Firebrand swaps Marxism for quiet life in a convent

[emad]

Firebrand swaps Marxism for quiet life in a convent
From Richard Owen in Rome



DON CAMILLO, it seems, has had the last laugh: a former communist mayor in Sicily has turned her back on politics to become a nun in a closed order.

Maria Viglianti, a widowed mother of four, entered the Convent of the Visitation at Palermo this week with a new name, Sister Giovanna Francesca, after taking her vows before Cardinal Salvatore De Giorgi, the Archbishop of Palermo. Nuns in the convent take a vow of silence and spend their days in contemplation and prayer.

The move has astonished those who remember Signora Viglianti as the highly vocal and militant left-wing Mayor of Castel di Lucio, a small mountain town near Messina.

Signora Viglianti, was a schoolteacher who became a firebrand political activist in the 1980s, earning the nickname “La Pasionaria”. As mayor she led demonstrations against war, unemployment and poverty, and campaigned to stop the encroachment of buildings on a nature and woodland reserve. She even took on the Mafia, which she accused of siphoning off water supplies.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,173-1833616,00.html


A WHOLE NEW MEANING to 'vigilante politics' then?

[TallahasseeGrannie]

1. Ahhhhh

quiet...contemplation... prayer... no wardrobe decisions...no driving..

I could get used to that.

But I couldn't get used to living with a houseful of other women.

[IndianaGreen]

2. A perfect communist society

that's what the convent is and... all those women without any men around, a lesbian paradise!

[TallahasseeGrannie]

3. You know, I went to a girl's boarding school

and every time I mention that to a man, he wants to know about hanky panky!

[DerekG]

4. This shift from Marxism/radicalism to Catholicism is not unprecedented

Thomas Merton and Dorothy Day had at least some history with Marxism before turning to Christ. I suppose that at some point, these firebrands found the ideology of politics to be insufficient/unrewarding, and chose instead to partake in a revolution of the spirit.