Religious profession card Sr. Maria Vicentiana - Tilburg 1916, Saint Anthony after Feuerstein

Devotional card issued to mark the Holy Profession of the Reverend Sister Maria Vicentiana, born Cornelia Vorselaars, in the Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady Mother of Mercy in Tilburg, on 6 September 1916. The front shows a colour reproduction of Saint Anthony of Padua with the Christ Child on an open book, after a painting by German artist M. Feuerstein, published by the Gesellschaft für christliche Kunst in Munich (nr. 86). The biblical caption reads: "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God" (Matt. 5). The reverse contains the announcement text with quotations from the Psalms, Augustine and the Magnificat.

The Congregation of the Sisters of Our Lady Mother of Mercy was founded in Tilburg in 1832 and was one of the major Dutch female congregations devoted to education and care. The card dates from the second year of the First World War — a context that lends particular weight to the choice of religious life. The card shows signs of use appropriate to its age of over a century, including folds, yellowing and staining.