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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. She was sent to England to begin her novitiate and studied at St Anne's College in Oxford. Outside of her academic studies she lived in a convent which maintained a strict code of silence.
After completing a teaching diploma in 1954 she returned to South Africa and was eventually appointed Reverend Mother. Health problems forced her to abandon teaching in 1970 and she returned to England to live with the Carmelite order. As a nun, she dedicates her life almost solely to solitude and prayer but she is allowed to work two hours of the day. She spent many years translating mediaeval Latin scripts before deciding to pursue her favourite subject of art in 1980.
She currently lives in a monastery in Quindenham, England. When not presenting television programmes she lives in total seclusion, speaking only to the prioress and a nun who brings her provisions.
Art
Her first documentary aired in 1991, this was followed by Sister Wendy's Odyssey (1992), Sister Wendy's Grand Tour, Sister Wendy's Story of Painting (1997) and Sister Wendy's American Collection (2001). She has also written more than a dozen books.
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