Wendy Beckett

Sister Wendy Beckett standing in front of the painting The Colossus (once attributed to Goya but no longer)

Sister Wendy Beckett (born 25 February 1930) is a South African-born British art expert, consecrated virgin and contemplative hermit who became an unlikely celebrity during the 1990s, presenting a series of acclaimed art history documentaries for the BBC.

Biography

She was born in South Africa and raised in Edinburgh, Scotland. She became a nun in 1946 in the order of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur. She was sent to England to begin her novitiate and studied at St Anne's College at Oxford, where she was awarded a first class (with distinction) degree in English literature. ^[1] Outside her academic work, she lived in a convent that maintained a strict code of silence.

After attending a teacher training college in Liverpool and earning a teaching diploma in 1954, she returned to South Africa to teach at Notre Dame Convent a school for girls in Constantia, Cape Town, where she taught English and Latin. Later, when the Convent closed its doors in 1967, she moved to Johannesburg where she lectured at the University of the Witwatersrand. Health problems in 1970 forced her to abandon teaching and return to England to live in the grounds of a Carmelite monastery. She spent many years translating Medieval Latin scripts before deciding to pursue her favourite subject of art in 1980.

Obtaining papal permission for her to become a Consecrated Virgin in 1970, Sister Wendy's order arranged for her to live under the protection of the Carmelite nuns at their monastery at Quidenham, Norfolk, in the east of England. She leads a contemplative lifestyle, and currently lives in a caravan on the grounds. Besides receiving the Carmelite prioress and a nun who brings her provisions, she dedicates her life solely to monastic solitude and prayer, but allows herself two hours of work per day.

Sister Wendy Contemplates Saint Paul in Art was published by St Pauls, London 2008 to celebrate the Year of Saint Paul. In May, 2009 Encounters with God: In Quest of the Ancient Icons of Mary was published, which follows Sister Wendy's pilgrimage to see the earliest icons of Mary that had survived the Byzantine iconoclasm.

Documentaries and other work

In addition to writing more than a dozen books, Sister Wendy has narrated the documentaries:

• Sister Wendy's Odyssey (1992)
• Sister Wendy's Grand Tour (1997)
• Sister Wendy's Story of Painting (1997)
• Sister Wendy's American Collection (2001)
• Sister Wendy at the Norton Simon Museum (2001)

and also an audio commentary for tourists to the Sistine Chapel:

• Sister Wendy's Sistine Chapel Artineraries Tour (2006)

Works about Sister Wendy by other people

• Postcards From God: The Sister Wendy Musical was written by Marcus Reeves and Beccy Smith^[2] and performed in the Jermyn Street Theatre in the West End in 2007.

References

1. ^ Interview with Clive Anderson, BBC Radio 2, 28 January, 2007
2. ^ Shenton, Mark (2007-01-11). "Reviews: Postcards from God". The Stage. http://www.thestage.co.uk/reviews/review.php/15584/postcards-from-god. Retrieved 2007-06-25. 

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Wendy Beckett

• Sister Wendy at PBS.
• Interview with Sister Wendy