Poor Sister Luc-Gabrielle, aka, the Singing Nun. In the last essay, I had mentioned her record, with the still-famous song, "Dominique," and had then nearly forgotten her again. But in telling my wife about the comedic incident in childhood that involved her record, she said, "She ended so sadly. She left the convent and couldn't make it on her own, and I think she committed suicide."
I was floored - no, not the Singing Nun! I have for decades kept her image in mind, not often but now and then, as the perfect, beautiful woman, like The Virgin, so wonderful that she was beyond the the grimy mawing paws of mere mortal men like me. Suicide? So I looked her up on Wikipedia and found that it was true, and more. For a short synopsis:
Jeanine Decker, or Sister Luc-Gabrielle, a Belgian, was encouraged by her Dominican order to bring the music she made to a producer, and managed an arrangement with Philips Records in 1961. By 1963, the year my essay takes place, her album, thanks to the hit "Dominique" (which was in French originally, but had English, too, when I bought the record) had sold over 2 million copies. Philips had kept most of the profits, while the remainder went to the Order, as is the custom with orders with vows of poverty. This is a fact summed up by the English words to "Dominique" : "never looking for reward, he just talks about the lord." The Singing Nun knew.
She left the convent in 1966, to do social work with the lay Dominicans; by her own statements, she left because the order wouldn't let her write any songs that were not happy and uplifting. Once out of the order, she resumed her career, but because she could not use the name contracted with Philips (the Singing Nun) perhaps because she was no longer a nun, she gained no traction. After this failure, she had a nervous breakdown and then underwent 2 years of psychotherapy.
At about the same time, she moved in with an old classmate, Annie Pechan, with whom, as the blurb puts it, she developed a "VERY close relationship - apparently of a sexual nature. She had a brief revival in the early 70's, teaming up with a Catholic charity, but that quickly fizzled. Trying to make a comeback with "Dominique" in the early 80's, she (unbelievably) tried to make a Disco version. It failed. Meanwhile, her companion's school for autistic children also became bankrupt. At that time, the Belgian government began harassing Jeanine for back taxes, even though she had not made anything for herself from her one successful album. In 1983, the two took overdoses of barbiturates with alcohol, leaving behind a note that stated financial difficulties. By request, they were buried together in Belgium.
The piece in Wikipedia printed two pictures - one of the Singing Nun with guitar and the other of the tombstone of Jeanine and Annie. In the first, Jeanine is seated with her guitar - sans nun garb - wearing heavy -rimed glasses. She is, overall, homely, not alluring to this man at all. Although she appeared in the Ed Sullivan Show in 1965, I do not recall this homely rendition. The other picture shows a beautiful stone and memorial to the women, well attended and flourishing with flowers. Obviously, she has maintained a steady fan base after her death.
The ironies and idiosyncrasies of her life are many, but two things (besides her disappointing portrait and her love life) strike me most: her continuation of care for social ills, and her need for fame.
It might be that her need for fame was really a need for cash, but why the nervous breakdown? Also, hers was not a country of starvation, and she had at least passing skills in several areas - at the very least, of caring for people. No, I think she needed the limelight as she had once briefly had it. The irony is that she had already dedicated herself to poverty; and even after leaving the order for artistic reasons, she continued with her prayer and human aid. She was not a Mic Jagger by any means, and probably a better person in life than I will ever be. It is probable that she suffered from depression - but suicide for a woman who believed it to be a mortal sin? And over lack of funds?
I think her position mirrors many of our own: we cherish family and love and life over possessions, yet are driven by social prestige to have more and to need more. In relation to this, I have discovered something in my readings and in life about the workings of Providence: that it hardly if ever is concerned with wealth at all. Instead, it is focused on development, not of any kind, but of spiritual development (my Kingdom is not of this earth). If that is your path, you will be helped - but watch out. Do not accept that path and expect an easy life, as many successful preachers tell us. God or "Being" sees, as they say, the Big Picture (to say the least). This may mean failure from the social standpoint, or illness or any other number of disasters. In eternity, these are small things.
I think it can best be stated: if you want wealth, do not expect to get anything besides wealth; and if you want love and/or spirit, do not expect to get anything more, either. But most of us- myself included- want both. I expect Sister Luc-Gabrielle did, too. But our designs, our wants, cannot run against the way things are, anymore than praying for the ocean to part will accomplish anything (unless there are bigger purposes afoot). I suppose we can decide on one and hope for the other, but they are not equivalent. Wanting and even working hard for material success will not always bring it; but wanting and working hard for spiritual success I think will always bring positive results in that direction. For that reason alone, it is obvious as to which side Providence is on.
