A History of Western Society: Printed Page 600
A History of Western Society, Value Edition: Printed Page 577
A History of Western Society, Concise Edition: Printed Page 601
In the countryside, many peasants continued to hold religious beliefs that were marginal to the Christian faith altogether, often of obscure or even pagan origin. On the Feast of Saint Anthony, for example, priests were expected to bless salt and bread for farm animals to protect them from disease. Catholics believed that saints’ relics could bring fortune or attract lovers, and there were healing springs for many ailments. In 1796 the Lutheran villagers of Beutelsbach in southern Germany incurred the ire of local officials when they buried a live bull at a crossroads to ward off an epidemic of hoof-
Inspired initially by the fervor of the Reformation era, then by the critical rationalism of the Enlightenment, religious and secular authorities sought increasingly to “purify” popular spirituality. Thus one parish priest in France lashed out at his parishioners, claiming that they were “more superstitious than devout . . . and sometimes appear as baptized idolators.”28 French priests particularly denounced the “various remnants of paganism” found in popular bonfire ceremonies during Lent, in which young men, “yelling and screaming like madmen,” tried to jump over the bonfires in order to help the crops grow and to protect themselves from illness. One priest saw rational Christians regressing into pagan animals — “the triumph of Hell and the shame of Christianity.”29
The severity of the attack on popular belief varied widely by country and region. Where authorities pursued purification vigorously, as in Austria under Joseph II, pious peasants saw only an incomprehensible attack on age-