History Main / TakingTheVeil

* The last third of ''TheSongOfBernadette'' depicts Bernadette riding out of town on a gorgeous spring day to spend the rest of her life in a convent. It becomes this trope when her friend Antoine appears with a huge spray of flowers announcing that he plans to live a single life too. (see the Real Life section, below).

* ''[[TheSongOfBernadette Bernadette Soubirous]], who had eighteen visions of the Virgin Mary at Lourdes when she was fourteen, entered a hospice school at sixteen and at 22 joined the Sisters of Charity and Christian Instruction. Fictional accounts aside, her own writings show that she wanted to do this. Her friend Antoine Nicolau really was just a friend, and in fact was married before the visions began.

* Bernadette Soubirous, who had eighteen visions of the Virgin Mary at Lourdes when she was fourteen, entered a hospice school at sixteen and at 22 joined the Sisters of Charity and Christian Instruction. Fictional accounts aside, her own writings show that she wanted to do this.

* In ''Literature/GoneWithTheWind'', Scarlett's youngest sister, Carreen, becomes a nun after her sweetheart is killed in the CivilWar.

* Isabella in ''Theatre/MeasureForMeasure'' is left with a choice between marriage to the Duke and becoming a nun at the end of the play. Since her interest in taking her final vows is never shown to waver and Shakespeare gives her no reply to the Duke's proposal, her choice is up to the director (or can be left ambiguous).

* In LMMontgomery's ''EmilyOfNewMoon'', the young Emily writes an epic in which her heroine takes vows because she thought the young man she was in love with had died. She asks a priest whether there's any escape. He asks whether there was a feud between the families and is unsurprised to learn there was; he explains that since the heroine had no siblings, she could get a special dispension to leave and marry to resolve the feud. Emily is taken aback by the prospect of putting "special dispention" into verse but gamily tackles it.

* In Margery Benery-Isbert's ''Under The Changing Moon'', the heroine thinks of returning to the convent where she had gone to school. When she writes, the abbess writes back that it looks like an attempt at escape, not a vocation, and furthermore, if she finds obeying her mother irksome, she should remember that she would have to take vows of obedience. When she falls impossibly in love, she concludes that she has no vocation.

Usually found only in explicitly religious literature. A woman wants to become a nun when her family considers it her duty to submit to an ArrangedMarriage. She is often -- especially when the story is far removed from RealLife -- SoBeautifulItsACurse, because they think they can get a good match because of it. (A woman who merely wants to become a nun and does seldom appears in stories while she is doing it, because that part of her story lacks drama... that's why ''The Nun's Story'' is so unique.) A RealLife vocation is a spiritual prompting, like becoming a priest or minister after feeling "called" by God.

These tropes can apply to either Buddhist or Christian nuns -- and were used in some CrystalDragonJesus pagan situations. Note that it applies only to nuns, and monks, whose taking vows was a significant event in either the story itself or its BackStory.

These tropes can apply to either Buddhist or Christian nuns -- and were used in some CrystalDragonJesus pagan situations.

* In ''Theatre/TheSoundOfMusic'', Maria tries to retire to the convent after she realizes she is in love with the Baron.

A woman, often elderly, usually widowed or heartbroken, goes to a convent to take refuge from the world, or perhaps an ArrangedMarriage or to escape from [[DomesticViolence an abusive marriage already in effect]]. A rape victim may avoid the malicious gossip (or perhaps HonorRelatedAbuse) and hide in all-female world. After a HeelFaceTurn, this may show repentence. Some do not actually take vows, but none of them intend to return to the world.

A woman, often elderly, usually widowed or heartbroken, goes to a convent to take refuge from the world, or perhaps an ArrangedMarriage. A rape victim may avoid the malicious gossip and hide in all-female world. After a HeelFaceTurn, this may show repentence. Some do not actually take vows, but none of them intend to return to the world.

* In the movie ''RobinAndMarian'' the middle-aged Robin Hood returns from the crusades to discover Marian has, in his absence, taken holy vows and risen through the ranks of the convent to become Mother Superior.

* In ''JaneEyre'', Charlotte Bronte has one of Jane's cousins convert to Catholicism so that she can then pack her off to a convent, where she became abbess.

* There's a woman in the Brother Cadfael novel ''The Leper of St Giles'' who has been a noble's mistress for years, and becomes a nun after his murder.

** It was based on the life of Marie Louise Habets, who told her story to author Kathryn Hulme. It is a factual account of the Vocation variety.

Usually found only in explicitly religious literature. A woman wants to become a nun when her family considers it her duty to submit to an ArrangedMarriage. She is often -- especially when the story is far removed from RealLife -- SoBeautifulItsACurse, because they think they can get a good match because of it. (A woman who merely wants to become a nun and does seldom appears in stories while she is doing it, because that part of her story lacks drama... that's why ''The Nun's Story'' is so unique.)

Usually found only in explicitly religious literature. A woman wants to become a nun when her family considers it her duty to submit to an ArrangedMarriage. She is often -- especially when the story is far removed from RealLife -- SoBeautifulItsACurse, because they think they can get a good match because of it. (A woman who merely wants to become a nun and does seldom appears in stories while she is doing it, because that part of her story lacks drama.)

* In ''TheCountOfMonteCristo'', Mercedes retires to a convent at the end.

* In the H - Game ''Kango Shicyauzo'', this (retiring to a convent) is [[NunToHoly Sister]] [[StacysMom Maria]]'s backstory. She took her vows after being widowed and is now the head nun at St. Michael's Nursing School.

!!Examples

* In ''Theatre/MuchAdoAboutNothing: When Hero has been accused of being unfaithful, the priest's Plan B is to quietly ship her off to a nunnery where she can live out the rest of her days in anonymity.