19 x 13 cm, (1) f, pp. 1-65, (1) f. Quarter-bound in calf and marbled paper boards; red gilt label on spine; marbled edges. Ex-libris of the Library of the Hospitallers of Saint Joseph of Avignon. Corners rubbed, missing lower compartment of the spine; slight foxing throughout. Overall, a very good copy.

An unpublished manuscript, detailing regulations of the order of nuns of the Religious Hospitallers of Saint Joseph in La Flèche (France) by Mother Anne Chauvelier (1751-1823), the first Mother Superior of the order upon the community's reinstatement following the French Revolution.

The Religious congregation of the nuns of Hospitallers of Saint Joseph was founded in 1636 in La Fleche by Jérôme Le Royer de La Dauversière and Marie de La Ferre. The community quickly spread across the Atlantic and was notably at the origin of the Hôtel-Dieu de Montréal in 1645 and many other hospitals in North America.

When the French Revolution began, Anne Chauvelier was already present at La Flèche. She supported Mother Superior at the time and helped novices navigate the troubled times. A moral authority and writer in her spare time (she even wrote poetry and tragedies), she herself became Mother Superior of the House of La Flèche in 1803 and can be considered one of the key figures of the order. "Her charisma, her desire to never stop fighting and the epoch in which she lived (1751-1823) are some of the factors that made her writings an intermediary between the Ancien Régime and the nineteenth century. After all, was it not her who assured the survival and later reinstatement of the community during the Consulate and then the Empire?" (Bons, p. 275).

The manuscript provides specific guidelines for communitarian living: "Do not separate yourself from communal conduct and behold yourself as much as you can to the confessor and head of the community (p. 60). We also find here reflections on how to prepare for “the time of retreat,” a “notice to novice sisters,” and “maxims on the religious state”; as well as sections on the vows of poverty, chastity, obedience, and hospitality; general rules; and chapter entitled "Inner life, silence, meditation, and prayer" among other things.

This manuscript constitutes a spiritual guide for the sisters at the convent and was intended only to circulate in the community. While copies of this text probably circulated among members of the order, there are no other copies of this manuscript in public collections; neither are there any published versions of this text.

*Bons, "Anne Chauvelier, Religieuse Hospitalière de Saint-Joseph (1751-1823), Lire et écrire chez les religieuses de l’Ouest aux XVIIe & XVIIIe siècles (2000), eds. by Dompnier, Froeschlé-Chopar, pp. 255-275.