Three elderly nuns flee Austrian retirement home to return to abandoned convent

Three Catholic nuns who ran away from their retirement home in Austria to squat in their former convent say they have not committed a crime.

Sisters Rita, Regina and Bernadette – all now aged in their 80s – spent decades living and teaching at the Goldenstein Monastery in Elsbethen, near Salzburg.

The trio were taken from the convent two years ago on the grounds they could not live independently and relocated to a retirement home in the nearby town, Oberalm.

But the nuns claimed they were taken against their will and insist they are capable of caring for themselves.

Earlier this month, the nuns returned to their old convent with the help of some former students and a locksmith.

The nuns have moved back to their former convent in Elsbethen near Salzburg. / Credit: EBU

“It’s not a break-in,” Sister Bernadette said.

“The basis for this is our contract of transfer, which states that we can stay here until the end of our lives.

“And we are now exercising that right again, that we can indeed stay here until the end of our lives.

“This is not a crime or anything like that.”

The building had fallen into disrepair and kitchen and elevator were blocked off.

But water and electricity have since been restored to the site.

Sister Bernadette said it was their right to move back into their former convent. / Credit: EBU

The nuns are financially dependent on outside help because their bank accounts have been frozen.

But former students and volunteers have been supporting the nuns with food and other assistance.

A doctor has also visited to check on the sisters’ health.

Subscribe free to our weekly newsletter for exclusive and original coverage from ITV News. Direct to your inbox every Friday morning.

“It’s simply a matter of audacity,” Sister Bernadette said.

“They promised us things and we believed everything, we believed that we would never be lied to.

“And then the whole contract turns out to be a lie, because everything has been revoked.”

But the convent’s Provost called the move “completely incomprehensible” as the rooms were no longer usable” and did not meet “the requirements for proper care”.