Closure: perpetual abode

Abstract

Preaching played an important role as a means of communicating ideas and promoting behaviors. Adhering to a state, such as consecration, demanded a certain way of life. The preacher’s speech was one of the awaited-for moments, both for the girls who had opted for the religious life -at the moment of taking or renewing the vows- and their family and friends who witnessed this meaningful moment.
Among the studied sermons -published and unpublished-, five belong to Pantaleon García (1757-1827), three to Miguel Calixto del Corro (1775-1851), one to Estanislao Learte (1788-1858), and the authors of four of them are unknown but they correspond to the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century. The profile was uniformly set even when they were directed to different religious orders -Dominican and Carmelites-, since the conceptual basis of the texts is that salvation was easier being away from the world, provided that the vows were verified and that those who took them were not displeased to fulfill them.