Sermons Presented During the Celebrations of Receiving the Habit at the Convent of St. Anne in the Early Eighteenth Century
Abstract
This article deals with a collection of four printed Christian sermons brought out between 1706 and 1721 and intended for Dominican nuns receiving the habit at St. Anne Convent in the Old Town of Prague.
It focuses on these sermons from a historical perspective as well as a theological perspective and points out topics that keep occurring regularly in the texts - particularly the self--presentation of the entering girl's family (reading their coat of arms, important events from the family's history), enclosure and spiritual life in the nunnery. First, the article follows a collection of three sermons written up by Dominican order preachers, especially a sermon designated for Ludmila Markvartova from Hradek.
By way of these examples the article refers particularly to common topics of monastic life. Second, this essay analyses a sermon written up by the Jesuit Vaclav Nerlich and intended for Johana Agnes Baptistina Minetti.
This lecture differs significantly from the previous three sermons by its deep and detailed form but also by its theological tone (the typical Jesuit approach to the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary). It becomes apparent that these sermons intended for nuns served not only as a presentation of spiritual topics but also as a celebration of their families.
However, the exact circumstances of their origin remain uncertain.