Self-Definitions of the Secular Demoiselles of La Retraite in Seventeenth- and Eighteenth-Century Brittany
(2023) Renaissance Society of America Annual Meeting — Location: San Juan (9.March.2023)
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- Abstract
- The main characteristic of the demoiselles of La Retraite, founded in 1675 as a secular community with simple vows, was to offer the Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius to women in retreat houses. While they used a negative wording in their founding documents (« Cette Communauté n’est point une Communauté Religieuse : ce n’est pas aussi une Communauté purement séculière ; mais elle tient de l’un et de l’autre »), they changed their stance on vows and on religious life through the centuries, discussing what was at the core of their apostolate. Based on their rules, founding documents and correspondence with ecclesiastics to discuss the most relevant statutes to support the work of the demoiselles, this paper will discuss the attempts to find the status best suited to both the context (notably after the French Revolution) and the retreats. Ultimately, the demoiselles became the sisters of La Retraite.
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Barthélemy, S. (2023). Self-Definitions of the Secular Demoiselles of La Retraite in Seventeenth- and Eighteenth-Century Brittany. Renaissance Society of America Annual Meeting, San Juan.