PIOUS ADVICE FOR YOUNG STUDENTS
COSTER, François.
Piarum et Christ. institutionum libri tres, in usum sodalitatis B. Mariae Virginis primum conscripti, nunc vero omnium Christianorum pietati ac devotioni destinati. Una cum … Gregorii XIII … dictae sodalitatis approbatione, gratiis et indulgentiis eidem sodalitati concessis.
Douai, Jean Bogard, 1582.
16mo, pp. [32], 286, [2]; woodcut device to title, woodcut of the Crucifixion to p. 258 and of Our Lady of Sorrows to recto of last leaf, woodcut initials and head-pieces; title dusty with tear touching imprint and a few letters to verso (old repair) and short tears and chips to edges, some toning and foxing, a little light dampstaining; in modern stiff vellum, yapp fore-edges; boards bowed; Latin prayer in contemporary hand to front free endpaper, inscription beginning ‘Jacobus’ crossed through on title, ‘Bibliothecae Aug[usti]nae Diste[…]’ (i.e. Diest, Belgium?) at foot of title.
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Piarum et Christ. institutionum libri tres, in usum sodalitatis B. Mariae Virginis primum conscripti, nunc vero omnium Christianorum pietati ac devotioni destinati. Una cum … Gregorii XIII … dictae sodalitatis approbatione, gratiis et indulgentiis eidem sodalitati concessis.
Very rare Douai edition of this devotional work by the Belgian Jesuit François Coster (1532–1619), first published at Cologne in 1578, illustrated with woodcuts of the Crucifixion and Our Lady of Sorrows.
Born at Mechelen, Coster was admitted to the Society of Jesus in 1552 by Ignatius of Loyola himself and was soon sent to Cologne to teach theology and astronomy. While there he established the Sodality of the Blessed Virgin Mary, for young students, in 1576, which received papal approval from Gregory XIII the following year. Written by Coster for members of the Sodality, the Piarum institutionum libri tres opens with chapters on confession, the Eucharist, Mass, prayer (including advice against getting distracted), the rosary, going to bed and getting up. In the second book he gives remedies against swearing, greed, jealousy, anger, and other vices, and in book three explains how to make the sign of the cross, Baptism, extreme unction, and the use of holy water, candles, and ashes. The second part gives the rules of the Sodality, including avoiding bad company and rude and dishonest conversation, as well as the prayer to be pronounced upon admission.
Jean Bogard (d. 1616) served as printer to the university of Douai. He issued another edition of Coster’s work in 1585. No copies of this edition traced on OCLC or CCfr; it is however recorded in Sommervogel (II, 1511).
