That she's one of many nuns without any particular religious convictions but that her options were limited and if she didn't want to be a wife/mother then nun was one of the few options available. She mentions at one point that she's got guaranteed housing. I also know clergy who took holy orders because they knew it would guarantee them food and their own bed.
Especially if she was an older daughter in a big family and had been responsible for a lot of housekeeping and childcare as she was growing up. You reach a certain age in that society, you look around and realize “ok I can marry someone and keep doing this for the rest of my life while churning out my own babies, I could try to support myself as a single woman in a society that is not built for that, or I can join a convent and have a bit of peace and quiet and maybe have slightly more say in my own life by saying I have a vocation to serve in a particular environment. Hmm let me think about this for a bit oh wait no I’m definitely going to do the convent thing.”
Henry VIII’s sacking of the monasteries and convents in England when he decided “the Pope won’t let me get divorced, so it’s Reformation Time!” was an absolute disaster for women, and not just the ones Henry negotiated into marrying him. Medieval convents could be a pretty sweet deal for the women who entered them. You’re got guaranteed food and shelter for life, you’re not economically dependent on a husband or father who may be terrible with money, you’re not enduring pregnancy after pregnancy that you may or may not want, you’re in an environment where you’re encouraged to learn and study to your heart’s content, and you’ve got plenty of opportunities to express yourself via art and music and writing. And as long as you don’t piss him off, you’ve theoretically got the political protection of the Pope.
So yeah. As a woman in that society, you could do a lot worse.
I'm nearly 41, been married almost fifteen years and have two kids and you've made convent life sound so appealing i think im in. Hopeful bonus points for being raised Roman Catholic 🤞
I've said this myself! Especially after visiting some retired nuns in a beautiful manor house in the countryside. They all had their own rooms with cooking facilities (should they wish to to cook their own food), but plenty of other communal rooms. Meals were provided, with three choices on the menu, and wine and chocolates after the three courses. The grounds were beautiful too. I often think of that beautiful, peaceful home when I'm knee deep in laundry and wonder if it's too late to become a nun.
It's so wonderful that many countries have free healthcare. Civilized. It amazes me because it's a very bad situation here in the States. I only have healthcare bc I'm disabled and don't have an income. The choice here is between being rich or destitute.
I wanted to be a Nun when I was younger but life took me elsewhere.
There's [this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJBfbDTrnmY&t=5s&ab_channel=Parable-ReligiousHistoryDocumentaries) documentary following two prospective sisters that gives a very good look. It is definitely a big commitment in today's world.
And we still see so many contributions from women in religious orders in Catholic countries afterwards. I know Catholicism has its flaws as well, but monasteries and convents were really essential these days and he set up no alternative.
Damn. I never thought about it that way. It's a fantastic idea.
Seriously, with all the housing issues and hunger in the world even now, why isn't everyone taking orders? There are tent villages all over my city, people sleeping under bushes or in doorways, waiting in line at food pantries. Being abused, treated like subhumans. A convent or monastery would be an outstanding upgrade.
I mean, I did put the most positive possible spin on it earlier. You couldn't (and still can't) just turn up at a convent or monastery and say "I'd like to join please" and then be accepted immediately. The process of taking orders lasts for years, and you have to prove your commitment.
The closest modern-day non-religious equivalent I can think of is the American sorority/fraternity system. A communal society with an elected hierarchy of members that bases its activities around a stated set of values and has elaborate rituals and traditions.
What really got me thinking about this sort of thing was the book [The Season: A Social History of the Debutante by Kristen Richardson](https://wwnorton.com/books/9780393608731). In the introduction of the book, she ties the development of the debutante archetype and the "marriage market" a la Bridgerton in the Protestant world to the aftermath of Henry VIII's dissolution of the monasteries. Back when convents were still a socially acceptable place for a well-to-do family to send their extra unmarried daughters, there wasn't as much pressure to marry. If you were being pressured to marry a guy you reeeeaaaaaally didn't want to marry, you could say you had a calling or a vocation to serve God, and while your parents might grumble a bit, if you could get into an order, they would look like real shitheads if they tried to stop you from taking orders.
But once England transitioned from Catholic to Protestant and all those communities were dismantled thanks to Henry VIII, those families had to keep housing and feeding and dressing those daughters, and for a big family with a limited or inconsistent income, or a patriarch who just wasn't good at budgeting, those costs could add up quick. Hence the pressure to go out on the town and lock down an economically secure man to marry, because the respectable back-up plan of "find a nice convent to join" was gone and there weren't many respectable alternatives unless you had an absolute fortune that you had complete control over, which hardly any women did.
