Evangelizing About Sister Evangelina

As much as I love the generous, warm, unconditional support that marks most interactions between Nonnatus house nuns and midwives and their patients (or between the Nonnatans themselves), the world of the show would be flat and unrealistic if all that energy wasn't leavened with the occasional blast of grumpiness, which is why Sister Evangelina has been such an important character. And in the latest episode, she gets a showcase for her particular brand of tough love that fleshes out her character in a wonderful way that...obviously makes me cry, because this show is a pitiless tear extraction machine.

Sister Evangelina's Jubilee -- the fiftieth anniversary of her holy orders -- is coming up, and everyone at Nonnatus House is working on the celebration -- which has to be a surprise, because this is a lady who doesn't like a lot of fuss in any aspect of her life, as the events of this episode remind us. Her shoe uppers are coming apart from the sole? No need to fuss over fixing them; she'll just grab a pair of plimsolls from a handy donation box. The house cook splashed out with something special for lunch?

No, Sister Evangelina will make herself a sandwich, thank you very much.

And even before she finds out, thanks to Sister Winifred's big mouth, that there's a Jubilee party in the offing, Sister Evangelina is under extra stress in this week's episode: Sister Julienne, trying to get everything done while Jenny's on leave, has collapsed of exhaustion and been prescribed leave herself. So as happy as Sister Evangelina had been with the uber-efficient Patsy, the new full-time midwife, that all falls away when Sister Julienne is replaced by Shelagh, which brings up all kinds of bad old feelings for Sister Evangelina surrounding Shelagh's decision to leave the order to get married. Meanwhile, the house seems to be the target for repeated break-ins...which turn out to be Sister Evangelina herself sneaking food out to her homeless, alcoholic brother.

The arrival of Vincent is a reminder for us of what is probably seldom far from Sister Evangelina's mind: her life before Nonnatus House was very different from those of her colleagues. While no one is quite as posh as Chummy (though Patsy, with her fencing, may put up a pretty good challenge), no one had quite the working-class upbringing Sister Evangelina did. This background has clearly proved useful to her for her placement in Poplar: we often see her bossing patients around in a way that they need, but that Sister Julienne or Jenny would be hesitant to do due to their unconscious class privilege. Sister Evangelina never gives patients a pass for their circumstances: if she made do before throwing in her lot with the church, so can they.

Then there's the clash with Shelagh. When Sister Evangelina demands that the party be cancelled, Shelagh points out, as kindly as she can, "It's a tradition in the religious orders." "I think you forfeited your right to lecture me or anyone else on the religious life," Sister Evangelina shoots back. My read on the situation is that Sister Evangelina is mostly annoyed not to have been left in charge in Sister Julienne's stead, and lashes out at Shelagh for having replaced her on grounds she knows will really wound her. On top of that, given what else we know of Sister Evangelina, one can imagine that it took a while for her to make room in her life and heart for Shelagh, so that when Shelagh decided she didn't want to be her Sister anymore, Sister Evangelina felt especially betrayed. But Sister Evangelina's also got the "tough" part of tough love down, and makes amends. When Vincent is discovered, and Shelagh says she knows how fond Sister Evangelina is of him, Sister Evangelina briskly answers, "Well. We can't choose where we love, can we?" Sister Evangelina goes on to say she knows about Shelagh's infertility, and reminds her, "You already have a child, Shelagh. His name is Timothy. And I know why, because I delivered him." She describes how Timothy's late mother wanted Timothy always to be loved, and when Shelagh says she's afraid of loving him too much, Sister Evangelina asks, "For whose sake, yours or his? If there's one thing the religious life has taught me, is it's impossible to love too much. What's needed is taken up, and what's not needed hangs around somewhere, looking for a home." She tells Shelagh to be patient and wait for God to show her his plan. (She doesn't add that, in the meantime, Shelagh should let Timothy play outside sometimes, but seriously, Shelagh, he's just a kid and he's not going to get polio again.)

That Sister Evangelina's theory of love is proved true by the episode's end, as her Sisters ignore her wishes and throw her a surprise party anyway.

And instead of her family (other than a cleaned-up Vincent), the guests are people Sister Evangelina lavished with her love and care over the years: the Poplar residents she delivered, (some of whom went on to have her deliver their children, too). Even Timothy.

One by one, dozens of Poplar residents step forward to give her their nosegays, and we know this is just a tiny fraction of the number of lives Sister Evangelina's changed -- and made possible -- in her years as a midwife. Day to day, it's just autoclaving instruments and putting on whatever shoes are at hand, but it's actually okay to take a few hours off to celebrate half a century of selfless service.