Grace and peace, Saints.

Back in 2013, we posted the testimony of former Roman Catholic nun, Charlotte Wells (a pseudonym), who spent 22 years in a cloistered convent hidden away from public scrutiny. Ms. Wells’ testified to regular physical abuse and torture, psychological trauma, rape, and even murder perpetrated by priests and nuns alike upon the young girls in the cloistered convent where she lived.  Wells also said that babies were frequently born from liaisons between priests and nuns, and that these babies were murdered after birth and buried in tunnels located beneath the convent.

When I first heard Wells’ testimony, I was not only shocked, I was amazed.  This is because ever since I was a child, I have never seen nuns portrayed in the media as anything other than happy, encouraging, and moral people.  I remember, for instance, a television series I used to watch as a child starring actress Sally Field called “The Flying Nun.”

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjoRLe4aNzQ&list=PLmPJOdB2fruJYNRMMlrQMPu51-5CyfXYl

I can also remember watching the movie, “The Singing Nun,” and singing the catchy tune “Dominique,” made famous by the movie.  

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Nwwn9vie-4&list=PL8D54B664A33F9EC4

And just about everyone remembers the happy nuns in the movie, “Sister Act,” starring actress Whoopie Goldberg.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPpd-6X3tEo

All these movies portrayed nuns as happy, jovial, upbeat, albeit sometimes a little nerdy or quirky.  So imagine my horror and surprise to learn that many of those saintly old nuns may not be very saintly after all, and that many of the younger nuns may be harboring a secret dread that they never belie in public.  Of course, Charlotte Wells’ testimony concerns the cloistered convents, but who’s to say that something isn’t also awry with the “open orders?”

I posted Ms. Wells’ testimony at the Gospel Light and Truth Crusade’s YouTube channel over a year ago, and it has garnered well over 20,000 views and dozens of comments. Though many believe or at least sympathize with Ms. Well’s testimony, the majority of Roman Catholics who have commented believe her testimony is a fabrication and that she was never a Roman Catholic nun to begin with.

Sister Charlotte’s testimony is not the first of its kind, nor is it the most notorious.  The book, The Awful Disclosures of Maria Monk, published over a century ago, presents a similar depiction of convent life.  Again, most Roman Catholics reject these testimonies and categorically deny that such things go on in Roman Catholic convents.

Former Roman Catholic Jesuit priest, Dr. Alberto Rivera, however, would disagree.  In the “Alberto” series of Crusader Comic tracts, published by Chick Publications, Rivera testified that in the early 20th Century, in several regions in Spain, in Italy, and in other parts of the world, several convents were found to have tunnels connecting them with monasteries, and that in these tunnels were discovered graves containing the corpses of babies.  This resulted in the government going into some of the convents and what they discovered caused them to close the convents down.  In Spain, the people in one town burned a convent to the ground.  This also happened in Mexico.

Rivera said that the vow of chastity Roman Catholic priests and nuns are obliged to take is a constant source of frustration.  He added that while in the confessional box, he heard the confessions of many nuns and priests who admitted to being lesbians and homosexuals, respectively.

Other aspects of Ms. Wells’ testimony can be corroborated by other former Roman Catholics, including former Roman Catholic priest, Charles Chiniquy, author of the book, Fifty Years in the Church of Rome; and former Roman Catholic turned Christian evangelist, Monica Farrell, author of the books, Ravening Wolves and From Rome to Christ.

For the edification of the Body of Christ and to provoke further reflection on these matters, especially by sincere Roman Catholics, I have produced another version of the testimony of Charlotte Wells, this time including my own commentary.  In it, I include quotations from Dr. Rivera, Evangelist Farrell, and Pastor Chiniquy that confirm the various claims Ms. Wells makes in her testimony.

Jesus Christ told us in Matthew 24:24 that the hallmark of the last days would be deception so complete, so insidious, and so convincing that it would fool all but the very elect: that is, true Bible-believing Christians. Roman Catholicism is the mother of deceptions. Many sincere Roman Catholics have been deceived into believing that the church of Rome is the true Church of Jesus Christ, and that by blindly following the commands of the priests and bishops of Rome, the Roman Catholic devotee is more certain of doing the will of God “than by obedience to Jesus Christ, should He appear in person.”

