Based on previously unknown archival sources, the study explores the relationship
between popular demands related to religious amulets and the Church's responses to
them in nineteenth-century Bácska [Bačka]. The multi-ethnic region of Southern Hungary
(now largely part of Serbia) offers a diverse range of data in the context of the
Roman Catholic Church. The faithful sought material and written amulets primarily
in the hope of healing, warding off evil and exorcising demons, the effectiveness
of which was created by the ecclesiastical blessing (benedictio). The clergy, socialized
in the milieu of Josephinism, show different attitudes in serving such needs (the
trinity of denial, toleration, support). The uncertainty of the lower clergy in this
theologically unclear area is almost palpable. This uncertainty is a consequence of
the Enlightenment and of rationalism, along which the correctness of many earlier
Baroque religious practices was called into question. The examples cited in the study
include a religious-magical sheet print, a letter from Heaven, an icon to be worn
around the neck and a special demon-exorcising paper slip. The best way to learn about
all these is from the letters and reports of the priests, which also reflect their
own attitudes.
