Church and Society in Catholic Europe of the Eighteenth Century

Of the great European institutions of the Old Regime, the Catholic Church alone survived into the modern world. The Church that emerged from the period of revolutionary upheaval, which began in 1789, and from the long process of economic and social transformation characteristic of the nineteenth century, was very different from the great baroque Church that developed following the Counter-Reformation. These studies of the Church in France, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Germane, Austria, Hungary and Poland on the eve of an era of revolutionary change assess the still intimate relationship between religion and society within the traditional European social order of the eighteenth century. The essays emphasize social function rather than theological controversy, and examine issues such as the recruitment and role of the clergy, the place of the Church in education and poor relief', the importance of popular religion, and the evangelization of a largely illiterate population by the religious orders. Contents......Page 6 Preface......Page 8 Notes on contributors......Page 9 1 Introduction......Page 10 2 The French church......Page 22 3 The Spanish church......Page 43 4 The Portuguese church......Page 60 5 The Italian churches......Page 75 6 The German......Page 86 7 The Austrian church......Page 97 8 The Hungarian church......Page 115 9 The Polish church......Page 131 10 Popular religion in the eighteenth century......Page 147 Select bibliography......Page 164 Index......Page 172 Edited By William J. Callahan And David Higgs. This Collection Of Essays ... Arose From A Conference ... Held At The University Of Toronto In November 1974. Includes Index. Bibliography: P.[155]-162.