of their decisions they had made.
[00:38:53] Kyle Risi: Were they all like Madge from Benidorm? Like on their little mobility scooters with a real like harsh tan in bikinis and [00:39:00] their skins all sagging.
[00:39:01] Kyle Risi: They got a fag in their mouth and a gin and tonic in the other. And they're all drunk. And they're like playing bumper cars
[00:39:08] Adam Cox: around the ball. I hope so. I really do. Um, so yeah, they could clearly see that, okay, these nuns weren't tricked. , and the nuns owned their actions themselves. They're saying like, nope, don't, don't think that we've been duped.
[00:39:19] Adam Cox: We wanted this. Um, and so they were like, you know, the ball is squarely in the church's court because it's an opportunity. For them to practice what they preach, they should forgive, they should have compassion, they should turn the other cheek. However, when faced with the decision on how to respond, the Vatican chose the path that seemed at odds with its teachings.
[00:39:35] Adam Cox: Instead of offering forgiveness, they just went after Ronnie even further. Uh, and I'm going to tell you just how that played out right after this short break.
[00:39:44] Kyle Risi: Great.
[00:39:45] Adam Cox: So, as I mentioned, the Vatican were going after Ronnie, saying he had committed forgery, theft, extortion, fraud, and even physical abuse, which of course were all big, massive lies. So, caught in the legal battle, Ronnie was unjustly [00:40:00] imprisoned for 39 days before he could post bail. Yeah, , they arrested him initially. Meanwhile, the church wagered a smear campaign branding him a dangerous criminal to justify their actions and maintain their narrative.
[00:40:13] Kyle Risi: Yeesh, the Catholic Church like a smear campaign, don't they? They do
[00:40:16] Adam Cox: indeed. Um, so Ronnie's legal battles had, um, So Ronnie's legal battles also impacted the nuns, whose financial accounts were frozen amidst the investigation.
[00:40:24] Adam Cox: So all this money that they had accrued, they could no longer spend.
[00:40:27] Kyle Risi: Man, how are they gonna, like,
[00:40:28] Adam Cox: get booze and skinny cigarettes? Exactly. And so they're cut off from all these resources and uncertain when they're gonna get access to their funds again. Uh, and that posed a huge problem, um, and because the legal proceedings were taking months and months to kind of go through, they had no other choice but to sell their dream castle.
[00:40:48] Kyle Risi: Oh
[00:40:48] Adam Cox: no. Uh, a place that they'd called home for only a year, um, and so they had to kind of return back to Belgium and rely on family members to help them initially.
[00:40:56] Kyle Risi: Really?
[00:40:57] Adam Cox: Yeah.
[00:40:58] Kyle Risi: Oh.
[00:40:59] Adam Cox: And this is [00:41:00] a real shame because I'm so gutted for these nuns because what they managed to pull off I think is ingenious.
[00:41:04] Adam Cox: Yeah, for
[00:41:05] Kyle Risi: sure. Like how long did it take them to resell the castle because I'm surprised that That's a quick thing like you want to sell a castle. There's not many buys for castles, right?
[00:41:13] Adam Cox: I guess not and I don't know whether they had to like take less for it or whatever it was So but either way they managed I think I think they did that initially to get some money and then they moved back home But the thing is they did this without breaking any laws technically But they only managed to enjoy a year freedom
[00:41:29] Kyle Risi: Well, at least they had that they did.
[00:41:31] Adam Cox: Yeah, I think you know, we can be happy about that You
[00:41:33] Kyle Risi: So they all went back to Belgium, they, what, decided to move in with family members, or are they still living together, they found a convent where they can kind of still be together? What's the deal?
[00:41:42] Adam Cox: Well, first I'll cover what happened to Ronnie, because that kind of leads on to what happened to the rest of the nuns.
[00:41:48] Adam Cox: So, the trials surrounding Ronnie spanned over five years, actually.
[00:41:53] Kyle Risi: And he stayed in jail this whole time?
[00:41:54] Adam Cox: Uh, wasn't, no, he got released. Oh, after 39 days? Yeah, but was still sort of, um, sort of battling against this and trying to clear his name. [00:42:00] And it was a pretty gruelling period for him. Um, he was eventually acquitted of all charges in 1996.
