[SPIRITUALITY]. Les gémissemens de la Colombe ou Les Elevations du cœur & de l'ame vers son Dieu Tirées de l'Ecriture Sainte et surtout des Epistres de saint Paul. In French, manuscript on paper. France, 18th century. 3] ff. 162 pp. (pp. 158-162 blank), format in-8. Bound in brown calf, spine ribbed and decorated, chiselled edges, red edges (jaws rubbed). These spiritual meditations were written by a nun in circumstances which she does not explain: order of her Superior or her confessor, personal initiative "of a soul animated and penetrated by divine love"..., but at a time when the absence of God "overwhelms" her, "penetrated as I am by the pain of having offended you, & by the fear of displeasing you & of losing you". The text, which began with groans, gradually becomes clearer as the nun strengthens herself and abandons herself to the grace of God who made her what she is. "May your grace not be sterile in me, but may I work more and more to respond faithfully to all the mercies and infinite goodness that you have for me. She entrusts herself to her divine Spouse and asks for his support: "Without it [grace] I can do nothing, with it I can do everything: if you are willing to clothe me with all the weapons of God, to be able to defend me from the ambushes and artifices of the devil."Alas, Goodness incarnate, grant your servant the grace that all her thoughts, words and actions may be a sacrifice of thanksgiving offered to God your Father. This text is not, therefore, a slavish copy of the biblical texts or, as she indicates in the subtitle, of the texts of Saint Paul (more particularly the Epistle to the Romans). It is based on them to develop a personal meditation of great depth.