'What Do Nuns Do All Day?' Inside the Fascinating Life of a Catholic Benedictine Nun

What do nuns do all day? 🤔

Sister Walburga, a Catholic Benedictine nun from the United Kingdom, provided the answer in a series of viral X (Formerly Twitter) posts. She resides with her community of nuns at Minster Abbey.

"What do nuns do all day?" Sister Walburga wrote. "The short answer is pray. If you want the long answer, here's a thread for you."

The Benedictine nun provided a step-by-step preview of how her community spends the day. They rise at 5:30 a.m. and pray in the chapel at 6:00 am. The sisters then spend their day praying, working, and in community.

They pray the Divine Office, attend daily Mass, work, and eat in silence. Their day is also very centered on community life.

As of this writing, Sister Walburga's post generated almost 1,000 saves, more than 6,000 likes, and nearly 400,000 views.

Here's Sister Walburga's full explanation below:

Here's the full text of Sister Walburga's thread:

"Here at Minster Abbey we rise at 5:30 a.m. and are in chapel by 6 a.m. The first service of the day is Vigils (Office of Readings).

It is made up of Psalms, a hymn, a scripture reading, and a reading either from a patristic reading or a reading related to the saint of the day.

After Vigils, we have 1 and 1/2 hours for personal prayer, Lectio Divina (praying with scripture), and breakfast. Lauds or Morning Prayer is at 8.30, followed by Mass at 9 a.m.

After Mass, we have our morning work. Each Sister has assigned tasks and job roles in the monastery. One of my roles is librarian.

At 12, we pray the Angelus and at 12:15 we gather in the chapel again for Midday Prayer.

Like all of the prayer services of the Divine Office, it is made up mainly of Psalms and other scripture. Lunch follows.

In Benedictine life, community is key. We all eat together. The meal is in silence while a Sister reads to us.

There's a rota for washing up, then we have some free time for rest, exercise, hobbies, reading, etc.

At 3 p.m., we all gather for recreation, a chance to have a cup of tea, and a chat since we try to keep silent outside of this time.

Sometimes we do jobs at Recreation like peeling apples and sometimes we chat with guests. The afternoon work time follows.

Again sisters will be doing a variety of tasks at this time. [At] 5:30, we have silent Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, followed by Vespers. (Evening Prayer) at 6 we sing Vespers in Latin. Supper follows.

Again we eat together in silence, followed by Compline, Night Prayer, the last service of the day.

Then bed! Up again to do it all again the next day.

Thanks be to God!"

X (Formerly Twitter) Users Respond to a Benedictine Nun's Daily Life

Sister Walburga's post generated approximately 140 comments. Many users asked more questions!

Here's how some people responded:

"An excellent thread - what a great use of X to share interesting information and learn about others. Do you all have smartphones?" one user asked.

"Thank you. Some of us do," Sister Walburga responded.

"Rather a silly question, but do you all get [along] with each other?" another user asked.

"Not always!" Sister Walburga responded. "But we take a vow of stability– that we will stay in this particular community, so we have to learn to work through difficulties."

"Being silent most of the time helps?" this user chimed in.

"Yes, it's often said the more you talk the more likely you are to sin!" Sister Walburga responded.

Another user added, "Dear Sisters, Thank you so much for your prayers we’re in dire need of [in] a world that is barely hanging on by a thin thread. May Our Lord grant us many more holy religious vocations, especially sisters."

What do you think about how these Benedictine nuns spend their day?