13 nuns from the same convent in Michigan have died from COVID-19 complications

• Thirteen nuns in Livonia, Michigan, who were aged 69 to 99 have died from COVID-19 complications since April.
• The nuns were part of St. Felix of Cantalice, or Felician Sisters, which has a Roman Catholic convent in Livonia, Michigan.
• A spokeswoman for the Felician Sisters of North America told CBS News that the 13 nuns who died made up 22% of residents in the convent.

Thirteen nuns from the same convent in Metro-Detroit have died from COVID-19 complications since April, and 12 of them died within the same month.

The nuns, aged 69 to 99, were part of St. Felix of Cantalice, or Felician Sisters, which has a Roman Catholic convent in Livonia, Michigan. Twelve of them died between April 10 and May 10, and a 13th died on June 27.

A spokeswoman for the Felician Sisters of North America told CBS News that 17 other nuns in the convent also tested positive for the virus but have since recovered. The 13 who died made up 22% of residents in the convent.

"We couldn't contain the grief and the sorrow and the emotional impact," Sister Noel Marie Gabriel, director of clinical health services for the Felician Sisters of North America, told The Global Sisters report. "We went through the motions of doing what we had to do, but that month was like a whole different way of life. That was our most tragic time. It was a month of tragedy and sorrow and mourning and grieving."

The Global Sisters report said those who died included a librarian, a secretary in the Vatican Secretariat of State, an author, a nurse, an organist, and a teacher.

"We grieve for each of our sisters who has passed during the time of the pandemic throughout the province, and we greatly appreciate all of those who are holding us in prayer and supporting us in a number of ways," Sister Mary Christopher Moore, provincial minister of the Felician Sisters of North America, told Insider.

In a statement regarding the last nun's death in June, the Felician Sisters of North America said it was "moving forward with slowly loosening the tight restrictions under which Sisters in our convents, especially our larger convents, have operated for more than three months."

The statement urged nuns to continue to social distance, disinfect their surroundings, and wash their hands as they resume gatherings "as much as we are able."

"After so many months of restriction, the changes are most welcome, but we will remain highly vigilant and responsive to the current fluid nature of the virus in all convent locations," the organization said. "We will remain flexible and prudent in our planning as well as quite cautious in leaving our convents, based on infection control expectations."