By this effort, we hope to convince the sincere Roman Catholic that this is a lie: one of many propagated by the church of Rome.

I hope to one day post a written transcript of Charlotte Wells’ testimony at the Gospel Light and Truth Crusade website.  In the meantime, I present the entire testimony of former Roman Catholic nun, Charlotte Wells, along with my commentary.  I pray that you will listen to it with an open mind.

The testimony of Charlotte Wells, with commentary, is available at the iTunes Store.  If you haven’t subscribed to our podcast, do it today!  For your convenience, you can also listen to it below.

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A somewhat condensed version of my commentary follows, addressing some of the more controversial points of Ms. Wells’ testimony.

BEGIN COMMENTARY

Confession

Charlotte talks about the importance, at seven years of age, of making “a good confession,” holding nothing back and telling everything. 

Monica Farrell, in From Rome to Christ, on p. 23, says:

“Seven years of age is a most important time in the life of a Roman Catholic. Seven years is the age of reason. Roman Catholics believe that from then upwards a child is capable of going to hell; hence the necessity for children of seven years to make their confession. 

Charles Chiniquy, on p. 10 of “50 Years,” says about Confession: 

“No words can express to those who have never had any experience in the matter, the consternation, anxiety and shame of a poor Romish child, when he hears, for the first time, his priest saying from the pulpit, in grave and solemn tone,

“This week, you will send your children to confession. Fathers and mothers, if, though your fault, or his ownm, your child is guilty of a bad confession—if he conceals his sins and commences lying to the priest, who holds the place of God Himself, this sin is often irreparable.” 

On p. 20, Chiniquy says, 

“By the confession, the priests poison the springs of life in our children.” 

On p. 19, Chiniquy quoted one speaker at a meeting held in Canada on the subject of the scandalous lives of the RC priests there, who said: 

“The reign of the priest is the reign of ignorance, of corruption, and of the most barefaced immorality, under the mask of the most refined hypocrisy. The reign of the priest is the death of our schools; it is the degradation of our wives, the prostitution of our daughters; it is the reign of tyranny—the loss of liberty.” 

Charlotte also said that the RCC “gets its material from the Confession.”

This agrees with this statement of Chiniquy, who, on p. 20 writes: 

“By means of the confessional the priest is more the master of the hearts of our wives than ourselves.  The husband belongs no more to his wife as her guide through the dark and difficult paths of life: it is the priest!  In a word, it is the priest who is the real husband of our wives! It is he who has the possession of their respect and of their hearts to a degree to which no one of us need ever aspire!  

“In the confessional, a girl’s thoughts are polluted, her tongue is polluted, her heart is polluted–yes, and for ever polluted!  The confessional is a place where one gets accustomed to hear, and repeat without a scruple, things which would cause even a prostitute to blush!  

“Why are Roman Catholic nations inferior to nations belonging to Protestantism? Only in the confessional can the solution of that problem be found. And why are Roman Catholic nations degraded in proportion to their submission to the priest? It is because the oftener that individuals composing those nations go to confession, the more rapidly they sink in the scale of intelligence and morality.”

 

Lying

Charlotte says, “A Roman Catholic can lie to you and doesn’t have to confess it, because he is doing it to protect his faith.” 

Chiniquy, on p. 77, quotes one of the Roman Catholic “church fathers” St. Alphonsus Ligouri as saying: 

“Notwithstanding, indeed although it is not lawful to lie, or to feign what is not, nevertheless it is lawful to dissemble what is, or to cover the truth with words, or other ambiguous and doubtful signs for a just cause, and when there is not a necessity of confessing. It is the common opinion.” (Moral Theology, t.ii. , lib. 999. Cap. Iii. P. 116.)

 Regarding lying to defend Rome’s errant doctrines, Monica Farrell says this on p. 11: 

“One more incident happened in that school, which greatly influenced my future life. As a result of Marjory’s (her Protestant schoolmate) truthfulness, I was led to see the wrong in telling lies, and I made a promise to God that I would never tell another lie if only He would help me. From then on I refused to tell lies for anybody or anything.