[00:42:06] Adam Cox: However, by that time, the narrative of the nuns had taken another turn. Um, one of which, a lot of them had returned to the church. They had no other choice, really. And I guess for them You know, they're at an old age, they didn't know any different, or most of their life had been with the church.
[00:42:21] Adam Cox: Perhaps they didn't have much choice other than that.
[00:42:24] Kyle Risi: Sure, yeah.
[00:42:25] Adam Cox: The solidarity, the solidarity they once shared with Ronnie, um, who had stood by them through their adventure, seemed to also disappear, which was, I thought was really quite sad. No one seemed to stand by him. Um, but again, you know, maybe the church influenced what they could or couldn't do if they, if they were to return.
[00:42:40] Kyle Risi: Yeah, I guess so. It's a shame really, because it was because of him that they were able to find this freedom. They knew, they had the know how to get the freedom that they needed.
[00:42:48] Adam Cox: They wouldn't have been able to do it without him. so he didn't hold back on his critique of the church's actions. He was, you know, obviously disappointed by the lack of the support that he had from the nuns.
[00:42:57] Adam Cox: He first said that he felt [00:43:00] betrayed, he says it's all down to the, to the church because it was the sisters who wanted a flotilla of luxury cars. A flotilla, an actual flotilla, for
[00:43:08] Kyle Risi: Mardi Gras
[00:43:08] Adam Cox: day!
[00:43:11] Adam Cox: You know, it's, it's them that wanted a farmhouse in the Pyrenees. Um, so when the business turned sour for the sisters and the Bruges prosecutor's office, uh, yeah, blah, blah, blah. So he, he basically was sort of saying, like, it was always the church that wanted to get back at him and make him the example.
[00:43:25] Adam Cox: Um, I forgot what I was on about.
[00:43:25] Adam Cox: Ronnie has teased about the possibility of turning his and the nun's story into a book and potentially a film starring Bette Midler and Whoopi Goldberg.
[00:43:33] Kyle Risi: Oh, hang
[00:43:34] Adam Cox: on. But that didn't come to fruition. Oh,
[00:43:36] Kyle Risi: okay.
[00:43:37] Adam Cox: But Whoopi Goldberg was in Sister Act. And you'd think, like, was this story inspired or did this inspire Sister Act?
[00:43:44] Adam Cox: But apparently there is no news on that. Although, I did find another nun, someone not related to this story , that Sister Act was inspired by. Oh really? Yeah. Hey Another nun. It's a whole side story that I didn't have time to [00:44:00] go into, but supposedly she was put into protection. Sure. And she then sent a script to producers, which then, uh, or like a treatment for an idea in Hollywood.
[00:44:09] Adam Cox: And they ignored it. Then two years later, Sister Act came out.
[00:44:12] Kyle Risi: Right. Okay.
[00:44:13] Adam Cox: But given the story, it feels like it should be a Sister Act movie.
[00:44:16] Kyle Risi: Mm,
[00:44:16] Adam Cox: 100%. Sister Act 3. There was talk that they were going to do it, but I think, I don't know, it still hasn't happened yet. It's probably too late now. I think a lot of the cast has died.
[00:44:24] Kyle Risi: I think, yeah. Well, you can always get a new cast. I mean, then they've got, finally, the young nuns that they're needing.
[00:44:30] Kyle Risi: But it could be like Sister Act 3.
[00:44:32] Adam Cox: So in a final surprising twist, before Ronnie disappeared from the public eye for good, he did leave the public with a provocative claim about the personal lives of the nuns. Oh
[00:44:42] Kyle Risi: no, he fucked them all. I'm not, I'm not saying that.
[00:44:48] Adam Cox: He said that there was a lesbian love triangle Oh! Within the convent Oh, I
[00:44:53] Kyle Risi: love a lesbian triangle.
[00:44:55] Adam Cox: And that Sister Clara Was, you know, the one that dobbed in Sister Anna was actually [00:45:00] dating Mother Superior, Sister Anna and was dumped by Anna for someone else, so she dobbed her into the church.
[00:45:07] Kyle Risi: Really?
[00:45:08] Adam Cox: Yeah.
[00:45:09] Kyle Risi: Scandalous. Scand a less.
[00:45:12] Adam Cox: So, she was a jealous lover. Yeah.
