Sister Wendy Beckett (born 25 February 1930) is a South African-born British art expert, consecrated virgin and contemplative hermit who became a celebrity during the 1990s, presenting a series of acclaimed art history documentaries for the BBC.

She was born in South Africa and raised in Edinburgh, Scotland. She became a nun in 1946 in the order of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur. She was sent to England to begin her novitiate and studied at St Anne's College at Oxford, where she was awarded a first class (with distinction) degree in English literature. ^[1] Outside her academic work, she lived in a convent that maintained a strict code of silence.

After attending a teacher training college in Liverpool and earning a teaching diploma in 1954, she returned to South Africa to teach at Notre Dame Convent a school for girls in Constantia, Cape Town, where she taught English and Latin. Later, when the Convent closed its doors in 1967, she moved to Johannesburg where she lectured at the University of the Witwatersrand. Health problems in 1970 forced her to abandon teaching and return to England to live in the grounds of a Carmelite monastery. She spent many years translating Medieval Latin scripts before deciding in 1980 to pursue art, her favourite subject.

Obtaining papal permission for her to become a consecrated virgin in 1970, Sister Wendy's order arranged for her to live under the protection of the Carmelite nuns at their monastery at Quidenham, Norfolk, in the east of England. She leads a contemplative lifestyle, and currently lives in a caravan on the grounds. Besides receiving the Carmelite prioress and a nun who brings her provisions, she dedicates her life solely to monastic solitude and prayer, but allows herself two hours of work per day.

Sister Wendy Contemplates Saint Paul in Art was published by St Pauls, London 2008 to celebrate the Year of Saint Paul. In May, 2009 Encounters with God: In Quest of the Ancient Icons of Mary was published, which follows Sister Wendy's pilgrimage to see the earliest icons of Mary that had survived the Byzantine iconoclasm.

When she required treating as a outpatient at a local hospital, the television chef Delia Smith volunteered through a mutual friend to drive her there weekly. When Sister Wendy was writing her next book about contemporary women artists, Delia drove her around the country to meet the artists; the two became good friends.^[2]

Sister Wendy has narrated the documentaries:

• Sister Wendy's Odyssey (1992)
• Sister Wendy's Pains of Glass (1996)
• Sister Wendy's Grand Tour (1997)
• Sister Wendy's Story of Painting (1997)
• Sister Wendy's American Collection (2001)
• Sister Wendy at the Norton Simon Museum (2001)

and also an audio commentary for tourists to the Sistine Chapel:

• Sister Wendy's Sistine Chapel Artineraries Tour (2006)

Additionally she features in the following:

• Sister Wendy in Conversation with Bill Moyers (1997)
• Three appearances on Charlie Rose available on dvd:
  • with Steve Chavis, Patricia Ireland, E.J.. Dionne & Ellis Cose; Wendy Beckett; Deborah Voigt (October 3, 1997)
  • with Hugo Young; Andrew Neil; Wendy Beckett (November 18, 1997)
  • with Adrian Noble; Mischa Glenny; Wendy Beckett (September 19, 2000)

Bibliography:

• 2009
  • Encounters With God: In Quest of Ancient Icons of Mary
• 2008
  • Bernard of Clairvaux: Sermons for Advent And the Christmas Season

    with John Leinenweber (Editor), Irene Edmonds (Translator), Wendy Mary Beckett (Translator), Conrad Greenia (Translator)

• 2007
  • Sister Wendy on Prayer
  • Sister Wendy's Meditations on the Mysteries of Our Faith
• 2006
  • Speaking to the Heart: 100 Favorite Poems
  • Sky-blue Is the Sapphire Crimson the Rose: Stillpoint of Desire in John of Forde by John, abbot of Forde, translated by Wendy Beckett
  • Joy Lasts: On the Spiritual in Art
• 2001
  • Sister Wendy's Impressionist Masterpieces
  • Sister Wendy's American Masterpieces
• 2000
  • Sister Wendy's American Collection
  • In the Midst of Chaos, Peace (with Mary J. Dorcy and Dan Paulos)
  • Sister Wendy's Book of Muses (with Justin Pumfrey)
• 1999
  • Sister Wendy's 1,000 Masterpieces (with Patricia Wright)
  • My Favourite Things: 75 Works of Art from Around the World
• 1998
  • Sister Wendy's Nativity
  • Inner Life: A Fellow Traveler's Guide to Prayer (by David Torkington; foreword by Sister Wendy)
  • Sister Wendy's Odyssey: A Journey of Artistic Discovery
  • Sister Wendy's Book of Meditations
  • Sister Wendy's Book of Saints
  • The Mystery of Love: Saints in Art Through the Ages
• 1997
  • Sister Wendy's Story of Christmas: Adventures in Art
  • Sister Wendy in Conversation with Bill Moyers: The Complete Conversation (edited by Karen Johnson)
  • The Wisdom of the Apostles (compiled by Philip Law; introduction by Sister Wendy)
  • The Duke and the Peasant: Life in the Middle Ages (with Jean De Berry)
  • Max Beckmann and the Self
• 1996
  • Sister Wendy's Grand Tour: Discovering Europe's Great Art
  • Pains of Glass: The Story of the Passion from King's College Chapel, Cambridge (with George Pattison)
• 1995
  • Sister Wendy's Meditations: Meditations on Joy
  • Sister Wendy's Meditations: Meditations on Love
  • Sister Wendy's Meditations: Meditations on Peace
  • Sister Wendy's Meditations: Meditations on Silence
  • A Child's Book of Prayer in Art
• 1994
  • The Story of Painting
  • The Gaze of Love: Meditations on Art and Spiritual Transformation
• 1993
  • The Mystical Now: Art and the Sacred

• Postcards From God: The Sister Wendy Musical was written by Marcus Reeves and Beccy Smith^[3] and performed at the Jermyn Street Theatre in the West End in 2007 and Hackney Empire Studio Theatre in 2008.

Wikiquote has quotations related to Wendy Beckett.

• Sister Wendy at PBS.
• Interview with Sister Wendy

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