MovieChat Forums > Agnes of God (1985) Discussion > The Real Agnes....A true story.....

The Real Agnes....A true story.....

posted 13 years ago by snowmt391
13 replies | jump to latest

In 1975 or 1976, Sister Bridget Murphy did not come down to breakfast. She was absent from her job as a Montessori teacher. At some point, the other sisters became concerned, went to her locked room, and found her in her bed, in a pool of blood. She was taken to the emergency room, probably at the hospital less than half a mile away. The doctor said she had given birth, and where was the baby? Murphy denied giving birth, and the sisters said, no, she's a nun, she didn't give birth. At that point, the police were notified, they searched the room, and found the baby in a trash can, a plastic bag wrapped tightly over its head. The nun, still maintaining she had never been pregnant or given birth, was charged with homicide.
Murphy was tried in 1977, before Judge Hyman T. Maas. She had waived her right to be tried by jury. The trial only lasted for about two weeks, and she was found innocent by reason of insanity. The police found plane tickets and other documentation in her bedroom indicating that nine months before the birth of the baby, she had attended an educational conference. Her pregnancy was hidden by her nun's habit.
Bridget Murphy was 37 years old at the time of her trial. The murder occurred in the town of Brighton, just across the city line from Rochester, NY, a city in western NY, on the coast of Lake Ontario. A very cold, snowy place--but not Quebec. A city filled with Italian, German, Polish, and Irish Catholics--but no French. Brighton itself is an overwhelmingly Jewish community.
The murder and trial was a sensation. It would have been more sensational, except for all the Mafia killings going on at the time in Rochester, that and the end of the Vietnam war. Murphy's story made it to the Washington Post.
At the time, NYS required the certification of ALL teachers, which meant the possession of a Master's in Education. So Murphy was a grown woman, and well educated. Not a naive girl, raped by a priest. There was no stigmata. She was considered a fine teacher. During the course of the trial, the father of the baby was never revealed, with Murphy maintaining, at least publicly, she had no memory of how she had conceived.
Today, the convent is closed, and used for housing grad students from the nearby university. The rooms are small, each with its own bathroom. The crosses are still on the doors. A little creepy, I thought, as I viewed them--and wondered which room?
I was 23 years old in 1977--I remember the murder in the news, the trial. There was a lot of controversy--people thought a Jew wouldn't give the woman a fair trial. This was the big issue at the time. People in the Rochester area who remember the story of Sister Bridget Murphy have always assumed that it was the basis for Agnes of God. More like an inspiration, considering how far it is from the truth--a fascinating and tragic tale in its own right. And the name of the convent? The Sisters of St. Agnes.

[–] Major_Movie_Star 13 years ago

Fascinating! Thanks snowmt391!

[–] Sponiatowski 13 years ago

This movie has some serious connections to "Rosemary's Baby" doesn't it?

!!!Scrooge for President!!!

[–] snowmt391 13 years ago

It's like the anti-Rosemary's Baby. Surreal, mystical, shadowy with sin and corruption. I was in my early twenties when the real thing went down in Roch. Abortion was a huge controversy. Catholics had all moved to the suburbs, the parish schools in the city were closing. Catholics were using birth control and going to folk masses. I've never seen the movie. Just the summary annoys the crap out of me. It totally mythologizes the real story. Almost like a conspiracy, to distract Catholics from what really happened. I'm sure it wasn't, but come on, priests weren't raping nuns. We all know that now. And in reality, the church was trying to cover up the whole thing, per usual. But it had HUGE publicity, for the day. It was covered in Washington Post. Anyway, quite the story. I was flattered you lifted my entry in Wikipedia. I edited it a little recently. I'm glad someone read it, it's what really happened. A way creepy story, all on it's own.

[–] Sponiatowski 13 years ago

I lived in an apartment building that had been built on top of some Catholic Archdiocese property that had previously been a convent that had operated in the area since 1835 but had been sold to a development company in the late 60s. My building superintendent had operated an earthmover when they scraped out a man-made lake out of what used to be a wooded area of the church property.

He claimed that the skeletal remains of several dead babies had been uncovered during the excavation. The police were contacted and the matter turned over to the county. They were instructed to notify a quickly constructed on-site task force when remains were uncovered. Task force workers, all plain-clothes women, gathered and bagged the remains.

The story was never reported in the media nor was any further investigation launched. Searches I've conducted online and in archival newspapers have been fruitless in uncovering details of this discovery or even the existence of this convent. The only proof I have is that the actual Catholic Church was still in existence across the street with an 1835 cornerstone on it's entrance.

Of course, his story could be a fabrication, but why make it up. When it comes down to it, I'll never really know for sure, but I've always been interested in possible scenarios of what really could have been going on at such a place if the story was true.

!!!Scrooge for President!!!

