Mary into Combat: Marian Devotions and Political Mobilizations during the European Culture Wars

Abstract

During the 1870s, thousands of Catholics headed for old and new European shrines in mass national pilgrimages. The rise of mass pilgrimages as political demonstrations was the result of new devotional cultures and the long-term politicization of Catholic devotions. Pilgrimages were seen by participants as acts of reparation for the secularizing legislation implemented during the European culture wars and also as a way to increase Catholicism's presence and visibility in the contested public sphere. Likewise, the capture of Rome and the Roman Question fostered displays of solidarity with the Pope, contributing to the emergence of this new mass devotional culture. Finally, the convergent aims of Legitimists/monarchists and intransigent Catholics rapidly expanded these new mass religious demonstrations. This article seeks to re-evaluate the multi-faceted European crisis of the 1870s and the meanings of mass Catholic mobilizations in Europe by analysing the rise of mass pilgrimages in Spain.