Sister Mary Joseph, 92, died after more than 30 years of practicing at the convent. Mary began her career as a nun and vowed to remain silent and endure loneliness and poverty.
However, Mary Joseph's life story is extraordinary.
Socialites
Before becoming a nun, she was a wealthy socialite in San Francisco, named Ann Russell Miller.
She often hosts lavish parties, has season tickets to the opera house, and is a mother of 10 children.
Born in 1928, Ann dreamed of being a nun since childhood, but when she grew up, she gave up her dream of being a nun because she fell in love.
At the age of 20, she married Richard Miller, vice president of Pacific Gas and Electric.
"Heroic Mother"
According to her youngest son, Mark Miller, on Twitter, by the age of 27, Ann was already a mom of five children. She then had 5 more children, 10 of whom she could form 2 basketball teams, 5 men and 5 women.
Ann called it "family planning."
Mark tweeted: "She has countless friends. She smokes, drinks, plays cards, and dives in open water. ”
"She drove so fast and frantically that the people in the car involuntarily slammed on the imaginary brakes, and their feet hurt when they got out of the car." However, Ann successfully quit smoking, alcohol, and caffeine on the same day, and did not let others suffer for this. ”
Ann and her family live in a 9-bedroom mansion overlooking San Francisco Bay. She often takes her friends on ski vacations, on Mediterranean yachts and on archaeological excavations.
For a time, she served on 22 different boards of directors, collecting donations for gifted college students, the homeless, and the Roman Catholic Church.
Apply to be a nun
In 1984, Ann's husband died of cancer. It was then that she began her long journey to apply to join what was considered one of the strictest sisters in the world.
Five years later, she gave up everything she had and joined the Sisters of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Des Plaines, Illinois, in Des Plaines, Illinois.
Carmelite nuns are isolated and ascetic, and they essentially live in silence unless it is necessary, for example, when they see a doctor. The nuns spoke only when necessary and spent more time meditating and praying.
Mark said that mom was different from other nuns. She was not good at singing and was often late for various duties at the convent. Sticks were also thrown at the dogs of the monastery, which was not allowed.
Mark said he had only met her 2 times during his mother's 33 years as a nun. But no hugs or any physical contact, as there is a double metal grille in the middle.
Ann has a total of 28 grandchildren,some of whom she has never met. She also has a dozen great-grandchildren/great-grandchildren who she never held.
Her "bedroom" was small and the bed inside was a plank of wood with a thin mattress.
During the day, she wore a brown nun's robe and sandals, which was very different from her previous appearance of wearing a silk parasol, a Hermès scarf and Versace shoes.
On her 61st birthday, Ann hosted a grand party of 800 guests at the Hilton Hotel in San Francisco to say goodbye to family and friends. Guests eat expensive seafood and listen to a live orchestra.
It is said that at that time, Ann wore a flower crown woven from flowers on her head and tied a helium balloon on her body with the words "I am here" so that people could find her and say goodbye to her.
"Dedication to God"
She told the guests that the first 30 years of her life belonged to herself; the second 30 years were given to the children; and the last 30 years were dedicated to God.
The next day, Ann flew to Chicago to become Sister Mary Joseph and begin her monastic life as a nun.
Mark said the relationship between him and his mother was complicated. He said his mother was born in the 1920s and died in the 20s of the next century (June 2021); she was both Ann Miller and Sister Mary Joseph.