| Sister Noella Marcellino, BA, MA, PhD | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1952 |
| Residence | Bethlehem, Connecticut |
| Citizenship | American |
| Nationality | American |
| Fields | Microbiology Molecular biology Cellular biology |
| Institutions | Abbey of Regina Laudis |
| Alma mater | University of Connecticut |
| Doctoral advisor | David Benson |
| Other academic advisors | Nina Stein |
| Known for | Scientific investigation into the flavors of cheese |
| Notable awards | Fulbright Scholarship French Fellowship French Food Spirit Award |
Mother Noella Marcellino, O.S.B., (born 1952) is a Benedictine nun who has earned a doctorate in microbiology from the University of Connecticut. Studying fungi in France on a Fulbright Scholarship,[1] she concentrates on the positive effects of decay and putrefaction as well as the odors and flavors of cheese.[2]
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Before she came to the Abbey of Regina Laudis, Sister Noella had worked for 28 years at an agency for musicians[3] She supervised the distribution of the abbey's two Gregorian chant CDs, one of which was a hit on a Billboard chart.[3][4] The Archbishop of Hartford, John Whealon, gave permission for members of the cloistered community of Benedictine nuns of Abbey of Regina Laudis to embark on an pilgrimage for higher education.[5] In December 1986, Mother Noella and three other nuns applied and were accepted into courses for Agricultural Science at the University of Connecticut.[5] In 1987 the group began a program in scholarship that resulted in all receiving doctoral degrees, with Noella's being in molecular and cell biology/microbiology.[5] She had begun with introductory sciences courses at UConn’s campus in Waterbury, but it was during a visit by UCONN organic chemistry professor Nina Stein to the abbey’s cheese cellar, that the professor suggested that she focus her research on the microbiology of cheese ripening.[5] Noel won a Fulbright scholarship[6] to France to collect and exaimine native strains of fungi, with an emphasis on Geotrichum candidum,[7] from traditional cheese caves and stayed an additional three years, analyzing the samples on a grant from the French government.[5]
Mother Noella used to not be able to eat cheese, except for the occasional chunk of smoked cheddar[8] and had been making cheese in a wooden whisky barrel since 1977.[9] She has been a member of the Abbey of Regina Laudis for twenty-nine years.[10] She now frequently advises the United States cheese industry and she is a speaker and judge at competitions.[11]
She was praised by Rémy Grappin, the late Director of Research at France's National Institute of Agricultural Research, who said that she had studied the biodiversity of raw-milk cheese fungi and no one else was fighting harder to preserve it in a world of standardization and pasteurization.[3] She was named the official cheese maker of Abbey of Regina Laudis and she is part of an ancient order of cheese makers.[12] She won a French Food Spirit Award and the organizers for the award said that she was an international expert of cheese.[9]
Mother Noella Marcellino was the subject of a PBS documentary called The Cheese Nun,[13] but she said that she does not like being called a cheese nun.[12] She was filmed while she traveled though the French countryside collecting information from cheese making experts.[12] Mother Dolores Hart, was the one who told her to go with "The Cheese Nun" because cheese is more appealing than fungi.[11]