The Habit of Poetry

Sister Madeleva Wolff takes center stage in a new book

How did a full-time high school teacher and part-time author and editor from New Jersey, a person with no link to Saint Mary’s College, find himself charmed by the works of Madeleva Wolff? Nick Ripatrazone is the first to ask these questions, and though he knows their answer, he still marvels at the circumstances that brought him to writing The Habit of Poetry: The Literary Lives of Nuns in Mid-century America.

The first time he encountered Sister Madeleva, Ripatrazone was writing for America magazine. He’d read her poetry and learned her history, pitching a story to his editors about this “amazing nun poet who really had a consequential role in the sister formation movement,” he said. The more he researched Sister Madeleva’s works and her relationships with other literaries, the more women he discovered in the religious life writing, publishing, and critiquing. As his study progressed, Ripatrazone became convinced there was a bigger story to tell. The Habit of Poetry was in motion. Published in May, the book’s summary describes this particular moment in time: “This mid-20th century renaissance by nun poets is more than a literary footnote; it is a case study in how women negotiate tradition and individual creativity.” 

We recently talked with Ripatrazone about his admiration for the life and poetry of Sister M. Madeleva Wolff, CSC.

Saint Mary’s College: It’s fascinating how in your research of Sister Madeleva, you made this discovery of a prolific community of writers—nuns publishing in a secular environment.

Nick Ripatrazone: Yes! Sister Wolff was the entry point for everything. In understanding her, I found so many nuns who were writing poetry. They were just all over the place. And it was unusual. A Catholic poet might appear in America magazine, or Commonweal, or a place like that. But to notice them everywhere from the New York Times, or the Washington Post to The Literary Review, Missouri Review—there is a whole list of these great publications. So they were appearing in magazines, newspapers, quarterlies. I tried to figure out what was going on. I found these other women and their connections to Sister Wolff. It’s like a Venn diagram—Sister Wolff is at the center, and they're all overlapping with her.

Saint Mary’s College: Why was this monumental? 

Nick Ripatrazone: Of course it wasn't the first time that nuns or sisters were writing poetry and publishing, but it was a very concentrated and renowned moment in time. There were people noticing, and praising them. And that's kind of what led to the genesis of the book as a way to open up that discussion of the bigger consideration of women as nuns and sisters and as artists.

Saint Mary’s College: We'll get into how you honed it down to the select few who appear in your book in a bit, but did you come up with any conclusions as to why they were so prolific—or at least so captivating—during this time?

Nick Ripatrazone: I think part of it had to do with the fact that when most of these women were writing, and publishing—in the book, I focus on the 1930s to the 1970s—you have women religious who are getting intellectual formation. They are attending college, learning theology—receiving a robust, higher academic education. They are getting advanced degrees, writing literary criticism. They are very much in the literary world which, for women who were nuns in religious orders, was perhaps not as common or as supported. That is sort of the historical reality.

Because of Sister Wolff and her forward thinking on nun formation, this became a real part of intellectual growth. You had literary women who were given the freedom to pursue these artistic visions in a place where there was a kind of tension between spirituality and artistry. It created that opportunity for them to write and to write often. A lot of these women started to get name recognition and connected with some of the leading writers, the nonsectarian writers of the time. There is a correspondence trail of these women talking with Wallace Stevens, William Carlos Williams, Denise Levertov, just kind of some of the American luminaries at the time. And it was the perfect alchemy for all this to happen. There was that yearning for a very spiritual look at that literature.

Saint Mary’s College: In your research of their writings, was there some questioning of faith or exploration of how faith fit within the secular world?

Nick Ripatrazone: Of the women who were portrayed in the book, all of them remained nuns and sisters for their entire life except for Madeline DeFries, who became Sister Mary Gilbert when she was around 17 years old. She was a nun for quite some time, at least 30 or 35 years, then requested the removal of those vows around the late '60s, early '70s. She became kind of a secular poet in that she was teaching at universities, but her poetry remains very Catholic. The other women in the book definitely pondered what it meant to be a woman and an artist in the church, and what that meant for them in terms of their identity. Most embraced the duality of the persona and that struggle. They didn't find them mutually exclusive. They could be a sister, they could be an artist, and they could be unique in their writing.

