A few famous nuns

In light of the Vatican’s action on Wednesday, here is a list of nuns who have become known in the broader world. Two of the Americans listed have been canonized.

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Mother Teresa

Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu founded the Missionaries of Charity in Kolkata, India, in 1950. For more than 45 years, she ministered to the poor, sick, orphaned and dying, while guiding the Missionaries of Charity's expansion worldwide. After her death, she was beatified by Pope John Paul II and given the title "Blessed Teresa of Kolkata.''

Dominique Faget / AFP/Getty Images

Jeanine Deckers

Jeanine Deckers, the guitarist and singer known as ''The Singing Nun,'' was a Belgian member of the Dominican order. She scored a 1963 hit with "Dominique,'' appeared on "The Ed Sullivan Show" and was played by Debbie Reynolds in the movie version of her story. She left her convent in 1967, became critical of Catholic dogma, opened a school for autistic children and became a public advocate of contraception. She died at age 51 in 1985.

Keystone / Getty Images

Juana Inés de la Cruz

Juana Inés de la Cruz (1651-1695) was a writer, nun and scholar. Mexico acknowledges her as one of Latin America's most outstanding writers of the colonial period. Pictured is an altar dedicated to the sister, set up in November 2006 in Mexico City as part of the traditional Day of the Dead celebrations. An image of Sister Juana, center, sitting in her library crowns the offering amid strips of marigold flowers.

Omar Torres / AFP/Getty Images

Delores Hart

Delores Hart, center, who kissed Elvis Presley in the 1957 film "Loving You'' and co-starred in "Where the Boys Are'' and "Come Fly With Me,'' gave up Hollywood and broke off a wedding engagement to join the Benedictine Abbey of Regina Laudis in western Connecticut. She is now the Mother Prioress (second in command) of the convent.

Matt Sayles / AP

Sister Wendy Beckett

Wendy Beckett became known in her 60s for her expertise in art, primarily for a series of shows she hosted for the BBC and two books. She was born in South Africa, raised in Scotland and graduated with distinction from Oxford University. She became a member of the Sisters of Notre Dame de Namur in 1946.

Victoria Arocho / AP

Andrea Jaeger

Andrea Yaeger, the No. 2 women's tennis player in the world as a teenager, became an Anglican Dominican nun in 2006. She has dedicated her life to helping children in need, visiting hospitals and running camps for children with cancer, People magazine reported in 2006.

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Sisters Ita Ford and Maura Clarke

The two sisters, from the Maryknoll order, were slain by right-wing forces in El Salvador in December 1980. The investigation into their killings and burial in a common grave focused attention on abuses of the U.S.-supported government in the civil war. The sisters had been working with displaced Salvadorans in the rural northwestern part of the Central American country.

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Mother Katharine Drexel

An undated photograph of Mother Katharine Drexel. She was born in Philadelphia in 1858, became a nun in 1891, and died in 1955. In November 1988, Mother Drexel was beatified by Pope John Paul II, who hailed the American heiress-turned-nun for devoting her life and fortune to fighting "the devastating effects of racism" on blacks and American Indians. On Oct. 1, 2000, she was canonized in Rome by Pope John Paul II.

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Mother Elizabeth Ann Seton

An undated photo of a portrait of Mother Elizabeth Ann Seton, founder of the Sisters of Charity of St. Joseph. The portrait is a reproduction of an original tintype owned by family friends of the Setons in Italy. Seton, who founded the first Roman Catholic school in America in Emmittsburg, Md.was made a saint by the Vatican.

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