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4 - Solitary Temples and Empty Shrines

Jennifer Hillman
Jennifer Hillman
Affiliation:
Queen Mary, University of London
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Summary

In her spiritual autobiography, the duchesse de Liancourt scripted the daily routine which was to order her devotional life. Her composition presents us with a model day in the life of a rigorist penitent, where the quotidian was to be balanced with the demands of introspection. Liancourt's programme of worship began early in the morning, when she would retire from her bedchamber into the cabinet: ‘Upon waking, I will give my first thoughts to God … After dressing, I will enter into my cabinet to do half-an-hour of prayer there’.

After organizing her affairs for the day and dressing, Liancourt would again turn to more pious activities – this time in the company of her chambermaids, before attending Mass:

Whilst I am combing my hair, I will have someone read from some good book when I can, in order that those who are present can profit from it, and I will try to get them to speak about what is read, to see if they understand it and to say something to them about the passages where they must reflect more … Next I will go to the Mass and on the way I will try to gather myself in order to prepare for it and to have the attentiveness necessary to listen as one must.

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Female Piety and the Catholic Reformation in France , pp. 71 - 100
Publisher: Pickering & Chatto
First published in: 2014

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