[00:45:14] Kyle Risi: Yeah. I mean, when there's no men around, and like, you don't have many options, and you just spend all your time with other women, like, people want that connection, so there's no surprise that they, yeah, that they fell in love.
[00:45:25] Adam Cox: Well, there's nothing to confirm this, um, to be fair.
[00:45:28] Adam Cox: Sure. This all came from Ronnie, um, and so, we don't know if it was a jilted lover is the reason this all came crashing down, but it's interesting that Ronnie did come out with this. Yeah. Yeah. Um, Ronnie does say the nuns were given a new home and with their living expenses under control of the church again, the nuns were effectively, were effectively prisoners again.
[00:45:46] Adam Cox: Worse still, they had to accept a representative of the bishop on the board of the trustees of their new home, who Ronnie implied was a spy for the authorities placed there to keep those naughty nuns in check. Of course. Couldn't let this happen again. The Bishop of [00:46:00] Bruges did sort of get some kind of comeuppance.
[00:46:03] Adam Cox: He was discredited, but not as much as he should have been. In 2010, he was aged 73 at that point, and Roger Van Heerluy became the first European bishop to resign due to child abuse allegations. Of
[00:46:17] Kyle Risi: course, do you know what, I was literally going to say, do you know what, , if you want to get back at him, just look into his past.
[00:46:22] Kyle Risi: I'm sure you will find some kind of misappropriation of young people.
[00:46:28] Adam Cox: . It transpired that the Belgium's longest serving Bishop had abused his own nephew over a period of 13 years.
[00:46:35] Adam Cox: Oh shit. And he was forced to resign because a friend of, uh, the nephew, um, threatened to make the abuse public. Uh, he did acknowledge that he had, um, I hate this word, molested a boy in his close entourage, which I'm guessing is him admitting it. What word
[00:46:49] Kyle Risi: don't you like? Entourage. You mean molest. What's wrong with molest?
[00:46:54] Kyle Risi: Yeah, it's
[00:46:54] Adam Cox: a horrible word. What's a better word? It is what it is, but it's just doesn't, it's not a nice word. [00:47:00] Okay, well that doesn't sound nice, doesn't have nice meaning. No,
[00:47:04] Kyle Risi: but he shouldn't be like, ooh, let's make it a better word, like what's a better word for it? Well, I'm just curious to know, would you like say, oh he, like, I don't know, he, he, he
[00:47:12] Adam Cox: frolicked.
[00:47:12] Adam Cox: He frolicked, he frolicked with his nephew. That's a bad word. Yeah, um. In
[00:47:14] Kyle Risi: this context.
[00:47:16] Adam Cox: Yeah. As the case unfolded, it became apparent that the church officials had warned about Vang Hoa Lui's abuse 25 years previously, but had taken no action and attempted to cover up the scandal.
[00:47:30] Kyle Risi: Oh my god, it's, it happened, you hear about this all the time where, like, it's been reported a bunch of times, people know of it, people are aware, but they just brush it under the rug.
[00:47:40] Adam Cox: And the thing is, um, And the thing is, though, in Belgian law at the time, a sexual abuse victim could only lodge a criminal complaint up to 10 years after turning 18.
[00:47:49] Kyle Risi: Oh.
[00:47:49] Adam Cox: And the victim in Van Geer Louis case was 40 at the time that this came out. Um, but because it came out so long after him being 18, i. e.
[00:47:58] Adam Cox: greater than 10 [00:48:00] years, Um, the case was too old for to basically charge the bishop with.
[00:48:04] Kyle Risi: I mean , like even if he can't be charged with it, it's still, it being public knowledge is probably enough, right? Because this is going to be shunned by,
[00:48:11] Adam Cox: well, he's, you know, he was forced to leave the church, take that resignation.
[00:48:15] Adam Cox: And the Archbishop of Brussels made a public statement that, um, his resignation at the end the cover was And the Archbishop of Brussels made a public statement that Van Geluwe's resignation marked an end to all these cover ups, but within two months of that statement, more than 500 people, mostly men, claimed they had been abused by the church.
[00:48:28] Kyle Risi: Why am I not surprised?
