When Gabrielle Van Der Mal, the former Sister Luke, walks
out of a Belgium convent after the death of her father in World War II, she
enters the last half of her life: a young Belgium woman for the first 21
years, a nun for the next 18, a nurse for two, and the partner of author
Katherine Hulme for the last 40.
Miss Van Der Mal was really Marie-Louise Habets, born in
1905 in West Flanders, Belgium. At age 21, she joined the Sisters of Charity of
Jesus and Mary becoming Sister
Xaverine. As in the
movie, she did serve in the Congo and did return to Belgium after getting
tuberculosis. The Holy See’s dispensation of her vows was highly unusual for
the time. Habets’s convent was Uccle in
Brussels. From there she made her way to Antwerp, which the Allied forces liberated a few weeks later, after which German
forces bombarded the city “killing and maiming some ten thousand civilians, and
soldiers wounded in the Battle of the Bulge.” There, she joined a British First Aid unit
and nursed the soldiers. When the war in Europe ended, Habets was sent to Wildflecken,
a displaced persons camp in Germany. That is where she met Kathryn Hulme, the
camp’s director.
In 1951, Hulme sponsored Habets and the two sailed to
America. First the couple settled in Arizona where Habets worked in a hospital
nursing the Navahos. From there, they moved to California. Her income freed up
Hulme giving her time to write. Habets also acted as consultant to actress Audrey Hepburn who was preparing to make
The Nun’s Story. The two became good friends and
Habets nursed Hepburn after she (Hepburn) was badly injured while filming The
Unforgiven in Durango, Mexico.
In 1960, Habets and Hulme moved to Kauai and lived the
ex-pat’s life—raising fruit, breeding dogs, riding horses, socializing, and
traveling. Hulme also continued to write. She died in 1986 and Habets died five years
later.
The following is a google quote: “Having
inherited Hulme’s literary estate, Habets, in her own will, shared it out among
members of her own family, members of Hulme’s family, and six Sisters, who
cannot be traced. The resultant confusion makes it unclear who owns the rights,
and who can give permissions. This is probably why The Nun’s Story,
along with Hulme’s other books, remains out of print.”
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