When things go (sorta) bump in the night.

It was approximately 9:15 PM. We had finished Compline about 15 minutes earlier. Sr. Mary Catharine, our novice mistress, was walking down the novitiate hallway when suddenly her extra-sensory novice mistress antennae picked up that something was in the novitiate without her permission! She looked up and there, peeking up from a picture on the wall was a bat! This being a Dominican monastery, our visitor didn't pick any picture but St. Thomas Aquinas!

Sr. Mary Catharine might be country-bred but she hates bats IN THE HOUSE! She came upon Sr. Mary Jacinta for help whose answer was to promptly make a beeline for her cell having had previous experience with sharing nights with bats! She then came upon Sr. Maria Teresa who jumped at the chance! Armed with a garden glove and a rather useless bright green net she came to meet her foe!

As bats are want to do, this little guy hid further behind St. Thomas (lots of room to hide there!) and a little prodding with a yard stick was met with angry squeaks not unlike the reaction of some sisters who are awakened if they oversleep and miss Lauds! Sr. Maria Teresa asked Sr. Mary Catharine to help by removing the picture from the wall and she'd catch the bat with her net (maybe). Sr. Mary Catharine responded, "No way! I'll go get Sr. Joseph Maria!" SHE took one look behind the picture and said, "I'm not doing it! Let's get Sr. Judith Miryam!"

So, Sr. Judith Miryam came up to the novitiate and Sr. Maria Teresa said, "I need you to grab the picture off the wall! Don't drop it or the glass will break. Oh, and if you get bitten you get a free trip to the ER!" Sr. Judith Miryam replied, "Let's go get Sr. Mary Magdalene!"

So, there they were, FOUR nuns all scared of a little bat! Sr. Mary Magdalene came, surveyed the situation and she, Sr. Joseph Maria and Sr. Maria Teresa worked out a game plan while Sr. Judith Miryam and Sr. Mary Catharine stood about 20 feet away. After all, someone needs to take pictures, right?

Amazingly, Sr. Maria Teresa caught our unauthorized visitor in one swoop, corning him on the floor.  We had one, cranky, frustrated and probably scared chiropteran! Now what? How to make sure he gets to the bottom of the net? "Get a book," Sr. Maria Teresa commanded! "I'll get the Summa," Sr. Mary Magdalene responsed immediately! But the volume of the Summa was too big. However, Therese and Lisieux was just the right height to slide the net over and bag 'em! The sisters made quite a procession out the door and released our placental mammal much to his relief! So much for theological night-classes!