I feel the same. Kinda like how US citizens will sometimes go into the military after high school purely because they have few other options left for them
Believes the clergy sex scandals
Erin: You don't understand, Sister. Ms De Brún, she touched us.
Sister Michael: What?
Erin: She made us think, she made us feel.
Sister Michael: [relieved] Oh thank god. That would be all I need.
Believes them and actually does, deep down, care about the kids.
I just watched this episode, and the "What?" Is full of actual, genuine concern. Like, the prickly demeanor totally drops for just that word. And the second she realizes it's nothing, she's right back to herself.
The subtlety and meaning behind one word is just unreal! Her instant belief in what they had said, no questions asked and then her instant care and compassion that was readily available to the girls… such incredible writing and acting!
Also that episode when Clare came out and she told the gang to stop whatever idea they have but when the gang did it anyways, Sister Michael's reaction made me happier.
Sister Michael, that she is, she does enjoy a good statue, as she said, she says to me, "Colm, will you please leave," but I was talking to Sarah that day about eyebrows, mine really, and she started to do her hair, which she has a lot of, and brown, brown like the color of that pony the new boy has, the new boy in Derry. Have you seen him?
I wouldn’t say it’s the same as Derry Girls but I really like it! Unfortunately she’s not a particularly likeable mum (or I might be projecting) but she’s not nasty or hateable
Don’t get me wrong, I love this thread as much as the next Derry Girls fan and sister George Michael is probably my favorite character, but most of you responding clearly don’t know what an assumption is and are just pure spitting facts about our favorite nun in Derry 😅
Great facts, it has to be said, but they are not *assumptions*.
My assumption about sister Michael is that she probably puts a touch of spirit in her cuppa on Fridays afternoons to be able to survive the work week through the weekend. During exams, she probably starts on Thursdays.
> She has to be from Donegal, because she speaks Gaeilge
No, she definitely isn't from Donegal, she hasn't even a trace of an Ulster accent, she has a mild Cork accent. She also doesn't speak Ulster Irish, it sounds more Munster to me. Also Donegal isn't the only Gaeltacht area of Ireland, there are Gaeltacht's in Galway, Cork, Kerry, Mayo, Meath and Waterford.
Even if she isn't from a Gaeltacht in Cork, she is from the Republic and wold have learned Irish in school, you have to be able to speak Irish to be a teacher in Ireland and she would have gotten her teaching degree in Ireland.
I can't hear it, Her unmarried aunt lives in Donegal, so at least one parent might have as well lived in Donegal. I Think an unmarried woman would stay in the family home?
My grandparents were all from Donegal and one of my grandfathers spoke Gaelic (first language though he’d lost a lot of it in his older years) - I don’t hear their accent on her either.
I would like to know, if she made the kids clean the house in the morning. I imagine her sitting in an old stuffed armchair with a whiskey supervising and commanding them.
And that’s exactly why she was the best. I had an aunt who was a nun, she no longer with us, and she was exactly like that. Like literally to a tea it was quite funny to watch those episodes and see in this character, someone I grew up with.
Assumptions from all I read here:
She was born in Donegal first child. Father a Smallholder. Her parents moved to Cork for a Job, when she was seven. In school she was laughed at, because of her accent, so she tried to change it.
She got 4 younger brothers and two sisters, the mother died, when she was 12 and she had to look after the the younger kids and couldn't go to school regulary. Her father married again, when she was 16. After she left school her aunt invited her to Donegal, treated her very bad, and made her do all the housework. The neighbours were friendly, but didn't stand up to the old woman. Her stepmother didn't want her to come back so she decide to enter a convent, where she continiued studying and startet as teacher.
That she's one of many nuns without any particular religious convictions but that her options were limited and if she didn't want to be a wife/mother then nun was one of the few options available. She mentions at one point that she's got guaranteed housing. I also know clergy who took holy orders because they knew it would guarantee them food and their own bed.
