Are there any impediments in becoming a nun?

[tatripp]

Okay so I am in shakespeare class. We were reading the play “Measure for Measure.” In the story a character is planning on becoming a nun, but another character is trying to get her to have premarital and illegitimate sex with him. there is also another character who has already had premarital sex and if the man refused to marry her, then she would have trouble supporting herself in that time period. One of the students in my class suggested that she could become a nun to get support and a place to live. Another student said that she was pretty sure that nuns at that time had to be virgins because it is like they are marrying God. I politely told her that i thought she was wrong. She seemed to get slightly offended that i called her up on that and everyone in the class seemed to be ganging up on me and supporting her. She also said that once someone was labeled as impure because of bad sins, the church wouldn’t help them. I knew this was wrong because the church has the sacrament of confession.
I guess my question is “has it always been okay for a woman to become nun if she has chosen to have sex before marriage?”
I figure that she would still be allowed to because she hasn’t taken her vows of chastity yet.

 

[Fr.Vincent_Serpa]

Hi,

There are many reasons that can disqualify a woman from being accepted into a novitiate, but being a sinner is not one of them. What a woman confesses in the sacrament is between her and God. When she is absolved, she is without sin. There have been many great sinners who have become holy nuns. You are correct.

Fr. Vincent Serpa, O.P.