The Second Nun's Tale

St. Cecilia, the focus of the Second Nun's Tale

"The Second Nun's Tale" (Middle English: Þe Seconde Nonnes Tale), written in late Middle English, is part of Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales. Narrated by a nun who remains unnamed, it is a hagiography of the life of Saint Cecilia.

The lack of portrait description for the second nun in the General Prologue of The Canterbury Tales has led some scholars to speculate that the tale is merely the second tale of the single nun or of the prioress but this idea is not widely held. Its relationship to the subsequent "The Canon's Yeoman's Tale" is to offer a serious and worthy religious-themed story before a much more irreverent tale of contemporary religious behaviour about foolish alchemists.