Marian Pilgrimage Sites in Brabant

This analytical bibliography, compiled with the support of the University of Antwerp, represents a first, important step toward broader studies concerning the nature, function, and significance of propagandistic materials that have been printed and distributed since the seventeenth century in connection with pilgrimage sites in the Southern Netherlands. Two and a half centuries (from 1600 to 1850) of publications are documented. This is an intriguing period for such a study because Catholic clergy made great use of printed propaganda materials for their (often successful) attempts to revitalize pilgrimages as part of the Counter-Reformation. Consequently, there was a new surge of such publications in the Southern Netherlands as of 1600 that prevailed until the early nineteenth century, when changing ecclesiastical views of how one should experience the Catholic faith led many local clergy to publish new types of pilgrimage books. As tens of thousands of pilgrimage texts were printed in this period, only one essential sub-group of these publications could be featured here, namely those related to Marian pilgrimage sites in the current provinces of Antwerp, Vlaams-Brabant, and the county of Brussels. The resulting bibliography reflects the holdings of numerous collections and provides, for each publication whenever possible, a full transcription of the title page, the collation of the book, and notes on whether or not illustrations, dedicatory texts, and personal notations by previous owners are present. This work consequently provides a useful base of knowledge for those interested in a wide variety of topics pertaining both to the production of devotional literature and the extensive popular hold these pilgrimage sites had on people in and beyond the Southern Netherlands.