CARTAS ESPIRITUAIS DE FR. ESTÊVÃO DA PURIFICAÇÃO (O.C.), FR. ANTÓNIO DA CONCEIÇÃO (C.S.J.E.) E DO PADRE JOÃO CARDIM (S.J.).

This article intends to draw attention to some letters written by Fr. Estêvão da Purificação (O.C.), Fr. António da Conceição (C.S.J.E) and Father João Cardim (S.J.), especially addressed to ladies, insofar as they allow to see the spiritual ascendant, accomplished, in this concrete case, through spiritual advice and guidance, which these religious exercised with them. Indeed, these letters indicate to us some interesting vectors of the orientation of the spiritual life and the direction of consciousness in Portugal in the seventeenth-century: recommendations for readings, ways of praying or ascetic and devout practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]