ABSTRACT
A discussion of family piety in German Catholicism provides perspective on religious life that falls between the communal and the individual. After a discussion of Protestant family piety, Philippe Aries argues that 'it seems probable that Catholic families followed an almost parallel course, that they too felt the need for a piety which was neither public nor entirely individual: a family piety'. Catholic leaders, particularly the Jesuits, did attempt to promote domestic piety as part of their program to create and develop a Catholic elite. The public and communal nature of baroque Catholicism, together with its churchliness and clericalism, left little space for the kind of domestic devotions and family piety that developed in Protestant regions. Catholics living in Protestant regions were probably more likely to develop forms of domestic religion, since public worship was restricted or impossible. Any discussion of family piety necessarily engages the related issue of the role of women in German Catholicism.
