JANSENISM. [Angélique ARNAULD D'ANDILLY, Mother Angélique de - Lot 323

JANSENISM. [Angélique ARNAULD D'ANDILLY, Mother Angélique de Saint-Jean (1624-1684) abbess of Port-Royal in 1678]. Manuscript, [Relation de captivité] [late 17th century]; volume in-4 of 156 leaves written on both sides, bound in contemporary brown calf, spine decorated with fleurons (worn hinges). Famous account of the captivity suffered by Mother Angelica and a dozen of her sisters from Port-Royal des Champs, between August 26, 1664 and July 2, 1665, at the Annonciades of the rue Couture-Sainte-Catherine, by order of the archbishop of Paris, who wanted to obtain their submission by making them sign a form acknowledging the papal condemnations of the doctrines of Jansenius. Mother Angelica wrote her Relation in the months following her return to Port-Royal. The text was first published in 1711, by Father Quesnel (probably in the Netherlands), and republished in 1724 with other relations; in 1954 Louis Cognet published an edition with Gallimard. The original manuscript seems to be lost. The present old copy, in a neat and very legible handwriting, includes some leaves in another, more cursive hand. Incipit: "What is required of me in ordering me to write an exact Relation of what happened in my captivity"...