“The first result of this decision was that I found it impossible to defend the Church of Rome against attacks of Protestants, and only now did I realize how freely I had been having recourse to lie to defend “Mother Church.” 

On p. 78, Chiniquy says this: 

“When you are not asked concerning the faith, not only is it lawful, but often more conducive to the glory of God and utility of your neighbor to cover the faith than to confess it; for example, if concealed among heretics you may accomplish a greater amount of good; or if, from the confession of the faith more of evil would follow…” (Moral Theology, t.99. p. 817, n. 14.)

 

Stealing

Charlotte says, “You can steal up to $40 without having to confess it.”

Chiniquy, again quoting Ligouri, says:

“If any one on an occasion should steal only a moderate sum either from one or more, not intending to acquire any notable sum, neither to injure his neighbor to a great extent y several thefts, he does not sin grievously, nor do these, taken together, constitute a detaining it, he can commit mortal sin.

“But even this mortal sin may be avoided, if either then he be unable to restore, or have the intention of making restitution immediately, of those things which he then received.” (Moral Theology, t.iii, p. 257, n. 533.) 

 

Sexual Sin

Charlotte says that the mother superior told her “it was no sin to give her body to the priest and bear his children,” just as it was no sin for Mary to bear God’s child. 

Chiniquy, on p.p. 70-71, quotes a book by Ligouri entitled The Nun Sanctified: 

“The principle and most efficacious means of practicing obedience due to superiors, and of rendering it meritorious before God, is to consider that in obeying them we obey God Himself, and that by despising their commands we despise the authority of our Divine Master.

“When, thus, a religious receives a precept from her prelate, superior or confessor, she should immediately execute it, not only to please them but principally to please God, whose will is made known to her by their command. In obeying their commandments, in obeying their directions, she is more certainly obeying the will of God than if an angel came down from heaven to manifest His will to her.

“Bear this always in your mind, that the obedience which you practice to your superior is paid to God. If, then, you receive a command from one who holds the place of God, you should observe it with the same diligence as if it came from God Himself…

“It may be added that there is more certainly of doing the will of God by obedience to our superior than by obedience to Jesus Christ, should He appear in person and give His commands.”

 

Purgatory

Charlotte said that through a nun’s suffering, her relatives would be released sooner from a “priest’s purgatory.”  It is the unbiblical fear doctrine of Purgatory that holds Roman Catholics in bondage.  Charlotte also said that in one November, the RCC made 22 million dollars saying masses for the dead. She also added, “take away Purgatory, and the RCC will starve to death.”

 Monica Farrell, on p. 6, says of Purgatory:

“The very best Rome can offer to a departed soul is Purgatory, and the torments of Purgatory are supposed to be as bad as hell. The only difference is that the soul in Purgatory eventually gets out of the flames and into heaven: but this may not be for hundreds of years, and in the meantime the only relief or comfort to the Roman Catholic is to have masses said for the repose of the soul of the loved ones.

“These masses cost money. There is a common saying among Romanists (Roman Catholics): “High money, high mass; low money, low mass; no money, no mass.”

Charles Chiniquy, on pp. 26-28, recounts the story of how after his father died, their priest shows up at their door demanding his mother pay money for masses to be said. When the young widow replied that all she had was a cow, the priest swiftly departed with it.

 

Murdered babies

Charlotte said that babies are born in the convent from sexual relations between priests and nuns, and that these babies are most often killed, most having been born premature and abnormal.

Alberto Rivera testified to this very thing in the Jack Chick comic tract, “Alberto.” Rivera said that as a young boy, after falling into a hole on the Catholic school grounds, he discovered a rolled up carpet containing the corpses of babies. Rivera said he later discovered that many convents and monasteries are connected by an underground tunnel, wherein is usually located a secret grave for burying babies born to nuns.

END COMMENTARY

 

The Roman Catholic church is not what it purports to be. The Bible calls it “the Mother of harlots and abominations of the earth.”  Jesus Christ is calling those who truly want to do His will out of that system of darkness.

Be encouraged and look up, for your redemption draweth nigh.

The Still Man