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The background of this study is the problem of the reading of works on spirituality, in XVI-XVII centuries, in Portugal, especially “devote lives”, and intending to draw attention to their dedication, and exposes, based on the analysis of three “devote lives”, published between 1570 and 1625 and dedicated to two important female figures of the time – D. Juliana de Lara e Meneses, duchess of Aveiro, and D. Ana de Lencastre, comendadeira of the monastery of Santos – some questions concerning both the readings and spiritual or d evotional practices, and the relations of authors and/or religious orders to influential families, especially with the female figures of these families.