Images of Purgatory: Studies in Religious Imagination and Innovation (The Czech Lands, 1600–1800) by Tomáš Malý and Pavel Suchánek (review)

This detailed and densely argued study examines images depicting Purgatory in Catholic churches in the early modern Czech lands (Bohemia, Moravia, Silesia). The analysis of these images is placed in the context of the evolving theology of Purgatory, as well as the religious practices and popular beliefs that were linked to Purgatory. The authors show how Purgatory provides an excellent window into the nature and evolution of baroque piety in Early Modern Catholicism.

The book is structured as a kind of top-down analysis of Purgatory. Chapter One discusses doctrine, Chapter Two the images, and Chapter Three pious practices around Purgatory. Chapter Four examines “popular culture,” that is unofficial beliefs and practices, sometimes called here “debatable” practices. This simple and somewhat old-fashioned structure does not do justice to the nuances of this study. The authors are always interested in interactions between different media, social groups, and cultural traditions. Developments in the Czech lands are examined in the context of international Catholicism, with reference, for example, to pious literature from Germany, Spain, and France. The interactions between written texts and the images found in churches and chapels is also central to the study. The study is informed by wide reading in Czech, German, English, and French-language historiography and is methodologically sophisticated, particularly in its discussion of images.

This study will open the eyes of historians who only know about the doctrine of Purgatory from Martin Luther’s critique of indulgences. Purgatory was confirmed at the Council of Trent, and gained importance in Catholic religious practice in the seventeenth century. Maly and Suchánek link much of the growing role of Purgatory to the Jesuits. From the beginning of the Society, the Jesuits promoted meditative practices that focused on imagination and emotion, most famously in the Spiritual Exercises. Purgatory, and images of Purgatory, were good for this kind of piety, with visions of tormented souls in Purgatory stoking the fears of punishment and appealing to the sympathy of the faithful.

Pious practices around Purgatory were supported by, and in turn encouraged, other aspect of baroque piety. The authors highlight the growing importance of “privileged altars” (or indulgence altars), where people could pray for the release of family members and friends from Purgatory. The altars were often founded by confraternities and religious orders, important promoters of baroque religion. “The new altar allowed everyone, regardless of social status, to take an active part in commemorative rituals and was a reflection of the post-Tridentine concept of requiem culture with the principle of the exchange of merits between the living and the deceased” (p. 157). This “requiem culture” was also important in pilgrimage piety and processional practices, other important elements of Catholic culture in this era.

The images of Purgatory drew on early modern ideas about the emotions. Emotions were understood to stimulate the “passions of the soul” and lead people to piety. Furthermore, the authors emphasize that “. . . in the case of Purgatory, negative emotions (fear, pain) and positive emotions (hope, the certainly of salvation–joy) were combined” (p. 88). The images presented in the book show the intensity of emotions as well as the “extraordinary multi-layered nature and diverse variety of the post-Tridentine iconography of Purgatory” (p. 81). This iconography reinforced Catholic doctrines of the Eucharist, the Passion, the cult of Mary, and the cult of St. Joseph, as the patron saint of the good death. Maly and Suchánek insist nevertheless, that the images of purgatory, while often didactic, also responded to the beliefs of the common people. For example, although fire was officially the only punishment found in Purgatory, the images also depict snakes, demons, dragons, and other creatures tormenting the souls in Purgatory.

An important conclusion of Images of Purgatory is that the engagement with Purgatory changed perceptively over the period of this...