Author: [MANUSCRIPT - PRAYER BOOK - GERMAN].
Title: Geistlicher Seelen-Wecker. Allen in Gott Christlich glaubenden Seelen zu Nurz[!] und grösserem Eyfer zusam[m]en getragen. Darin[n]en Schöne auserlösene Morgen- Abend- Mess- Beicht und Communion Gebetter.[Germany, Franconia, diocese Würzburg?, ca. 1780]. 8vo (17.5 x 11.3 cm). Written in a clear German cursive in brown ink with chapter titles and captions in Fraktur script in gold, blue, black, and red with red pen flourishes; the text is written within a manuscript double-lined frame in brown ink. With two mezzotint engravings of Christ carrying the cross and Christ's Vera effigies with a crown of thorns, mounted on p. [6] and p. 7; both engravings show Christ's wounds and blood painted red. The engravings are by Johann Martin Will (1727-1806), engraver and art dealer in Augsburg. Contemporary gold-tooled dark brown leather.
Description: [1], [3], 307, [9], [4 blank except for the text frames] pp.Beautifully written compilation of prayers, based on the popular "Andachts- and Gebetbuchen" published - often by the Jesuits - in Germany in the 18th and 19th centuries. Examples of these printed prayer books are: Peter Maria Mayr’s Geistlicher Seelenwecker, or the anonymous Geistlicher Seelenwecker … worin der Kirchen-Kalender, Morgen-, Abend-, Mess-, Beicht- und Kommunion-Gebete, Vesperpsalmen und mehrere Litaneien, dann mannigfaltige Gebete und Gesänge … erhalten sind. The present prayer book includes every kind of prayer needed for practicing faith in everyday life.The title on p. 1 (p. 2 blank) continues on p. 3: "Wie auch vom Leiden Christi zu unser lieben Frauen auch unterschiedliche Heiligen Gottes in allen anligen zugebrauchen. Nebst beygesetzten Gebett zur Heil. Thecla. Cum Licentia Superiorum" and mentions the inclusion of prayers for Saint Thecla of Kitzingen (or Thekla von Kitzingen, d. 790). She was an English-born Benedictine nun, who came to Franconia in the 8th century CE (then the Frankish Empire) to support Saint Boniface in his missions. Thecla was educated at Wimborne Abbey and subsequently joined the Benedictine community of nuns there. Abbess Tetta of Wimborne Abbey received a request for helpers with missionary work from Boniface and Thecla was among the nuns sent to Germany. Upon her arrival in Germany, she joined the convent in Bishofsheim (now Tauberbischofsheim in the north-east of Baden-Württemberg) founded by Boniface himself. Later, she rose to the position of abbess and supervised the abbeys of Ochsenfurt and Kitzingen, both in present-day Bavaria, Germany. Given this history, Saint Thecla of Kitzingen has been venerated in Würzburg and surroundings at least since the Middle Ages when her relics were enshrined at Kitzingen. The fact that the present prayer book mentions her in the (sub-) title and that the book includes the "Ablass Gebett von der Mutter Gottes zu Dadelbach" (pp. 280-85, referring to Dadelbach, or now Dettelbach, a place of pilgrimage near Würzburg) make it probable that the present prayer book was compiled in (or at least for use in) the diocese of Würzburg.With an extensive (contemporary?) owner's inscription on p. [3] reading: "Hic liber est meus/ Testis est Deus/ Quid illo querit/ Hoc nomen erit/ Augustine natus/ Et Schmidt vocatus”. The title page (p. 1), p. 3, p. 307, and the final page of the register show owner's inscriptions (erroneously giving the date of the manuscript as 1600) written in 1951, respectively reading: "Anno Domini 1600. R." and "Anno Domini 1600. Ludwig Robota Miechowice-Bytom. 20.12.1951." and "Anno Domini 1600. R." and "Anno Domini 1600. L. R. 20.12.1951. R."; all written in vibrant turquoise ink. The binding shows some signs of wear, the head and foot of the spine are slightly damaged (with some minor loss of material at the foot of the spine), some minor soiling and thumbing in the margins, mainly affecting the first few leaves. Otherwise in good condition.

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