Monica Baldwin
Encyclopedia
Monica Baldwin was a British nun for 28 years, a niece of British Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin
. After leaving her enclosed order, she wrote of her experiences.
. After 28 years in an enclosed Catholic convent, she left on 26 October 1941, during the Second World War after rescript
was granted by the Vatican
. At the age of 27 she began to think she had made a mistake but it was another 18 years before she left, convinced that she "was no more fitted to be a nun than to be an acrobat."
, a matron in a camp for conscripted girl munitions workers, an army canteen hostess peeling potatoes and once a photographer offered her a job developing "dirty pictures" in his cellar. After that she was an assistant librarian and then a War Office employee.
In 1949, she published a memoir, I Leap Over The Wall: A Return to the World after Twenty-eight Years in a Convent. The book, later sub-titled, Contrasts and impressions after... is a memoir of some of the contrasts between life in an enclosed convent and life out in the contemporary world. Baldwin relates how she could not recall reading a newspaper during the entire course of the First World War. When she entered, the popular use of telephones, cinema and radio were in their infancy; when she left they were common in England.
Her novel, The Called and the Chosen, written as the diary of Sister Ursula Auberon, an enclosed nun at the Abbaye de la Sainte Croix, Framleghen, was published in 1957 by Farrar, Straus & Cudahy. The book followed the 1956 publication of The Nun's Story
, a novel by Kathryn Hulme
.
in the Channel Islands
. She died in 1975.
Stanley Baldwin
Stanley Baldwin, 1st Earl Baldwin of Bewdley, KG, PC was a British Conservative politician, who dominated the government in his country between the two world wars...
. After leaving her enclosed order, she wrote of her experiences.
Life
Baldwin joined a religious order in 1914, a few months before the beginning of the Great WarWorld War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
. After 28 years in an enclosed Catholic convent, she left on 26 October 1941, during the Second World War after rescript
Papal rescripts
Papal Rescripts are responses of the pope or a Sacred Congregation, in writing, to queries or petitions of individuals. Some rescripts concern the granting of favours; others the administration of justice under canon law, e. g...
was granted by the Vatican
Holy See
The Holy See is the episcopal jurisdiction of the Catholic Church in Rome, in which its Bishop is commonly known as the Pope. It is the preeminent episcopal see of the Catholic Church, forming the central government of the Church. As such, diplomatically, and in other spheres the Holy See acts and...
. At the age of 27 she began to think she had made a mistake but it was another 18 years before she left, convinced that she "was no more fitted to be a nun than to be an acrobat."
Work and writing
Among her jobs outside were a gardener in the Women's Land ArmyWomen's Land Army
The Women's Land Army was a British civilian organisation created during the First and Second World Wars to work in agriculture replacing men called up to the military. Women who worked for the WLA were commonly known as Land Girls...
, a matron in a camp for conscripted girl munitions workers, an army canteen hostess peeling potatoes and once a photographer offered her a job developing "dirty pictures" in his cellar. After that she was an assistant librarian and then a War Office employee.
In 1949, she published a memoir, I Leap Over The Wall: A Return to the World after Twenty-eight Years in a Convent. The book, later sub-titled, Contrasts and impressions after... is a memoir of some of the contrasts between life in an enclosed convent and life out in the contemporary world. Baldwin relates how she could not recall reading a newspaper during the entire course of the First World War. When she entered, the popular use of telephones, cinema and radio were in their infancy; when she left they were common in England.
Her novel, The Called and the Chosen, written as the diary of Sister Ursula Auberon, an enclosed nun at the Abbaye de la Sainte Croix, Framleghen, was published in 1957 by Farrar, Straus & Cudahy. The book followed the 1956 publication of The Nun's Story
The Nun's Story
The Nun's Story is the title of a 1956 novel by Kathryn Hulme. The book was a Book of the Month selection and reached #1 on the New York Times best-seller list....
, a novel by Kathryn Hulme
Kathryn Hulme
Kathryn Hulme was an American author and memoirist most noted for her novel The Nun's Story. The book is often, mistakenly, understood to be semi-biographical.-Writing:...
.
Personal life
In the 1960s Baldwin lived on AlderneyAlderney
Alderney is the most northerly of the Channel Islands. It is part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey, a British Crown dependency. It is long and wide. The area is , making it the third-largest island of the Channel Islands, and the second largest in the Bailiwick...
in the Channel Islands
Channel Islands
The Channel Islands are an archipelago of British Crown Dependencies in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They include two separate bailiwicks: the Bailiwick of Guernsey and the Bailiwick of Jersey...
. She died in 1975.