Breve Compendio de la Reglas, Constituciones, Privilegios, Gracias e Indulgencias, de la Real Tercera Orden de Nra. Sra. de la Merced, Nuevamente Restablecida en la Iglesia del Convento Grande de S. Miguel de Lima..

Lima, 1804. About very good.. [66]pp. Small quarto. Contemporary limp vellum. Small library label at lower left front wrap; institutional bookplate and small ink stamp to front pastedown. Vellum lightly soiled and curled. Minor worming at lower right corner of text block, not affecting text. Otherwise, lighting soiling and toning internally. St. Peter Nolasco founded the Order of the Blessed Virgin Mary (i.e., the Order of Mercy, or Mercedarians) in 1218. It was quickly successful in its goal of ransoming Christian prisoners from the Crusades and other religious conflicts, and the order expanded to other charitable work. A third order of Mercedarians (truncated) was founded for lay male and female supporters in 1260, and the first Mercedarian convent was established in Lima in 1535, the year of the Spanish founding of the city. This work gives the rules, constitutions, privileges, and indulgences of the third order in Lima on the occasion of its re-establishment at the conventual church of St. Michael. A fine woodcut of the arms of the Mercedarian order, surrounded by a typographic border, graces the verso of the title page. This is the first edition; the work was reprinted in 1870. OCLC locates four copies, at Yale, Indiana, the BNC, and the BNE. (Inventory #: 4200)