A couple who had been studying to become a priest and nun found each other. Despite the odds and the criticism they experienced, the two recently got married.
Knowing the backlash they’re facing, the couple explained that they might have turned away from being a priest and nun, but marriage is also a vocation.
Couple Who Wanted to be a Priest and Nun, Now Married
Priests and nuns of the Roman Catholic Church have a vow of celibacy and couldn’t get married, but there are so many jokes about them having a relationship behind closed church doors.
Yet what happens when a man who wanted to be a priest and a woman who wanted to be a nun meet each other in real life, and eventually get married?
For couple Ferd Escullar (a former seminarian) and Ria Roquiño (a former postulant at the Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate), it’s something that drew criticism but they decided to fight for their love.
“Napakadaming panghuhusga mula sa ibang tao ang naranasan namin, madalas kaming sabihang salot at hindi magandang halimbawa sa iba dahil tila kami raw ay parehong tumalikod sa Diyos,” Ria said.
Ria had actually left the convent in 2014, long before she met Ferd in 2015.
What she didn’t know is that although they first met in a youth event at the Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish in Alabang, Muntinlupa City in December 2015, Ferd had seen her in a baptismal ceremony and had fallen in love her with at first sight.
Ferd exited the seminary in 2016 and they became official in March 2016. However, they kept their relationship a secret until they announced their engagement in 2018.
They originally planned to marry in March 2020, but this was pushed to March 2022 due to the pandemic.
“Kahit saang bokasyon ka man dalhin, pagpapari, pagmamadre, pag-aasawa o maging single-blessedness, ang mahalaga ay tumutugon ka sa tawag Niya at nananatili ang pananampalataya mo sa Kanya,” Ria explained.
Can Seminarians and Postulants Get Married?
They’re studying to become a priest and nun, respectively, but seminarians and postulants haven’t made their official vows yet.
Although they can’t marry while in the seminarian or convent, many have done so after leaving their religious vocation.