[00:48:30] Adam Cox: And then the thing is, like, these are priests or whatever. You've got all the nuns, like, locked away in a convent. One lesbian sex affair. And
[00:48:37] Kyle Risi: then with the men, there's like 500 sexual abuse cases. At least with the nuns, it's consensual lesbianining. That is a
[00:48:47] Adam Cox: verb, is it? Yeah, it's a new verb.
[00:48:50] Adam Cox: Um, so yeah. It's just horrendous. It is horrendous, and it just kind of angers me that that's what's allowed to go on, but the women can't go by a castle. I can't believe it's
[00:48:58] Kyle Risi: just so prevalent, it's [00:49:00] just so strange, isn't it? That it's so prevalent.
[00:49:03] Adam Cox: Yeah, but let's end on the nuns. Okay. Um, so Sister Agnes, she passes away.
[00:49:08] Adam Cox: I mean, she's 93, so I don't think it would take much. You said that
[00:49:10] Kyle Risi: so positively, then you go, So let's end with the nuns. Yeah, so, uh, Sister Agnes, she dead. What's that about?
[00:49:18] Adam Cox: Okay, well that, that, but yeah, she's dead, but I don't know what happened to the other nuns.
[00:49:23] Kyle Risi: The last bit's fun. So let's end, so let's end on, um, what we know, just one of the nuns.
[00:49:27] Kyle Risi: Don't know what happened to the rest. Hang on, I'm getting to the last bit. Okay, the nice
[00:49:31] Adam Cox: bit. The nice bit, okay. So for Sister Anna, she does rekindle her friendship with Sister Clara, both having left the church, and she goes to join Sister Clara in a little farmhouse by a stream in Ardennes in France, and they get to enjoy their golden years together, perhaps as friends, or maybe as girlfriends.
[00:49:52] Kyle Risi: I like to think as girlfriends. Yeah. So
[00:49:54] Adam Cox: And so that is the story of how the poor Claire sisters jacked in the church and went on the run to the south [00:50:00] of France.
[00:50:00] Kyle Risi: I love it, I love it. This is a beautiful survival lesbian story.
[00:50:09] Adam Cox: Really. Underneath it all.
[00:50:10] Kyle Risi: Yeah. When you find someone that you love more than anything in the world, you will do whatever it takes to get your little farmhouse in France.
[00:50:20] Adam Cox: And so long as your lover hasn't pissed you off and gone off with someone else, that can happen.
[00:50:26] Kyle Risi: Brilliant. I can't believe this isn't a film.
[00:50:29] Adam Cox: Yeah, it really should be. Apparently there was a Belgian TV show, um, which I read about, but I couldn't find the name of. Uh, apparently it was, it was reviewed pretty badly. I have a,
[00:50:37] Kyle Risi: I have a brilliant name for it though. If it was, if they're going to make a TV show of it.
[00:50:40] Adam Cox: Go on.
[00:50:41] Kyle Risi: The Last of the Communion Wine.
[00:50:43] Adam Cox: Is it like last of the summer wine? Yeah. Yeah. That'd be brilliant. Yeah, yeah. Um, well, should we run the outro? Yeah, let's do it. And so we come to the end of another episode of The Compendium, an assembly of fascinating and intriguing things. If you found [00:51:00] today's episode both fascinating and intriguing, then please subscribe and leave us a review.
[00:51:04] Adam Cox: And don't just stop there, schedule your episodes to download automatically. Doing this not only ensures you're always in the loop, but also boosts our visibility, helping us to serve you even more captivating tales straight to your ears. You can follow us on Instagram at TheCompendiumPodcast or visit our home on the web at TheCompendiumPodcast.
[00:51:22] Adam Cox: com. We release new episodes every Tuesday. And so, until then, remember, from Bruges cold stones to sunny French chateaus, the pursuit of a better life into reality.
[00:51:35] Kyle Risi: Aww, that's nice.
[00:51:36] Adam Cox: Until next week. See ya.
[00:51:41] Kyle Risi: See ya later.
[00:51:42] Adam Cox: Sorry, I thought you were going to do see ya.
[00:51:43] Kyle Risi: Oh, I see. No, I don't, we don't finish each other's sandwiches.
[00:51:47] Kyle Risi: So we don't finish each other's sentences either. Fine. See ya next week. [00:52:00]