Multi Media

Over the summer, as part of Northeastern's Dialogue of Civilizations: Video Storytelling and Culture in Spain program, I produced a 7-minute documentary about the lives of cloistered nuns in Spain, which I completed over the course of four weeks. "Behind the Turnstile: Where Prayer Meets Pastry" peeks inside Spanish convents and highlights how many cloistered nuns, who receive no financial support from the Catholic Church, bake confectionery goods to support themselves. My first introduction to documentary-style reporting, this project pushed my skills as a journalist and provided a crash course in video storytelling. 

TOLEDO, Spain — More than 8,000 cloistered nuns and monks live in convents and monasteries across the country. To financially support themselves, many convents sell confectionery goods made in-house by the nuns, such as cookies, chocolate, and jams. They reside in quiet seclusion, distanced from the bustle of public life, and sell their goods via a turnstile that hides their faces from customers, a practice that preserves their cloistered way of life. Using recipes passed down for decades, they prepare sweets in the same kitchens where generations of nuns have worked before them.

“The people who come here really like marzipan because we’ve been making it for 75 years,” said Sor Catilina, Mother Superior of Convento Dominicas de Jesús y María in Toledo, Spain.

The profit they make provides financial security for the convents, and any excess is donated to support members of the local community in need. To enter the convent, cloistered nuns take three vows: poverty, chastity, and obedience, dedicating their lives to contemplative prayer confined within the monastery and deepening their spiritual connection with God. Making confectionery goods reinforces these practices as the nuns live by the Latin phrase, “ora et labora,” which translates to “pray and work.”

“Every figure we make or every cookie we make, we offer it to every family or every person who eats that cookie. We take on their sorrows and make them our own,” Sor Catilina said. “Their problems, the problems of the world, we make them our own and we pray for them.”

Found all across Spain, the convents highlighted in this video are located in Toledo and Salamanca, and both follow the Dominican Order, which is known for its dedication to teaching and preaching, emphasizing theological study and intellectual pursuits. While the number of people entering contemplative life is steadily declining, the persistence of convents and their centuries-old baking traditions reflects Spain’s enduring fusion of faith, history, and generous culture.

Partner: Elena French-Nino