'A modern mental epidemic'. Marian apparitions in Belgium in the 1930s.

This project intends to take on Robert Orsis challenge to historians and focus on encounters with the supernatural, rather than writing them out of history or reducing them to their socio-political impact. Focusing on a Belgian series of Marian apparitions in the nineteen thirties, this research project aims not only at shedding some new light on the interpretation of these religious experiences, but also at gaining insight into the devotional culture, power relations and the attendant discrepancies in (religious) agency that shaped them. The project concentrates on the way in which the devotees experienced the apparitions and their aftermath, defined them as religious experiences and situated them in their socio-political world. Subsequently, the analysis of the micro level is opened up by studying Marian apparitions as a point of tension: the way they incited differing interpretations among religious, public and medical agents and put their authority into question. A final focus is put on the consequences of the official recognition of the religious experiences and the associated cults. By combining these approaches it is possible to get an insight into the multifaceted character of Catholic culture, the claims of ecclesiastical and public authorities and the mobilising power of religion.

Keywords:Devotion, Religious experience, History, Religious studies, Marian apparitions

Disciplines:History