A cloistered nun in India came out of her convent for an
extraordinary reason: to attend a graduation ceremony for her doctorate
in Aerospace Engineering.
“I had joined the religious order after my final oral exam last year,
and this was the first time I came out after that. The rules of our
order forbid us from going out of the convent, but I was given special
permission to attend the convocation,” Sister Benedicta of the Holy Face
told Matters India over the summer.
The 32-year-old nun lives in a cloistered convent of the Benedictine Sisters of the Reparation of the Holy Face.
Born in Kuwait before the Gulf War, Sister Benedicta studied at St
Xavier’s College in Mumbai and then earned a Master’s degree in space
science from Pune University, located 90 miles from Mumbai.
She earned her PhD from the Defense Institute of Advanced Technology
in Pune. According to Matters India, her doctoral work in the field of
aerospace engineering involved scramjet engines, which are used mainly
for hyper-sonic vehicles and space vehicles.
Sister Benedicta had always felt a call to the consecrated life, but
made the decision to become a nun after attending a spiritual retreat in
Pune.
She finished her doctorate studies before telling her family that
she wanted to enter a cloistered convent.
The congregation of the Benedictine Sisters of the Reparation of the
Holy Face was founded in 1950 by Venerable Abbot Hildebrand Gregory.
In
1977, it became a pontifical congregation and has houses on several
continents.