RAMILLETE DE EPISTOLAS, Y ORACIONES CELESTIALES PARA FECUNDAR TODO GENERO DE ESPIRITUS. NACIDO EN EL AMENO IARDIN DE LAS VIRTUDES TODAS EL CORAÇON DE LA MYSTICA DOCTORA, Y SERAFICA VIGEN SANTA CATHALINA DE SENA DE LA SAGRADA ORDEN DE PREDICADORES. QUE MANDÒ TRADUCIR A LA LENGUA CASTELLANA, DE LA TOSCANA PROPRIA DE LA SANTA, EL EMINENTISSIMO SEÑOR DON FR. FRANCISCO XIMENEZ DE CISNEROS, POR LA DIVINA MISERACION CARDENAL, Y ARÇOBISPO DE LA SANTA IGLESIA DE TOLEDO, DEL CONSEJO DE SU MAGESTAD, Y CANCILLER MAYOR DE CASTILLA, &C. DEDICASSE, Y CONSAGRASSE A LA MISMA SANTA by [Saint Catherine of Siena] - 1698

Barcelona: Juan Cassañes y Jayme Suriá, 1698. Hardcover. Very good. [20],476,[28] pp. Printed in two columns. In Spanish. Half title. Contemporary three-quarter sheep and marbled boards, gilt spine rules, gilt leather label, edges speckled in red. Early alphanumerical inscriptions in pastedowns. Binding scuffed and rubbed, internally fine.

Early Spanish edition of the letters and prayers of St. Catherine of Siena. St. Catherine (1347-1380), virgin and Doctor of the Church, is known for her lifetime of asceticism and mystical experience, her diplomatic efforts on behalf of Popes Gregory XI and Urban VI at the end of the tumultuous 1370's, and her brilliant intellect. Despite her youth and lack of formal education, her writings are considered both theological masterpieces and classics of Tuscan literature. The letters and prayers here were translated into Castilian from the original vernacular Tuscan on order of Spanish Cardinal and Grand Inquisitor Francisco Jiménez de Cisneros (1436-1517).