Religious Life Lived in the World
The possibility of living a de facto religious life without formal religious profession — ordering one's household like a monastery while remaining in the world. Van der Burch is praised for this: "you are not a Religious by formal profession... but what is more arduous, you live a religious life in the world."
Preliminaries
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TO THE MOST REVEREND AND MOST ILLUSTRIOUS LORD HENRY FRANCIS VAN DER BURCH, ARCHBISHOP AND DUKE OF CAMBRAI, PRINCE OF THE HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE, COUNT OF CAMBRAI.
— Van der Burch praised for living a religious life in the world, his household ordered like a monastery.
"You, Most Illustrious Lord, are not a Religious by formal profession or by belonging to a religious house; but what is more arduous, you live a religious life in the world. Your household, your family are so ordered, so religious, that it seems to be a monastery."