Wendy Beckett

Sister Wendy Beckett (born 1930) is a South African nun who became an unlikely celebrity during the 1990s, presenting a series of acclaimed art history documentaries for the BBC.

Biography

She was born in South Africa and raised in Scotland. She became a nun in 1946 in the order of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur. She was sent to England to begin her novitiate and studied at St Anne's College at Oxford. Outside of her academic studies, she lived in a convent that maintained a strict code of silence.

After completing a teaching diploma in 1954, she returned to South Africa to teach at the University of the Witwatersrand. Health problems in 1970 forced her to abandon teaching and return to England to live with a Carmelite order. She spent many years translating Medieval Latin scripts before deciding to pursue her favorite subject of art in 1980.

She currently lives in a monastery at Quindenham in Norfolk in the east of England. Besides receiving her prioress and the nun who brings her provisions, she dedicates her life solely to monastic solitude and prayer, but allows herself two hours of work per day.

Work

In addition to writing more than a dozen books, Sister Wendy has narrated the documentaries:

• Sister Wendy's Odyssey (1992)
• Sister Wendy's Grand Tour (1997)
• Sister Wendy's Story of Painting (1997)
• Sister Wendy's American Collection (2001)