FAQ

The Nun's Story is a 1956 novel by American author Kathryn Hulme (1900-1981). The novel is a slightly fictionalized biographical account of Hulme's friend, Marie Louise Habets, a Belgian nurse and ex-nun of the Sisters of Charity of Jesus and Mary. Her religious name was Sister Marie-Xaverine.

As the daughter of a professor of tropical medicine, Gabrielle (Audrey Hepburn) wanted to follow in his footsteps and devote herself to doing "God's work" in the Belgian Congo. With those two goals in mind, plus the fact that one of the few ways a Catholic woman at that time in history (pre-WWII) could become a scientist or physician was to join a convent. Gaby believed that this was the route for her.

It was commonplace in most orders. New life = new name. In some orders, like in this movie, a nun would be assigned a totally new name. In others, she would keep her Christian name. In still others, she could choose to keep her Christian name or to choose a new one. For example, St. Therese of Lisieux (baptized Marie Françoise Thérèse) kept her name. St. Catherine Labouré was called Zoé as a child, but Catherine had always been her second name. St. Bernadette went by "M. Bernard". She chose the name herself, in honor of her aunt and sponsor. Many nuns also take "Mary" before their name in religion, e.g., Sr Mary Catherine, Sr Mary Louise, Sr Mary Margaret, etc. This is usually shortened to M., as in M. Bernard.

They deliberately didn't name the order in the film. The woman who was the real-life inspiration for Sister Luke, Marie-Louise Habets, joined the Congregation of the Sisters of Charity of Jesus and Mary in Belgium in 1927 and left the order in 1944. The order was founded in 1803 in the Belgian city of Ghent by Father Peter Joseph Triest. There are other orders with "Sisters of Charity" in their name, and this particular order is not affiliated with those. Most notably, St. Vincent de Paul founded the Daughters of Charity in 1633 and some congregations related to that order are known as Sisters of Charity. The habits in this film closely resemble the ones worn in the era depicted by the Belgian order of the Sisters of Charity of Jesus and Mary.

Jean was Gabrielle's fiancé. When she leaves home to enter the convent, she places several items behind with a note that says: Please return to Jean. The items include a bracelet, a fountain pen, a photo of Jean, and her engagement ring. On second thought, she picks up the fountain pen and takes it with her. This is the same Jean that her father refers to later in the movie when he says "Jean never married." The pen also figures later in the movie when the Mistress of Postulants orders the postulants to deposit in a basket anything that represents a tie to the past. Gabrielle puts the pen in the basket.

The native man who killed Sister Aurelie (Dorothy Alison) believed that he was being haunted by the spirit of his dead wife. His witch doctor had told him he needed to kill a white woman to exorcise that ghost. It is a critical part of the movie, because when the other natives see that the nuns forgive the killer instead of doing what they would do (tie him to a stake and cut him up for fishbait), Illunga (Errol John) converts to Catholicism. So, from a nun's point of view, Sister Aurelie's death is not in vain. In fact, she had just told Sister Luke that she would give anything to convert Illunga.

A "dowry" is a sum of money, real estate, or goods offered by a bride's family as her contribution to the beginning of a marriage at a time when few women had educations, careers, or the prospect of a career. Catholic nuns become the bride of Christ, thus the dowry from her family. A nun's dowry was supposed to be held in "escrow". That is, the order held the sum of money and could use the interest from it, but they could not use the principal during the nun's lifetime lest she leave the order and it needed to go back to her.

After changing into civilian clothes, Sister Luke leaves the convent, walks down the alley, hesitates, looks left then heads off to the right. It's up to each viewer to decide where she might have gone. Some say that she went back to the Congo to work with Dr Fortunati (Peter Finch), while others think that she joined the Resistance. Marie-Louise Habets, the real-life inspiration for the Sister Luke character, joined the Resistance, then worked in displaced person camps. At one of these camps, she met Kathryn Hulme, the book's author. The two women became friends, moved to Arizona, and then to Hawaii.