- Read the story of a man who never wanted to be a nun — but was surprisingly good at it.
That dude looks like a lady, sang Aerosmith in 1987. The famous chorus line could have described Frank Tavares.
The rest of the song, however, doesn’t fit at all. That’s because Tavares looked like a holy lady.
A nun, to be precise.
That said, Tavares never intended to become a nun. A tragic childhood accident left Tavares orphaned and in the care of his grandparents, who weren’t equipped to look after him.
So, they sent the young child to a convent so he could have a better life. But why a female convent?
Well, as a child, Tavares’ genitalia was so underdeveloped, that his grandparents may have genuinely thought he was a girl.
He didn’t stay that way, though. After a decade in the monastery, he had grown into a teenager with teenager hormones — and suddenly some of the younger sisters were mysteriously getting pregnant.
Finally, following the discovery of an incriminating letter, the masquerade fell apart. After 22 years, the nuns discovered Tavares’ secret, and he had to leave the monastery.
It’s not all bad, though. He learned to sew from the nuns and became a tailor — a profession he practices to this day.
Tragic Beginnings
Frank Tavares was born in the Dominican Republic in 1952. We don’t know what his earliest childhood was like, but we’ll assume it was fairly normal.
That all changed when Tavares was four years old. His family was involved in a horrific traffic accident that killed his mother and father.
Now an orphan, Tavares was left in the care of his grandparents. Sadly, the old couple was so poor that, combined with their ailing health, they found themselves woefully incapable of taking care of the young child.
To give him any kind of life, they decided they had to send Tavares someplace else. So, they left him with the Dominican sisters of a local convent.
You might wonder why they left the child with nuns instead of monks. That’s because, when he was very young, Tavares was…
Well, he wasn’t particularly well-developed down south.
In fact, he himself recalls that as a child, his genitalia was so small and underdeveloped that he had trouble finding it. As such, it’s possible that his grandparents and the nuns genuinely he was a girl.
A Secret Life
And like so, Tavares accustomed to living at the convent as a girl. He wore the same clothes as all the nuns and lived like they do.
It was a humble life, but it was a good life. He was known as Sister Margarita.
Then, at seven years old, things started developing down there and Tavares started having his doubts about whether he was in the right place. A physical checkup later that year indeed confirmed to him that he was a boy.
Not only that, the doctor performing the checkup assured him that as he grew, his man parts would grow up with him.
That must’ve come as something of a shock for Tavares. He didn’t know any other life than that of a novice nun at the convent, so he decided he would continue to live like one.
“I never bathed or undressed in front of them. I would go for a quick dip, wear boxer-style panties, fake my period, and wear oversized dresses,” Tavares said.
The End of Margarita
Try as he might, though, Tavares couldn’t keep himself from growing up. As he got into his teens, his hormones started flaring up — and the girls who had once been his fellow novice sisters started looking very pretty to him.
Eventually, Tavares and one of the young nuns couldn’t resist the temptation. She mysteriously ended up pregnant.
That left everybody in the convent flabbergasted, as they knew the young novice hadn’t been in any contact with men. What on earth was going on?
Well, Tavares knew, and so he arranged to be moved to another convent. And then he met Sister Silvia.
He would later describe her as the love of his life — and his feelings were reciprocated. Lo and behold, Silvia, too, suddenly had a bun in the oven.
She encouraged Tavares to come clean, but he refused. Being a nun was the only life he knew and he was scared to go out into the world.
Soon enough, though, he didn’t have a choice. In 1979, his cover was blown as one of the older nuns at the convent discovered a letter from “Sister Margarita” to Silvia.
Thus ended Tavares’ 22 years as a nun. He never chose or wanted to live a secret life, but it’s what fate had in store for him.
All that said, Tavares’ sting as a nun did come with one benefit. The sisters taught him to sew and he was quite handy at it, so he became a tailor.
And a tailor he remains today, at 73 years old.