ELSBETHEN, Austria (AFP) — Three rebel nuns in their 80s have taken back their Austrian convent after fleeing from their care home, with supporters flocking to the nunnery Saturday in a show of solidarity.

Sisters Rita, 81, Regina, 86, and Bernadette, 88, have graced international headlines following their flight earlier this month from the care home the Catholic Church sent them to in late 2023 "against their will."

Before then, the three were the last remaining nuns at Goldenstein castle in Elsbethen, south of the city of Salzburg, which has housed both the towering nunnery and a private school for almost 150 years.

Several of the nuns' former students gathered at the majestic convent on Saturday to offer rosary prayers one bead at a time. Other allies of the rogue sisterhood joined later, bearing food or just stopping by for a chat.

The prayers' calm offered a rare moment of respite amid the media whirlwind engulfing them in the aftermath of their unorthodox flight — and ongoing battles with the Church hierarchy over their right to remain in the nunnery.

Former student Eva-Maria Seeber, 76, told Agence France-Presse (AFP) that she had come to support the trio and take a stand.

"You can't just relocate elderly people without asking them. It's cruel," she said, adding that two nuns were taken "straight from the hospital" to the nearby care home.

Relations with Church officials, who insist the nuns had to be placed in a Catholic care home due to their ailing health, have spiralled in recent weeks.

The trio's superior, Provost Markus Grasl of the Reichersberg Abbey, has even accused them of violating their duties of obedience.

With their flight, the sisters are "acting against the vows they voluntarily took," argued Grasl, whose abbey took charge of Goldenstein in 2022 together with the Archdiocese of Salzburg.

While it remains unclear what the Catholic Church was planning to do with the convent, the nuns tell a different story.