Framing a Young Nun's Initiation: Early Modern Convent Entry Sermons in the Habsburg Lands. Vestiges of a Lost Oral Culture

Abstract

Sermons represent the main type of sources related to convent entry ceremonies in early modern Central Europe. Other textual sources seem to be quite rare (e.g., songs) or formulaic (e.g., written professions). Visual and material sources (portraits, strands of hair) are also scarce. Yet the significance of entry or monachization sermons in this respect has hardly been recognized. The aim of this article is to contribute to their due scholarly appreciation by demonstrating the interpretative possibilities that their research can offer. I will attempt to do so by exploring these sermons from a wide range of approaches—above all from the perspectives of media and communication studies, gender studies, cultural and social anthropology, and literary and visual studies. This complexity of approaches will enable me to answer a series of questions: Why were the monachization sermons widely popular? What were their functions and uses? What parallels can be drawn between monachization sermons and other sources? Finally, how can their research contribute to a greater understanding of early modern convent culture?