Sevillian nun’s profession poetry. Written in imitation of the Song of Songs.

[Nuns] / [Profession poetry] / P. F. R. V. Epitalamios Sagrados á la solemne profesion de la Madre Sor María Teresa de Santa Gertrudis, Serla y Ruiz, que se ha de celebrar en el Convento de Santa María de Gracia, Órden de Predicadores, de esta Ciudad de Sevilla el dia 17 de Mayo de este presente año 1818 P.F.R.V. S.l. [Sevilla]: Imprenta de Padrino, s.a. [1818]. 8vo [19.1 x 13.5 cm], 14 pp, [1] f. integral blank. Unbound, tied with string. Minor edge wear, a few very minor stains.
 
 
Very rare (2 copies worldwide: Biblioteca Nacional de España & Hispanic Society) first and only edition of this booklet of poetry published on the occasion of a certain María Teresa de Santa Gertrudis, Serla y Ruiz, becoming a professed nun at the Convento de Santa María de Gracia in Seville on 17 May 1818. The title page is signed only with the initials P. F. V. R.
 
The Epitalamios Sagrados is composed in the form of an epithalamium, i.e., a poem written to celebrate the bride on the way to her marital chamber. Here this conceit is represented by Sor María Teresa de Santa Gertrudis entering into her sacred marriage with Christ while committing herself to the cloister of the Dominican convent.
 
The Spanish poem is obviously written in imitation of the Song of Songs, which in Christian theology is sometimes considered to be an epithalamium of Solomon’s marriage to Pharoah’s daughter. To help readers who might not catch this reference, the anonymous poet has added in the margins the relevant Latin quotes from the Song of Songs.
 
María Teresa de Santa Gertrudis, Serla y Ruiz, is locatable in archival sources. Born Teresa Serla, she was the daughter of a French father and Sevillian mother. She entered the convent at age 19 with a dowry of 1,000 ducados (“Sor María de Sta. Gertrudis. En el siglo Dª. Teresa Serla. Hija de D. Antonio Serla, de nación francés, y de Dª Micaela Ruiz, natural de Sevilla. Tomó el hábito con 19 años, para religiosa de velo negro, el 15 de mayo de 1817. Trajo 1.000 ducados de dote y los alimentos que es costumbre” (José Barrado Barquilla, “El monasterio dominicano de Santa María de Gracia, de Sevilla. Datos para su Historia,” Archivo Dominicano, vol. XLII (2021), p. 400).
 
 
OCLC and KVK locate only the copies at the Biblioteca Nacional de España & Hispanic Society of America.
 
*OCLC 871811249; BNE Sala Cervantes R/41577(14); List of Printed Books in the Library of the Hispanic Society of America, vol. 7, p. 3322; José Barrado Barquilla, “El monasterio dominicano de Santa María de Gracia, de Sevilla. Datos para su Historia,” Archivo Dominicano, vol. XLII (2021), pp. 325-407.