Subproject 5: Intermedial spheres of action in sacred performances: Rogation processions as intermedial practices in Southern German Catholicism

This subproject investigates the phenomenon of Rogation processions in Southern Germany as a highly intermedial form of practising piety in the early modern period, a perspective which has not yet received the attention it deserves within early modern religious studies. The subproject explores processions held regularly during the Rogation days, as well as those that occurred during times of war, bad weather, or plague. Processions conducted as a special type of pious exercise were built around the interaction of various forms of media; they always included spoken texts, songs, pictures, and sacred artefacts (such as processional flags and altars at prayer stations). These horizontal media fused together into a single intermedial entity, thereby transforming the entirety of the procession into a medium of vertical communication with God. One of the subproject’s goals is to analyse the diverse array of procession-related media that existed during this period. This analysis will focus on the media’s theological, social, and everyday implications, giving special attention to the connections between different forms of media.

A key aspect of this analysis is that religious processions invariably have a performative nature as pious intermedial events – the intermediality occurs solely in the act of staging the procession. Given that a procession involves moving through a physical space, special emphasis is additionally placed on the moment of itinerancy, both in theological and practical terms: What role did the physical act of walking or striding play with regard to the planning and impact of intermediality?

The subproject operates on the assumption that religious processions had (or were intended to have) a significant impact on participants’ personal and communal experiences of faith, thus serving as horizontal intermedial performances that facilitated vertical communication, achieved specifically through the act of walking. With reference to the concept of “religious atmosphere”, the subproject investigates the question of the intended “mood”, in comparison with the mood that is actually achieved. In doing so, it also addresses the question of participants’ alternative experiences of processions, e.g. the reinterpretation of the processions for non-religious purposes (e.g. drinking parties) or their rejection as unpaid absences from work.

To explore the performative aspects of intermedial practices of piety, the members of the subproject collaborate closely with subproject 3. To investigate the role of music in early modern media, they also work with subproject 1. Additionally, the role of the body in the processions is examined in detail in dialogue with subproject 7.