The Feast of Corpus Christi in Mikulov, Moravia: Strategies of Roman Catholic Counter-Reform (1579–86)

This essay approaches the Feast of Corpus Christi as a means of Roman Catholic identity-formation from the perspective of Roman Catholic priests who lived and worked in Mikulov (Nikolsburg), Moravia, between 1579 and 1586. Local overlord Adam von Dietrichstein brought a missionary Jesuit and parish priests to the estate to return it to the Roman rite. However, he was reluctant to take coercive action against the non-Catholics, especially the profitable communitarian Hutterite Anabaptists. By examining the founding charter of the Mikulov Corpus Christi Confraternity from 1584 and a Corpus Christi sermon from 1585, the author elucidates the priests' strategies to promote Roman devotion in Mikulov. These measures included the formation of a confraternity devoted to the Body of Christ and heavy reliance on Scripture as a source of legitimation for the traditional rituals and practices of the Roman Church, especially the veneration of the Host during the Feast of Corpus Christi.