As the Catholic revival that followed the Wars of Religion in France brought about the proliferation of new monasteries and religious orders, spiritual biographies of the founders and leaders of these houses were composed in unprecedented numbers. These texts, generally written by men about women, described cultural ideals about feminine piety more than the lived experience of nuns. This project seeks to examine the ways that spiritual biographies nevertheless represented literary practices in convents and actual collaboration between religious men and women. The vast array of biographical documents that were produced within convents became the source materials for the male authors of biographies, which allowed the members of convents to exert influence on the subject matter of the published work. The products of these collaborative efforts then served the interests of women as well as men, offering examples of religious communities’ virtues and valuable works to potential recruits and donors in addition to providing models of the ascetic piety and self-examination endorsed by women of the Catholic Reformation. In an era when authorship was a communal, rather than individual, endeavour, the participation of men did not necessarily erase all traces of women’s voices, but rather granted them the legitimacy and spiritual authority to be published before a wider audience. Spiritual biographies are therefore an example of how cloistered women could transcend the barriers of enclosure to influence a broader secular and religious public. / Graduate

La riforma attuata nel ramo femminile dell'ordine di San Benedetto da Catherine Mectilde de Bar [Madre Mectilde del Santissimo Sacramento] (1614-1698). La formazione, l'opera e gli incontri della religiosa lorenese sullo sfondo delle vicende politiche ed ecclesiali della Francia del XVII secolo. Gli aspetti storici, istituzionali e teologici legati alla fondazione e allo sviluppo dell'Istituto delle benedettine dell'Adorazione Perpetua del Santissimo Sacramento. / The reform realised by Catherine Mectilde de Bar [Mother Mectilde of the Most Holy Sacrament] (1614-1698) in the feminine branch of the Benedictine Order. The formation, the works and the writings of this nun from Lorraine in the midst of the political and ecclesial events in seventeenth century France. The historical, institutional and theological aspects connected with the foundation and the development of the institute of the Benedictine nuns of the perpetual adoration of the Most Holy Sacrament.

During the seventeenth century, the Catholic Reformation sparked unprecedented growth in girls' educational opportunities with the opening of over five hundred new teaching convents. Yet, the active role girls played in these institutional and social changes is often overlooked. Even though girls' autobiographical writing from the seventeenth century is rare, prescriptive, educational, and biographical sources from convent schools are rich in details about girls' lives and vocational discernment. Upon leaving school, girls were encouraged to take either marriage or religious vows. Since orthodox Catholicism taught that salvation could only be received if one's life reflected God's will this decision was weighty. In fact, reformed convents tested their entrants to ensure that their vocations were freely chosen and not forced. Seventeenth-century girls' educational theorists shared this concern, and while they debated the details of curriculum, they agreed that only girls had the authority to articulate their own God-given vocations. At convent schools, girls encountered both models of female domesticity and women who were dedicated to religious life. The repeated affirmation of both of these paths created an atmosphere in which girls could legitimately choose either. Furthermore, the memories of vocational discernment recorded in nuns' lives offer evidence of plausible ways in which girls proved their callings to their communities. Focusing on religious vocation reveals how girls in the seventeenth century actively articulated their ideas, impacted their societies, and challenged adult authority. / Graduate / 2017-08-25 / 0330 / 0335 / 0520 / mjkort@uvic.ca

Ce travail de thèse se propose d’étudier le Mercure François comme objet d’histoire à part entière. Souvent considérée comme annonciatrice de la presse périodique d’actualité politique, cette collection de vingt-cinq volumes imprimés et publiés périodiquement à Paris entre 1611 et 1648, poursuit en réalité l’objectif d’écrire et publier l’histoire du temps présent du royaume de France et de l’Europe chrétienne entre 1605 et 1644. L’articulation d’une analyse de l’intégralité de la collection à l’étude de cas choisis dans le périodique pour leurs enjeux politiques est la méthode adoptée ici. Le croisement de sources internes et externes au Mercure François permet d’analyser la définition donnée au périodique par les acteurs, et, donc, de préciser leur conception de l’histoire. L’écriture de celle-ci est perçue comme un engagement politique et civique. La comparaison de la relation et de la publication d’événements politiques marquants par différents médias a permis de préciser le rôle déterminant des frères Richer, les imprimeurs-libraires du Mercure François, dans la fondation engagé de la collection. Il a également permis de noter les évolutions du Mercure François en fonction du contexte politique et de l’influence croissante des théories de la raison d’État. / This thesis is to study the Mercure Francois as a real history object. Often considered as an archaic form of the periodic political news media, this collection of twenty-five volumes printed and published periodically in Paris between 1611 and 1648, pursued in fact the goal of writing and publishing the present history of the kingdom of France and Christian Europe between 1605 and 1644. The joint analysis of the entire collection to the cases studied and chosen for the political issues at that time is the approach taken here. The crossing of internal and external sources to the Mercure François used to analyze the definition of the periodical by the actors, and, therefore, to clarify their definition of history. The writing of it was seen as a political and civic engagement. The comparison of the narration and the publication of important political events in various media has clarified the crucial role of Richer brothers, Mercure François’ printers and booksellers in the foundation engaged of the collection. It has also allowed to note changes in the Mercure François according to the political context and to the growing influence of the reason of State’s theories at the time.