[–] snowmt391 13 years ago

Wow, that is a great story. I have actually been in the convent where Sister Maureen (Or Bridget? I get confused) Murphy murdered her baby. It gave me a creepy feeling, although was not really a creepy place. Your story is fascinating. About twenty some years ago in Rochester, only a mile or two from the convent, the county was excavating some vacant land to increase space for the Lilac Festival area near Highland Park. They happened on an unmarked cemetery of maybe sixty people, all ages. They had no idea it was there, although good records of cemeteries are kept in that area. They assumed that they were burials from the nearby poor house and insane asylum from the 1800s that existed on that site. At least one skeleton had a German penny in his pocket, so it was believed he was a poor German immigrant. The graves were treated as an archeological dig, studied at a museum, then reburied at the nearby city cemetery.
I think it is possible the infant skeletons you heard about, if they existed, may have been foundlings, abandoned by their mothers at the convent. A very good possibility. Illegitimate babies, unbaptized, who died and could not be buried in sacred ground. Then again, keep in mind the true purpose of convents--they have traditionally been used as women's prisons. There is a recent Irish movie about wayward teen girls sent there, set in maybe the 1950s, not so long ago. Some I believe were pregnant, and of course, could not keep their babies.
Girls who were unmarriageable, who lost virginity through rape or seduction, who disobeyed their parents, refused suitors, women cast off by their husbands,etc., were sent to convents. Martin Luther assisted in freeing women from convents during the Protestant Reformation in Germany, and married one of the freed nuns. She was educated, and could read and write, and he found her an invaluable companion for life. So in the case of your convent, their could have been pregnant women there, abandoned by their families to the convent. And may very well have been the nuns themselves--who knows? Like I said, mabye Sister Maureen did this every year, she went to Boston, got really drunk, and had sex with a stranger. And then forgot about it. The papers reported that the Church tried to cover up the murder. But not in Rochester, not at Strong Hospital, where she probably was taken. This was a big city ER, with a lot of Jewish and Protestant doctors, who fully co-operated with the police. The Catholic Church was big in Rochester, but not like Boston, for example. It didn't have that kind of power. Thanks for the great story--truth IS stranger, and stronger, than fiction!

[–] brupey-1 11 years ago

but why make it up
___________________________

You really don't know?

[–] edbuskirkjr 11 years ago

This is why you should watch a film before making assumptions about it: she wasn't raped by a priest. She was seduced by a day-laborer.

[–] SteverB 11 years ago

What? You need to watch the film again.

[–] jbi390 12 years ago

Actually, there was a story in the Atlanta Journal/Constitution in about 1981 about a infant murdered by a nun in a convent in Canada. I think it was Quebec, but am not sure as I did not keep the article. A year later a book about it came out from Book of the Month Club and I had wanted to buy that, but was unable to do so at the time. Then the stage play came out followed by the movie. I have been trying to find out the details for years, but have never been successful. I found the indictment for her trial and the baby is name Baby Boy Murphy. So, it was a boy.

[–] snowmt391 12 years ago

Maybe something happened in Canada, but the Rochester, NY story was significant, and I think that it had to be the major influence. Of course, it was Baby Boy Murphy, because the nun's last name--in Rochester (well, Brighton)was Murphy. The Wikipedia story about Sister Murphy, under "Agnes of God," was written by me, but there are citations contributed by other readers at the end of the article, all referencing the Rochester case. The winters in Rochester, NY are extremely bleak, very gray and snowy--it is the snowiest major city in the US, beats Buffalo in snowfall. That also clues in Rochester as the influence. The story was widely covered in the media at the time, making it to the Washington Post and the national news networks. When the movie came out, everyone in Rochester assumed it was based on the Murphy case. But the play and movie are very mythologized, sort of what Catholics and the church would like us to think, rather than what really happened--that she probably had random sex with a stranger while on her vacation. I suspect that is what happened since she waived her right to a jury, she pled innocent by reason of insanity, and it is likely many details were kept from the public to protect her privacy, as part of the "deal." The police had more info that was never revealed, that is my suspicion, also the psychiatrist kept the conversations confidential.
Piehlemeyer base his play and screenplay on what was NOT revealed during the trial. Changing the scene to Quebec retained the cold, snowy atmosphere of upstate NY, but got it out of a bustling, modern city. Also, the scene and story change protected Sister Maureen. I still think the original story is far more compelling, maybe because it took place a half mile from where I lived for 16 years, and she was likely taken to the ER at the hospital a few blocks from the convent--the hospital where I was born.

[–] jbi390 12 years ago

I am guestimating the year. But, as I try to recall the article, I remember that the name of the convent was french and it was in Canada. I am guessing that it was in Quebec. I know that the woman's name was Agnes. When I read the article I realized that that was only the second time I had known of a person named Agnes. I had wanted to keep the article for my scrapbook, but the copy of the paper was not mine and it disappeared the next day. I was aware of the Book of the Month club as both my mom and a co-worker were members. I happened to see the co-worker's membership brochure a year later and saw a secondary selection for the book in it. The promotion said that the book was based on the case in Quebec. I requested the book but, my friend forgot. I am sure that the play and movie took lots of liberties with the actual stories. They are probably a compilation of both.

[–] snowmt391 12 years ago

Could be. The convent where Sister Murphy lived in Brighton, NY was the Sisters of St. Agnes, next to St. Agnes High School. Murphy was a Montessori teacher.

[–] hodie1 9 years ago

I remember. I graduated from an education program in NYS in 1975 and public school teachers could teach high school without a BS in Education, let alone a Master's degree. But at that time public schools in NYC were "excessing" teaching staff.