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Superstar Nun Croaks |
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Mother Benedict, one of the most happening nuns in creation, has gone to the great cloister in the sky at the age of 94.
MB, as her friends might have called her, founded the Abbey of Regina Laudis in Bethlehem, Connecticut. The whacky and entertaining story of how she founded the abbey was turned into a popular Hollywood movie, "Come to the Stable," 1949. Starring Loretta Young and Celeste Holm as nuns, the film had a script by Clare Boothe Luce.
MB was also a force behind the Abbey of Regina Laudis' Gregorian Chant recordings. Some snarky critics said the sisters were just trying to fly on Hildegard von Bingen's wimple; others found the chanting musically rendered and incredibly spiritual.
Mother Benedict had been forced to step down as abbess of Regina Luads in 1995 when the Vatican investigated charges that the abbey was being run in an authoriatarian, cultlike manner. MB didn't get a lawyer at the time, but one might well have pointed out that with the Pope claiming infallibility, the Vatican is a fine one to talk about a church being run in a cultlike manner. Despite her removal from power, Mother Benedict ended her days in Regina Laudis, happy as a pig in mud. (By Scott Rose)
Image NY Times
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