[or : the core of her faith] : "...and pray earnestly to the Holy Virgin that she might become your Own Mother."

Gyale's "spiritual legacy" is the essence of it, but Francis' use of "testament" has got to be correct, because we clearly are dealing with a *written* text here.

I've never heard of such a thing, but apparently there are these *written* texts in which a person sums up his/her life's work, in this case the spiritual "legacy" of a professed nun.

Neither the Big Robert nor the Trésor know this phrase, but there are :

--Testament Politique : écrit politique posthume attribué a un homme d'Etat, exposé de ses principes et projects politiques, explication de ses actes, ete. Le T.P. de Richelieu, de Pierre le Grand, etc.

--T. Artistique : Derniere oeuvre d'un artiste, quand elle apparait comme la supreme expression de sa pensée et de son art.

Since the term "spiritual testament" is not a common one in English (to my knowledge), I'd suggest leaving it in quotes, unless there's something in the text which explains exactly what it is.

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Note added at 2003-03-10 15:44:57 (GMT) Post-grading
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Bruce Popp brings up a good point, and I now agree that what we are dealing with here, in this particular case, is probably not a specific, purpose-written, autobiographical \"testament\" (summation of her beliefs), but rather a collection of the sort he suggests : some writings by the Holy Lady, together with all sorts of other materials collected by her followers (perhaps with a view to forming a \"dossier\" for a canonization proceeding.

We are in Hagiographic Territory, after all.

But I like \"testament\" as a kind of technical term, rather than \"legacy,\" which seems to me to be a bit too vague.

The problem is that the term \"testament spirituel/spiritual testament\" either doesn\'t exist or is not commonly understood.

The disadvantage of the \"last will and testament\" association is, I believe, sufficiently overcome by the unusual juxtaposition of \"spirtual\" with \"testament.\"