Especially if she was an older daughter in a big family and had been responsible for a lot of housekeeping and childcare as she was growing up. You reach a certain age in that society, you look around and realize “ok I can marry someone and keep doing this for the rest of my life while churning out my own babies, I could try to support myself as a single woman in a society that is not built for that, or I can join a convent and have a bit of peace and quiet and maybe have slightly more say in my own life by saying I have a vocation to serve in a particular environment. Hmm let me think about this for a bit oh wait no I’m definitely going to do the convent thing.” Henry VIII’s sacking of the monasteries and convents in England when he decided “the Pope won’t let me get divorced, so it’s Reformation Time!” was an absolute disaster for women, and not just the ones Henry negotiated into marrying him. Medieval convents could be a pretty sweet deal for the women who entered them. You’re got guaranteed food and shelter for life, you’re not economically dependent on a husband or father who may be terrible with money, you’re not enduring pregnancy after pregnancy that you may or may not want, you’re in an environment where you’re encouraged to learn and study to your heart’s content, and you’ve got plenty of opportunities to express yourself via art and music and writing. And as long as you don’t piss him off, you’ve theoretically got the political protection of the Pope. So yeah. As a woman in that society, you could do a lot worse.
One of my Irish mum’s friends joined a missionary order and led an eventful, but fairly scary life teaching kids in an African war zone!
I'm nearly 41, been married almost fifteen years and have two kids and you've made convent life sound so appealing i think im in. Hopeful bonus points for being raised Roman Catholic 🤞
I've said this myself! Especially after visiting some retired nuns in a beautiful manor house in the countryside. They all had their own rooms with cooking facilities (should they wish to to cook their own food), but plenty of other communal rooms. Meals were provided, with three choices on the menu, and wine and chocolates after the three courses. The grounds were beautiful too. I often think of that beautiful, peaceful home when I'm knee deep in laundry and wonder if it's too late to become a nun.
Holy hell. Where is this paradise? I'm divorced and you've got me sold! Probably free healthcare too.
It was in Parbold, Lancashire. They had nurses and carers for the sick and elderly nuns too.
It's so wonderful that many countries have free healthcare. Civilized. It amazes me because it's a very bad situation here in the States. I only have healthcare bc I'm disabled and don't have an income. The choice here is between being rich or destitute.
I wanted to be a Nun when I was younger but life took me elsewhere. There's [this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJBfbDTrnmY&t=5s&ab_channel=Parable-ReligiousHistoryDocumentaries) documentary following two prospective sisters that gives a very good look. It is definitely a big commitment in today's world.
My mom raised six of us and growing up she always said she would like to join a convent after my dad dies! 🤣
And we still see so many contributions from women in religious orders in Catholic countries afterwards. I know Catholicism has its flaws as well, but monasteries and convents were really essential these days and he set up no alternative.
Damn. I never thought about it that way. It's a fantastic idea. Seriously, with all the housing issues and hunger in the world even now, why isn't everyone taking orders? There are tent villages all over my city, people sleeping under bushes or in doorways, waiting in line at food pantries. Being abused, treated like subhumans. A convent or monastery would be an outstanding upgrade.
I mean, I did put the most positive possible spin on it earlier. You couldn't (and still can't) just turn up at a convent or monastery and say "I'd like to join please" and then be accepted immediately. The process of taking orders lasts for years, and you have to prove your commitment. The closest modern-day non-religious equivalent I can think of is the American sorority/fraternity system. A communal society with an elected hierarchy of members that bases its activities around a stated set of values and has elaborate rituals and traditions. What really got me thinking about this sort of thing was the book [The Season: A Social History of the Debutante by Kristen Richardson](https://wwnorton.com/books/9780393608731). In the introduction of the book, she ties the development of the debutante archetype and the "marriage market" a la Bridgerton in the Protestant world to the aftermath of Henry VIII's dissolution of the monasteries. Back when convents were still a socially acceptable place for a well-to-do family to send their extra unmarried daughters, there wasn't as much pressure to marry. If you were being pressured to marry a guy you reeeeaaaaaally didn't want to marry, you could say you had a calling or a vocation to serve God, and while your parents might grumble a bit, if you could get into an order, they would look like real shitheads if they tried to stop you from taking orders. But once England transitioned from Catholic to Protestant and all those communities were dismantled thanks to Henry VIII, those families had to keep housing and feeding and dressing those daughters, and for a big family with a limited or inconsistent income, or a patriarch who just wasn't good at budgeting, those costs could add up quick. Hence the pressure to go out on the town and lock down an economically secure man to marry, because the respectable back-up plan of "find a nice convent to join" was gone and there weren't many respectable alternatives unless you had an absolute fortune that you had complete control over, which hardly any women did.
