Framing a Young Nun's Initiation: Baroque Sermons on the Occasion of Entering a Convent in the Habsburg Lands as Vestiges of Lost Oral Culture

Early modern female monasticism in the Habsburg lands has long been in the shadow of research of women´s convents in western Europe. There has also been an intensive call for broadening the range of sources and methods in order to enliven this area of study. The presentation focuses on the celebratory orations that were pronounced at the occasions of taking the veil or religious vows in the female convents. These spiritual orations represent rich narrative sources that have so far been largely disregarded. However in the last third of the 17^th century it became increasingly popular and fashionable to put the sermons to print. Central European libraries and archives preserve a large amount of these festive orations.

Framing the rites of passage the sermons publicized the change in social status of the individual women that were initiated into the convent life. The texts contributed to the public representation of the nunneries and of the families related to the entering sisters.

Although the initiation rituals connected with the entry to a convent were quite precisely regulated by both the Canon law and the rules of the respective convents, we can suppose that the preachers´orations played an important role in the explanation of the festivities to the wide audience. The spiritual orators mediated the idealized image of the monastic life. They could therefore attract the interest of the new potential candidates or their families and also gain the support of new patrons. The printed sermons can thus be regarded as part of the celebratory discourse on early modern nuns.