These two nuns met in a convent, fell head over heels in love and renounced their vows to God to be together
Monica and Peg
Monica Hingston met Peg in a Catholic convent in Chile, and the pair went on to fall “head over heels” in love with each other.
Australian woman Hingston became a nun at the age of 21 but later became “disenchanted” with the path she had chosen, she wrote in an article for The Guardian.
When she was given the chance to travel to Chile, where two Australian Mercies were already working, she leapt at the opportunity.
That year, in 1983, Hingston met the love of her life in the form of Peg, an American Franciscan nun who had spent 17 years working in Chile.
“It wasn’t love at first sight, but only months later I fell for her deeply,” Hingston wrote.
Monica Hingston and her partner Peg had to renounce their vows to be together.
Hingston said she wanted to shout her newfound love from the rooftops, but “the world didn’t want to know” about gay people.
“In fact, there were many who preached that hate, discrimination and even death were only fitting for the likes of us,” she added.
The couple moved in together, but their relationship was forbidden by the Catholic church. They were forced to write to the Vatican and ask to be released from the vows they had made to God.
In fact, there were many who preached that hate, discrimination and even death were only fitting for the likes of us.
Hingston and her partner Peg lived in Chile together for nine years where they worked to help women living in poverty.
Following that period, they moved to Australia. It was in 2003 when the Vatican released a document to Catholic bishops across the world urging them to oppose legislation that would grant LGBT+ people rights.
Peg passed away before they could marry.
Still, their love persisted, and they decided that, if marriage equality ever came to pass, they would get married and have a big party.
But by the time marriage equality came to Australia, it was too late for Hingston and the love of her life.
Peg passed away six years before equal marriage finally came to Australia from gall bladder cancer.
“My tears flowed on one hand for you, for all those who would benefit from this huge shift in society, and on the other in deep sadness because we would not step out together in a public ritual and declare to all and sundry: ‘Look at how we love one another!'” Hingston wrote.
“I cannot put into words how I miss her touch and her tenderness every single day,” she added.