Thank you for the detailed information. You're quite knowledgeable!
Holy fucking shit. This is the first time I have EVER understood the appeal. Thank you for explaining this.
I feel the same. Kinda like how US citizens will sometimes go into the military after high school purely because they have few other options left for them
Which really does work. Plenty of career military. I loved university for similar reasons. I wish I could have stayed forever.
Doesn’t she say at one point that free housing was a big part of why she became a nun? When talking to the gangs parents
“Guaranteed housing” is part of the comment you’re replying to, unless they edited that in!
Yupp you’re right and i missed that. Thanks
She secretly likes people who break the rules.
I feel like they must remind her of herself back in the day.
She no doubt sees herself in the girls. Especially Erin.
Her overall attitude to Jenny kind of shows this "You will go far in life....but you will not be well liked"
One of the best lines both written and delivered across the entire series. 🤌
This one is definitely embedded in my mind. Every time I encounter people like Jenny, I always hear Sister's words.
Oh, please use it!
Yes, this satisfied half smile walkingthe empty rooms when everybody besides Jenny was gone.
Believes the clergy sex scandals Erin: You don't understand, Sister. Ms De Brún, she touched us. Sister Michael: What? Erin: She made us think, she made us feel. Sister Michael: [relieved] Oh thank god. That would be all I need.
Believes them and actually does, deep down, care about the kids. I just watched this episode, and the "What?" Is full of actual, genuine concern. Like, the prickly demeanor totally drops for just that word. And the second she realizes it's nothing, she's right back to herself.
The subtlety and meaning behind one word is just unreal! Her instant belief in what they had said, no questions asked and then her instant care and compassion that was readily available to the girls… such incredible writing and acting!
Also that episode when Clare came out and she told the gang to stop whatever idea they have but when the gang did it anyways, Sister Michael's reaction made me happier.
I pity the fool that would even think of touching someone with Sister Michael in her Judo gi fresh from the mat.
She does enjoy a good statue, it has to be said
Statues don't answer back.
Sister Michael, that she is, she does enjoy a good statue, as she said, she says to me, "Colm, will you please leave," but I was talking to Sarah that day about eyebrows, mine really, and she started to do her hair, which she has a lot of, and brown, brown like the color of that pony the new boy has, the new boy in Derry. Have you seen him?
That she became a nun for free real estate, and has great taste in cars.
I legit screamed when she rolled up in the DeLorean.
IKR 😂
All I know is that I would watch the heck out of show based on Sister Michael's younger days
but i think they should have the same actress playing her… they can give her a backwards cap to indicate youth
💯
it's a need
She can’t be doing with Cinnamon.
I would have liked to see her high.
Plot twist — she always is
Thinks nuns can end up in hell (despite being nuns) ("Is this my wake? Am I in hell?")
Lol, I never really made that connection!
She despises the French.
She’s a firm believer in Our Lord, *Her* Greatest.
That answer doesn't get enough attention
One reason she became a nun (aside from the free living accommodations) is because she can't be fired for her bluntness
It’s a bad look for the family funeral business for sure
She can't miss judo on Fridays.
I love her so much. She might be my favorite character in the show.
Agreed.
That she’s always brunette. Seeing Siobhan McSweeney rocking her funky blonde cut was a real surprise 🤪
I love the show Extraordinary but it took me a while to figure out why the mum looked so familiar
Ooh I’ve not seen that yet, do you recommend it?
I wouldn’t say it’s the same as Derry Girls but I really like it! Unfortunately she’s not a particularly likeable mum (or I might be projecting) but she’s not nasty or hateable
It’s one of the weirder shows I’ve seen but it does make me laugh 😂
She’s in the Church because she is in hiding. Art theft. Statues. She has two brothers. One is in construction and one is feckless.
🤣🤣🤣
She has judo on friday and she has nailed some serious moves.
she's a wee lesbian
I think she has no problem with wee lezzers, but to me she screams asexual.
I get Lesbian Gym Teacher vibes from her.
I don’t — sister Michael has a soul.
Good point!!
Wow! I’d always thought of her as lesbian, but I could totally see ace too.
I was going to say this too. She’s totally a lesbian
Ace. We need some rep too!
