Wondrous in His Saints: Counter-Reformation Propaganda in Bavaria - Philip M. Soregel - Hardcover

At the close of the sixteenth century, despite Protestant attempts to discourage popular devotion to saints and shrines, the Roman Church in Bavaria initiated a propagandistic campaign through the publishing of pilgrimage books and pamphlets. Philip Soergel's cogent exploration of this little-known pilgrimage literature yields a vivid portrait of religion before, during, and after the Reformation and Counter-Reformation. These "advertisements," combining testimonies of miracles with fantastic legends about shrines, fueled the conflict between Catholics and Protestants and helped shape a distinctive Catholic historical consciousness. Soergel stresses the power of the printed word as a defense of traditional authority, testing other historians' assertions about the neglect of printing and literacy in the Counter-Reformation.Soergel, Philip M. is the author of 'Wondrous in His Saints: Counter-Reformation Propaganda in Bavaria - Philip M. Soregel - Hardcover' with ISBN 9780520080478 and ISBN 0520080475.