Franciscus Cauwe, Minder-Broeder Recollect - Het Leven ende Goddelycke Leeringhen van Sr. Francoyse Clara [with 7 engravings] - 1677

Livinia Sanders, aka Françoise-Clara de St. Lieven (1629-1652). Extremely rare first edition of her Vita, printed in Dunkirk.

CAUWE, Franciscus. Het Leven ende Goddelycke Leeringhen van Sr. Francoyse Clara van St. Lieven, Religieuse van de derde Orden van S. Francoys in het Clooster van de Poenitenten op S. Pieters, nessens Ghendt… Dunkirk: Jan Wyns, 1677.

8vo. (3), 4-454 pp including added engraved titlepage, (8). With 2 engravings outside of collation, following E2 and K7; and with 5 further engravings in collation (including engraved titlepage).

Lacking 2 leaves: I7 (pp. 141-2, incl engraving) and K8 (text only).

First edition, At the age of 20 a voice from Heaven commanded Francisca-Clara to join the newly formed Penitentes-Recollettines, famed for its severe rule and austerity, and headed at the time by the noted mystic Joanna van Jesus. Like Joanna, she quickly began to experience not only visions, but even to receive the stigmata. Within the convent she led an isolated life and communicated with her sisters by means of letters, reproduced here in full. These letters form the basis of the biography, and were collected and supplemented by a local monk, Franciscus Cauwe. She was
prone to ecstasies, visions, and ravissements; one day, at the age of just 22, these fits caused a pulmonary hemorrhage, and blood began to pour from her mouth; she died soon after, having predicted her own death three months earlier. Some years after her death, reports began to emerge within the convent of miraculous healings due to her intercession.

The second edition, printed in 1685, contained only 4 plates. Most copies of both editions are lacking several plates.

This copy was purchased at Van de Wiele (May, 2024, Lot 63 for EUR 450); subsequently restored and rebound in period vellum (cost EUR 600); then found to be lacking 2 leaves.



* Bib. catholica Neerlandica impressa 13574; STCV 12916184 (6 copies, of which 3 incomplete); read more about Sister Francisca-Clara here: https://www.dbnl.org/tekst/sche038mete01_01/sche038mete01_01_0053.php