The Viennese Ursuline Abbey serves as an example of the secular and spiritual dimensions of the social space of
female convent and nun lifestyle, treated in the context of the social and religious history of women under the
increasingly anti-convent governance of emperors Maria Theresia and Joseph II. Life and personnel makeup of the
convent were reconstructed. Order, norms, control, and discipline shaped daily convent life, but also transcended
physical dimensions and guided the spiritual life. Everyday life of Ursuline nuns alternated between spiritual and
wordly responsibilities, with an emphasis on educational obligations. Social power structures within the convent,
outside social interactions of the cloistered nuns, and the function of the convent in society at large were retraced.
Within the general dedication of cloistered life to religion, Jesuit interpretation of Catholicism was the specific
spiritual influence for Ursuline nuns. While the typical nun accepted theological commands without critique, such
commands were nevertheless modified, within the limits of interpretation, to allow for tolerable everyday life. The
antithesis of spiritual versus secular values, ordained versus lay person, individual versus community, theological
command versus social reality, and transitory versus eternal existence not only affected convent life, but also ethics
and self perception of Ursuline nuns.