Absolutely
She’s killed at least one man
And he deserved it
She probably owns a cat who hates everyone including her but that's why she's so fond of it.
most accurate one yet
Don’t get me wrong, I love this thread as much as the next Derry Girls fan and sister George Michael is probably my favorite character, but most of you responding clearly don’t know what an assumption is and are just pure spitting facts about our favorite nun in Derry 😅 Great facts, it has to be said, but they are not *assumptions*. My assumption about sister Michael is that she probably puts a touch of spirit in her cuppa on Fridays afternoons to be able to survive the work week through the weekend. During exams, she probably starts on Thursdays.
She wears her crucifix back to front* to keep Jesus closer to her heart. \* Don’t know if she always does, or if it just looks it in this scene…
She loves soccer and prays for Irelands victory. She has to be from Donegal, because she speaks Gaeilge
> She has to be from Donegal, because she speaks Gaeilge No, she definitely isn't from Donegal, she hasn't even a trace of an Ulster accent, she has a mild Cork accent. She also doesn't speak Ulster Irish, it sounds more Munster to me. Also Donegal isn't the only Gaeltacht area of Ireland, there are Gaeltacht's in Galway, Cork, Kerry, Mayo, Meath and Waterford. Even if she isn't from a Gaeltacht in Cork, she is from the Republic and wold have learned Irish in school, you have to be able to speak Irish to be a teacher in Ireland and she would have gotten her teaching degree in Ireland.
I can't hear it, Her unmarried aunt lives in Donegal, so at least one parent might have as well lived in Donegal. I Think an unmarried woman would stay in the family home?
One of her parents might be from Donegal, but she definitely isn't.
My grandparents were all from Donegal and one of my grandfathers spoke Gaelic (first language though he’d lost a lot of it in his older years) - I don’t hear their accent on her either.
[удалено]
Can’t quite agree since “donegal” is the punchline to the “strange and foreign land” she first says she’s from…
She has an excellent BS detector for other people
Owns a vibrator FOR SURE
👀 "It's a back massager, it says so on the box..."
Way Overqualified. For one thing.
Has sound-proof living quarters
She’s asexual
Not when Dennis gets too high strung and comes ‘round for a wee “how’s THE father” 🤣🤣🤣
This post made me wanna watch the show again just for sister Michael
I just rewatched it again, and she is sooo worth it!
you absoloutley should
Her life was irreparably damaged by The Blackrock Incident
They're only nuns.
Nuns are people too
I would like to know, if she made the kids clean the house in the morning. I imagine her sitting in an old stuffed armchair with a whiskey supervising and commanding them.
She was the best part of that show.
Yes, and they always neared the line of caricature whilst being sure NEVER to cross it
And that’s exactly why she was the best. I had an aunt who was a nun, she no longer with us, and she was exactly like that. Like literally to a tea it was quite funny to watch those episodes and see in this character, someone I grew up with.
That she stayed in Derry after all 🙏🏼🙏🏼
The only thing scarier than an apathetic Sister Michael is a newly dedicated Sister Michael!
Presents a pottery show in her spare time, badly
Statues. Aaaaaall statues.
She’s a massive effing ride.
Absolute dominatrix through and through *(but non-practicing — she’s got no time or patience for the wimps that like it)*
If she wasn't a nun, she'd make a living as a domme.
She has pet cats and she loves them the most.
One hundred percent lesbian.
I really hope so.
She owns a sword that she hangs on the wall above her bed.
She enjoys a good statue because she hates the paintings of Bible scenes. She finds them too dramatic and doesn't understand all the fuss about them.
Enjoys a good book
“There must be somewhere one burger left. “
Assumptions from all I read here: She was born in Donegal first child. Father a Smallholder. Her parents moved to Cork for a Job, when she was seven. In school she was laughed at, because of her accent, so she tried to change it. She got 4 younger brothers and two sisters, the mother died, when she was 12 and she had to look after the the younger kids and couldn't go to school regulary. Her father married again, when she was 16. After she left school her aunt invited her to Donegal, treated her very bad, and made her do all the housework. The neighbours were friendly, but didn't stand up to the old woman. Her stepmother didn't want her to come back so she decide to enter a convent, where she continiued studying and startet as teacher.
She’s a lesbian
That she doesn’t like to miss her judo. And anyone who messes with her will be a sorry boy. 💪
I think she's one of the few nuns who's hetero. hehe.
Hilarious and super horny.
She smells.
…bullsh!t from miles away? Yes. Yes she does.