The Styrous® Viewfinder: The Saints

December 30, 2018

VHS Tape: Sister Wendy ~ The Saints

VHS video tape spine

Wendy Beckett (aka Sister Wendy) died four days ago. She was a British religious sister, hermit, consecrated virgin and art historian who became well known internationally during the 1990s when she presented a series of BBC television documentaries on the history of art.

Sister Wendy ~ The Saints

VHS video tape
left: front cover, right: back cover

photos by Styrous®

I loved to watch the Sister Wendy broadcasts and I missed them after her series on PBS ended (link below). She was a bit funny looking with her over-sized glasses and malocclusion of her teeth but she really knew her stuff.

The Saints episode followed Sister Wendy as she traveled through Italy to celebrate the bimillenary of Christ with a look at the lives of Saints as told through some of the world’s most exquisite works of art. It is a journey through some of the most beautiful libraries in the world, including the Vatican, with unprecedented access to portraits, engravings and priceless manuscripts (link below).

Sister Wendy

video still

She spent years translating Medieval Latin scripts before deciding to pursue art in 1980. She didn't hesitate for a second about revealing any aspect of a painting even if it was sexually oriented; she was straight forward, open and honest about it and that was part of her charm.

Sister Wendy ~ The Saints

VHS video tape back cover detail

detail photo by Styrous®

Beckett was born in South Africa, and raised in Edinburgh, Scotland, where her father was studying medicine. In 1946, she entered the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur, a Roman Catholic congregation of religious sisters dedicated to education. She was sent to England where she completed her novitiate and then studied at St Anne's College, Oxford, where she was awarded a congratulatory first class honours degree in English Literature. J. R. R. Tolkien was president of her final examinations board and asked her to stay on at the University, an invitation but she declined.

Having overheard her commentary while attending an art exhibit, a film crew asked to videotape her. This brought her to the attention of a BBC producer and led, in 1992, to the debut Sister Wendy’s Odyssey.

Sister Wendy ~ The Saints

VHS video tape back cover detail

detail photo by Styrous®

Wendy Beckett died on the 26th of December, 2018 at the Carmelite Monastery in Quidenham, Norfolk. She was 88 years old.

Net links:

NY Times ~ Sister Wendy Beckett Dies at 88
Smithsonian Magazine ~ Remembering Sister Wendy Beckett
Washington Post ~ Sister Wendy, an unlikely TV celebrity
BBC ~ Sister Wendy Beckett, TV art historian, dies at 88

YouTube links:

Sister Wendy ~ The Saints