Convent closed after nuns in fist-fight
Pastor Dale Morgan
*Convent closed after nuns in fist-fight*
From correspondents in Rome
October 01, 2007 10:02am
Article from: Agence France-Presse
A CONVENT in southern Italy is being shut down after a quarrel among its
last three remaining nuns ended in blows.
Sisters Annamaria and Gianbattista, reportedly upset about their mother
superior's authoritarian ways, scratched her in the face and threw her
to the ground at Santa Clara convent near Bari in an incident in July
that was kept quiet until now.
Archbishop Giovanni Battista Pichierri tried to reconcile the nuns but
finally decided in late August that they had "clearly lost their
religious vocation'' and asked the Vatican for permission to close the
convent.
Sisters Annamaria and Gianbattista moved to another convent, but Sister
Liliana barricaded herself inside, refusing to leave, the reports said.
She suspected Bishop Battista Pichierri of planning to cede the convent
to another community.
Liliana had been at the convent since its founding in 1963.