"During that period, Mother Marie-Agnes and her allies oversaw a system that spied on, bullied, physically abused and even stole money from the women who joined the order, according to its findings published on Thursday. Physical abuse included "forced and unbalanced meals" and "force-feeding to the point of vomiting", it said. The mother superior and two aides recruited young women, hurrying them into saying their vows before they could change their minds, then cutting them off from their families."
"They spied on them, blackmailed them and incited them to snitch, then overworked them or drugged the most rebellious into submission to keep them in line, the report said. During the last decade, "it became a police state", it cited one of the nuns as saying. Management took over the women's financial assets as soon as they arrived, with the three in charge in some cases draining their savings accounts or seizing their inheritances to use them "for personal gain"."
Mother Marie-Agnes served as mother superior from 1969 and led the Montmartre Benedictine community until 2012. A commission interviewed 86 nuns and 28 former nuns to assess mistreatment. The leadership spied on, bullied, physically abused and stole money from sisters, including forced, unbalanced meals and force-feeding to vomiting. Young recruits were rushed into vows and isolated from families. Conversations and letters were monitored; nuns were blackmailed, incited to inform, overworked, drugged or otherwise coerced into submission. Management seized financial assets and allegedly withdrew over €857,000 from five sisters' and the congregation's accounts. One nun described the community as a 'police state' during its final decade.
Read at The Local France
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