Raftery, DeirdreDeirdreRaftery2017-07-272017-07-272013 Taylo2013History of Educationhttp://hdl.handle.net/10197/8696This article examines the biographies and personal records of nineteenth-century Catholic nuns who worked in education, with a view to determining how they reconciled their individuality with the demands of religious life. Their resistance to rules, and the ways in which they wrestled with the vow of obedience, is examined. The roles of the Novice Mistress and the Superior in teaching and managing the members of their religious communities are explored, with particular reference to three orders of women religious.enThis is an electronic version of an article published in History of Education 42(6): 729-744 (2013). History of Education is available online at: www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0046760X.2013.826288.ConventResistanceIndividualityCatholicEducationJournal Article42672974410.1080/0046760X.2013.8262882017-05-02https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/ie/