One of the women, Sister Maura Eichner, wrote these interesting satirical poems about advertising, almost Warhol-esque in her approach. And she was, by all other descriptors, a prototypical nun. She wasn't progressive or an activist, but she had that duality of identity. These women are really great examples of the paradox of artistry. I think for most of them, they allow their poetry to be a way of contemplation and a way to figure out who they were as Catholics.

Saint Mary’s College: It seems like that's a confidence thing, too. They are confident enough in what they're doing, their intelligence, and where they stand. That is just awesome. How did you narrow it down to just this handful of women?

Nick Ripatrazone: Well, Sister Wolff I knew had to be there. She is a central figure, she has the first chapter in the book, and comes back in all the chapters. She just has this absolutely amazing life story. The fact that she had multiple advanced degrees, she was a scholar of Chaucer, she wrote critical volumes. She wrote poetry, she gave speeches, she was a college president. I mean, it's an amazing life. And I remember reading—I think it was the Life magazine profile of her—that it was so cool to see she had such a personality. The way that she talks about her own growth as a Catholic and being almost surprised that she became a nun. How that led ultimately to her life as a university president. She was always writing letters to different poets. She wrote letters and critiqued Thomas Merton, and Merton went to her for literature advice. She petitioned for Sister Mary Frances—the last nun portrayed in the book—for her order to allow her to publish. Sister Wolff was a big believer in writing not only for the Catholic publications, but to allow nuns to be able to publish anywhere. She was renowned everywhere she went.

I also knew that I wanted to have at least one poet who was a contemplative nun. Jessica Powers (Sister Miriam of the Holy Spirit) was very much a nun of a convent; she was in that world. And then Sister Mary Bernetta Quinn, she's a poet who had a longtime correspondence with Wallace Stevens, James Wright, Juan Carlos Williams—like every major writer of her generation was corresponding with her, and almost receiving spiritual formation via her. It's just unbelievable to find her as a literary note, so to speak. She was in the mix with everything! So I really want to have her in the book. 

Madeline DeFries, who I mentioned before, I thought it was important to show someone whose life took a turn. And you know, she was never someone who, when she left, the sisterhood, said I'm no longer a believer. She essentially just said at this point in my life I'm going to take this different direction. For someone like her, and for priests who leave their positions, it's obviously a very difficult decision. But it's also a respect for the thing itself to say that perhaps I am this thing no longer and I don't live up to that. She was aware of that.

And then Sister Maura Eichner, I knew I wanted to have an educator. I had Sister Wolff already, but I wanted to have Sister Maura there because she too influenced so many students. And the last writer, Sister Mary Frances—who became Mother Mary Francis—was a prose writer and a poet. I wanted to end with that connection with Sister Wolff because that was the person who Sister Wolff metaphorically opened the door for and enabled her to find her voice.

Saint Mary’s College: When thinking about this book, you're not just focusing on their poetry, you're bringing this collection as a commemoration, keeping these amazing women in the forefront. The academic, religious, and intellectual freedoms that these women shared is huge. So hats off. We can’t wait to get you on our campus!

Nick Ripatrazone: Thank you! I’d love to visit. 

About Nick Ripatrazone
In addition to his day job as a teacher, Ripatrazone is a prolific writer. He is the author of four books and is a monthly columnist for Literary Hub. He has written for Rolling Stone, GQ, Esquire, The Atlantic, The Paris Review, Commonweal, The Poetry Foundation, and many others. For the past decade, he has been a staff writer for literary magazine The Millions where his column on new poetry appears each quarter. He is also the culture editor of Image, a quarterly magazine that publishes articles and artwork that wrestle with religious faith.

June 8, 2023