chainofclovers

I'm hoping to satisfy a personal curiosity, and the answer will benefit a story I'm writing. How might nuns--or, in this case, religious sisters--handle the issue of names in 1964? I understand (sort of) that after Vatican II, many nuns went back to using their baptismal names rather than their saints names or religious names. However, the story takes place before the closing of the Second Vatican Council.

I've been doing research. I've learned about the difference between solemn and simple vows, between nuns and religious sisters. (The Sisters of Charity take the latter and are the latter.) However, I'm still stumped on the matter of names. I've been researching Catholic nuns in general and the Sisters of Charity in specific, and the Sisters of Charity website has helped me establish a pattern among names of current members but hasn't answered my questions.

My questions are about characters from Doubt, if you hadn't already figured that out:

--in the case of Sister Aloysius Beauvier, is Beauvier likely to be a "secular" last name, such as her husband's last name?

--would her family members (whom I am inventing, and who are Roman Catholic but not particularly religious) refer to her by her baptismal first name, which is certainly not Aloysius?

--would the Sisters of Charity likely speak on the topic of their own names in relation to news from Vatican II in the year 1964?

--is any information given in the film about James or Aloysius' baptismal names and/or family names from before they entered the order? I seem to remember lines of text on the screen at the end of the film indicating that the sister on whom Sister James was based went by a different name later in life. (I realize this last question smacks of laziness on my part--I should just watch the movie again. I've seen it three times and have read the script of the play, but I'm having an odd memory lapse when it comes to these characters' family names. Part of the problem is that several different stories I've read use the same baptismal names for these characters, and I'm having trouble distinguishing canon from fanon. I do plan on watching the film again soon. Real soon, considering I'm starting to find myself in a bit of a time crunch.)

I could give my dad a call, as he'd probably know the answers to the first three questions, if not all four. However, there are two important things I want to avoid when it comes to my relationship with my dad:

1) lying to him
2) telling him that I femslash nuns as a hobby

So, hello internet. Any help (firm facts, speculation, additional questions) is greatly appreciated.

Title: Forty-One
Fandom: Doubt (film)
Pairing: Sister James/Sister Aloysius
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: I have no rights where Doubt is concerned. John Patrick Shanley wrote Doubt and his words humble me.
Author's Note: This fic has been in my head for a little while now, but the writing of it was prompted by the drabble meme that's been going around. somniesperus and la_fono both requested Doubt drabbles (about "love" and "why" respectively), and I decided to write a short story instead. I'll hopefully get around to writing the drabbles eventually, but in the meantime I hope you're okay with sharing 1,500 words instead of getting 100 of your own. This story is dedicated to both of you, and to pin_drop who recently wrote about Gethsemane and who talks to me about dreams!

( Sister James gives up snacking and gossip for Lent; Sister Aloysius gives up Sister James... )