On page 244 of Fabulosa I provided a transcript of prayer in Polari from one of the London Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, Sister Muriel. It begins:
May all our dolly Sisters & Brothers in the order receive multee orgasmic visitations from the spirit of Queer Power in 1998,
May you have multee guilt free charvering from now until ‘The Victory To Come’
I recently caught up with Sister Muriel (aka Sean OKane) to ask about his experiences with being a Sister in the 1990s and how the prayer came to be written.
Sister Muriel, thank you for agreeing to talk to me. Can you tell me how you got involved with the Sisters and what sort of things you did as a Sister?
Bona question! Dishing time! As you know, the UK sisters in the 1990s were starting to gather a considerable presence where through multiple manifestations they started poking themselves into mainstream media. I’m not all together sure where I first laid eyes on them but I was a great admirer of Derek Jarman at the time so it’s entirely possible that footage of his canonisation may have been my first exposure to the Sisterhood and my catalyst to seek them out. That, their appearances on Queer TV programmes like ‘Out On…’ etc. and their collaboration with Chumbawamba on a track entitled ‘Homophobia’ that I loved at the time. I certainly remember a fellow Irish nun was one of the more visible figures at that time and her liturgical spin on Polari was a huge influence on me wanting to participate. I was raised a good Irish Catholic boy and so her upending its hypocrisy in a delightfully camp way really appealed to me.
When I finally did meet them at London Pride in 1996 (where they held court at Marble Arch prior to the start of the parade), I was able to shine in their blessed wisdom & it was not long afterwards I decided to take up the veil. My first manifestation was a solo affair at Belfast Pride in 1997.
Shortly afterwards I set up my own house – The House of The Divided Children (well, I say House ..it was more like a broom cupboard – I was the sole member!).
I was invited by the London Sisters to join them for London Pride a few weeks later where I met members from Manchester, Brighton, Edinburgh, Oxford and – sacre bleu! – Paris too. It was fabulous day in searing heat and I really don’t know how the other sisters didn’t collapse with exhaustion when sunset fell (I was ready for a nice hot bath, all told)
My partner & I moved to London in 1998 and I established my virtual house through the website you no doubt saw back in the day – The House of the Blessed Sheela-Na-Gig.
I wasn’t particularly successful in my time in recruiting members to my new house (now based in Harrow) but I did have a good online following & received many queries thanks to the site. I even received a visit from San Diego sister as a result of a long online exchange over several months. I continued to be invited by my fellow sisters to manifestations but these were mostly around Pride-related event with two exceptions.
I was invited by the Manchester Convent to be part of their troll at Manchester’s Mardi Gras in 1999 and I stayed at their House during that weekend which as a newbie to the order, was an honour for me. It was a great weekend – we minced the city streets and even ended up in Weatherfield. Rovers Return was shut though (damn). The other exception was a special one for me. One of the key moments of my teenage queer self-realisation was the behemoth that was ‘Relax’ by Frankie Goes To Hollywood. I somehow knew there was something about the song & the band that lit a spark in me back then. So, to dance on stage with Holly Johnson at Summer Rites in 1998 was so fortuni! I can’t say I was graceful or following any classic choreographical moves but it was so much fun going dolally in front of a queero of mine and 20,000 people! Adrenalin was pumping for a long time afterwards!
How did you find out about Polari and what did you think about it?
Not sure. I guess it was hearing it here & there in the late 80s and early 90s mainly through multiple Queer TV programmes. I was aware of some of the lingo by the time the lead singer of the Smiths (whose blackened name we shall not mention in these times) had released ‘Piccadilly Palare’ in 1990. In your book you mentioned the Polari sequences on an edition of Channel 4’s ‘Out On..’ and I remember being fascinated back then by hearing Polari’s unabashed ferocity, its linguistic complexity and its humour. When the Sisters promoted & celebrated it in the manifestations I saw – as one of the gathered faithful – that was another big pull towards the Sisterhood for me. Needless to say thanks to the internet and the wisdom of Sisters who got in touch after I first took the garb I quickly became a little fluent in it. The early draft of the dictionary I got from Jez did help a lot too. I can’t say I was a “native speaker” by the end of my time as a Sister but I certainly enjoyed conversing in full camp as I lolled about as Muriel!
How did you come up with the Polari prayer?
I wish I could give you a definitive answer but the exact origins of it have been lost in the mists of time, I’m afraid. I do recall writing it and I know that in preparation I did some thorough research to give it some validity (again based on Jez’s work and the other prayers that were out there at the time). I also remember wanting to add a Celtic angle to it as well as giving it a “traditional” Catholic liturgical feel. Polari was part of it (of course) but overall I wanted it reflect that I saw our Sisterhood as much a spiritual communality as a political one. At least, that’s how I saw it.
Are you still a Sister?
Sadly, around 2000-1 I was finding it difficult to make time for manifesting & being miles away from where the heat of the action was, meant that it started to become less fun than it was at the start. I had also started a new full-time job which was tiring most of the time so when the call came to frock up, I was finding it easier & easier to make excuses. I never formally said farewell to it and my fellow Sisters; I just kind of drifted away from it. My biggest regret is that a good chunk of the memorabilia (including my habit) I lost in several moves in the last two decades. That also included a copy of the Polari dictionary that Jez was drafting at the time (it was a massive Xeroxed document if I recall). Thankfully, the photos have survived as well as a few of the trinkets I had as my manifesting accessories. At least I have those as my touchstones to take me back.