Devout and Defiant: How Pilgrims Shaped the Franco-German Borderlands in the Age of Revolutions

How Catholic pilgrims in an era of revolution challenged state authority and redefined the practice of their faith

In the days of the French Revolution, as zealous government officials sought to sweep away the vestiges of a less enlightened age, they made a concerted effort to clamp down on religious “superstition” and to fix modern territorial boundaries. Catholic pilgrims on the western edge of German-speaking Europe, however, refused to let worldly barriers stand in the way of their devo...