Becoming a new nun: Manuscript on the investiture & profession of Hospitalières.

[Manuscript] / [Hospitalières] / [Nuns]. Prise D’habit Pour Une hospitaliere. S.l. : s.n., s.a. [18th century]. 8vo [17.9 x 11.8 cm], [1] f., 214 pp. Bound in contemporary sprinkled vellum, unidentified modern bookplate inside upper cover. Minor rubbing and edge wear to spine and boards. Minor spotting to a few leaves, neatly written and perfectly legible throughout. 
 
 
18th-century French manuscript of unrecorded texts used during or in advance of the investiture & profession ceremonies of Hospitalières, presumably Augustinian Chanoinesses régulières hospitalières de la Miséricorde de Jésus.
 
The manuscript is divided into four parts, the first of which concerns a nun’s investiture (“Prise D’habit”). The other three concern the profession process, with these sections headed “Profession Pour deux hospitalieres” (p. 49), “Profession Pour une hospitaliere” (p. 84), and “Autre Profession Pour une hospitaliere” (p. 142). 
 
These texts offer the new nun a spiritual-scriptural foundation for the work of a hospitaller (e.g., wisdom from Augustine, Bernard, the Venerable Bede, and applicable episodes from the Gospels, e.g., Christ in the House of Martha and Mary, etc.). These texts address the nuns directly (“my dear sisters”) and could function as spoken lessons/sermons or as a written texts for private contemplation.
 
The Hospitalières de la Miséricorde de Jésus was of 13th-century foundation but gained prominence in the 17th century, especially in its expansion to Québec and other areas of New France. It specialized in the care of the sick and the poor.