My poor Singing Nun. In my essay, I for once eschewed the darker things for a brighter story of Christmas, which was true to the time it took place. Yet everything - the life that we in my family would live afterwards, the future of America, and even the future of the Singing Nun - would come to have a darker side. It is always the case, as it is in reverse as well. It is the law of Yin and Yang, and the underlying thesis to the practice of Buddhism. Do not, as the Buddhists would say, depend on anything but Being, that which is beyond all transience. For those of the West, this would mean: do not depend on anything but God. And I would add, expect nothing more but what God knows is important in your life - and trust in "It" to find this for you. Such is the moral found from another of those countless real-life tales, that of my poor Singing Nun. FK
I was floored - no, not the Singing Nun! I have for decades kept her image in mind, not often but now and then, as the perfect, beautiful woman, like The Virgin, so wonderful that she was beyond the the grimy mawing paws of mere mortal men like me. Suicide? So I looked her up on Wikipedia and found that it was true, and more. For a short synopsis:
Jeanine Decker, or Sister Luc-Gabrielle, a Belgian, was encouraged by her Dominican order to bring the music she made to a producer, and managed an arrangement with Philips Records in 1961. By 1963, the year my essay takes place, her album, thanks to the hit "Dominique" (which was in French originally, but had English, too, when I bought the record) had sold over 2 million copies. Philips had kept most of the profits, while the remainder went to the Order, as is the custom with orders with vows of poverty. This is a fact summed up by the English words to "Dominique" : "never looking for reward, he just talks about the lord." The Singing Nun knew.
She left the convent in 1966, to do social work with the lay Dominicans; by her own statements, she left because the order wouldn't let her write any songs that were not happy and uplifting. Once out of the order, she resumed her career, but because she could not use the name contracted with Philips (the Singing Nun) perhaps because she was no longer a nun, she gained no traction. After this failure, she had a nervous breakdown and then underwent 2 years of psychotherapy.
At about the same time, she moved in with an old classmate, Annie Pechan, with whom, as the blurb puts it, she developed a "VERY close relationship - apparently of a sexual nature. She had a brief revival in the early 70's, teaming up with a Catholic charity, but that quickly fizzled. Trying to make a comeback with "Dominique" in the early 80's, she (unbelievably) tried to make a Disco version. It failed. Meanwhile, her companion's school for autistic children also became bankrupt. At that time, the Belgian government began harassing Jeanine for back taxes, even though she had not made anything for herself from her one successful album. In 1983, the two took overdoses of barbiturates with alcohol, leaving behind a note that stated financial difficulties. By request, they were buried together in Belgium.
The piece in Wikipedia printed two pictures - one of the Singing Nun with guitar and the other of the tombstone of Jeanine and Annie. In the first, Jeanine is seated with her guitar - sans nun garb - wearing heavy -rimed glasses. She is, overall, homely, not alluring to this man at all. Although she appeared in the Ed Sullivan Show in 1965, I do not recall this homely rendition. The other picture shows a beautiful stone and memorial to the women, well attended and flourishing with flowers. Obviously, she has maintained a steady fan base after her death.
The ironies and idiosyncrasies of her life are many, but two things (besides her disappointing portrait and her love life) strike me most: her continuation of care for social ills, and her need for fame.
It might be that her need for fame was really a need for cash, but why the nervous breakdown? Also, hers was not a country of starvation, and she had at least passing skills in several areas - at the very least, of caring for people. No, I think she needed the limelight as she had once briefly had it. The irony is that she had already dedicated herself to poverty; and even after leaving the order for artistic reasons, she continued with her prayer and human aid. She was not a Mic Jagger by any means, and probably a better person in life than I will ever be. It is probable that she suffered from depression - but suicide for a woman who believed it to be a mortal sin? And over lack of funds?
I think her position mirrors many of our own: we cherish family and love and life over possessions, yet are driven by social prestige to have more and to need more. In relation to this, I have discovered something in my readings and in life about the workings of Providence: that it hardly if ever is concerned with wealth at all. Instead, it is focused on development, not of any kind, but of spiritual development (my Kingdom is not of this earth). If that is your path, you will be helped - but watch out. Do not accept that path and expect an easy life, as many successful preachers tell us. God or "Being" sees, as they say, the Big Picture (to say the least). This may mean failure from the social standpoint, or illness or any other number of disasters. In eternity, these are small things.
I think it can best be stated: if you want wealth, do not expect to get anything besides wealth; and if you want love and/or spirit, do not expect to get anything more, either. But most of us- myself included- want both. I expect Sister Luc-Gabrielle did, too. But our designs, our wants, cannot run against the way things are, anymore than praying for the ocean to part will accomplish anything (unless there are bigger purposes afoot). I suppose we can decide on one and hope for the other, but they are not equivalent. Wanting and even working hard for material success will not always bring it; but wanting and working hard for spiritual success I think will always bring positive results in that direction. For that reason alone, it is obvious as to which side Providence is on.
My poor Singing Nun. In my essay, I for once eschewed the darker things for a brighter story of Christmas, which was true to the time it took place. Yet everything - the life that we in my family would live afterwards, the future of America, and even the future of the Singing Nun - would come to have a darker side. It is always the case, as it is in reverse as well. It is the law of Yin and Yang, and the underlying thesis to the practice of Buddhism. Do not, as the Buddhists would say, depend on anything but Being, that which is beyond all transience. For those of the West, this would mean: do not depend on anything but God. And I would add, expect nothing more but what God knows is important in your life - and trust in "It" to find this for you. Such is the moral found from another of those countless real-life tales, that of my poor Singing Nun. FK
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