Meeting Sister Mary Michael

By Ben Davies
BBC News

Sister Mary Michael is seen by many as doing good work for people

Meeting Sister Mary Michael - ardent protester against the Da Vinci Code - is a slightly surreal experience.

When I arrived at her neat modern house in Lincoln, she still hadn't returned from her daily trip to mass at a local Catholic church.

But within a few minutes she arrived, extended a warm welcome and slipped into some fluffy dog slippers before making coffee.

Then there was a guided tour of her house - which she says belongs to an Anglican supporter - and where she moved less than 12 months ago after spending several years in one of the tougher neighbourhoods in the city.

Her new home is full of pictures of religious figures and in her small conservatory and garden at the back she has statues to the Virgin Mary.

She is clearly very devout. Before the interview began she prayed and then went on to explain she had returned to religion in her 30s after a series of difficulties in her life.

After attending a Roman Catholic convent school, she went art school in Lincoln then worked at in a bank for 12 years.

A career change saw her running her own business as a beautician. Then she entered an enclosed Carmelite order in Cornwall for three and a half years.

"At the age of 33 I'd had all sorts of ups and downs in my life and I wondered how I was ever going to get better," Sister Mary Michael told the BBC News website before adding: "I felt I hadn't lived quite as I should have."

Scent of roses

She says she was inspired towards a life of devotion by Padre Pio, the Capuchin monk famed for his stigmata which lasted 50 years. A controversial figure in his lifetime, he was canonised after his death in 1968.

Among his miracles was the sending of perfumes which Sister Mary Michael says guided her out of her difficult period.

Yes, I am a nun, yes, officially a nun Sister Mary Michael

The scent of roses would appear when she was doing something right, the smell of tobacco when, for example, she tried to eat meat on a Friday or her eye got drawn to some high heels in a shop window.

But her time in the convent in Cornwall ended and it is unclear why she left.

"The Carmelite convent closed down ... there was something bad inside it and I wanted to still remain a sister and I don't mean the people were bad. It has now closed down and there's another order of some sort there," she said.

Nevertheless she gained a great deal from the experience.

"It was like being in the desert preparing yourself for what God's going to ask you. Some sisters found a vocation within a vocation. I came back to my own home city," she said.

In the meantime she had done A-levels and a degree in theology, scripture studies and English literature - she believes it was training that God intended her to put to use years later in her campaign against the Da Vinci Code.

'They call me sister'

Sister Mary Michael says although the church "isn't shattered" by the book or the film, the story sows confusion among people who only have a "vague idea" of Jesus.

But Rev Philip McBrien from Nottingham diocese said her Carmelite connection has ended and she is not recognised by any order.

"She's a one-off, a maverick."

And there is concern among some members of the Catholic clergy that her protest has been counterproductive - that she has helped raised the profile of the film and at the same time given the impression that she speaks for the Church.

So, is she still a nun?

I've always felt I was the mouthpiece for all those who can't stand up or who are in a difficult position Sister Mary Michael

"Yes, I am a nun. Yes, officially a nun," Sister Mary Michael said.

"And the bishop calls me sister. He addresses letters to me as Sister Mary Michael. The priests call me sister, even when I get letters from Rome it is addressed to Sister Mary Michael. I can't explain any more."

A spokesman for the Nottingham diocese, which covers Lincoln, responded to this point saying: "I used to be the bishop's secretary and she wrote regularly to Bishop Malcolm. Giving a pleasant answer to a letter once in a while is not giving her canonical status."

But Sister Mary Michael, 61, appears genuinely shaken by the idea people in her church would say she isn't a nun. Nor does she like the idea of being called a "maverick".

"I don't like that name. No, I wouldn't say that - a maverick is someone who is going off track," she said.

"I am true to the faith when some of them who should be standing up are not doing so.

"I've always felt I was the mouthpiece for all those who can't stand up or who are in a difficult position."

But she vowed to continue to speak out.

"I have been the only one who has mentioned the very essence of our faith that we receive every day," she said.

"I've never once in the 18 years of being here done something without a blessing from a priest. Never.

"I know the Holy Spirit is working and if they would only stand up and do it then I wouldn't need to do what I am doing."