Stigmata, Prophecies, and Politics: Louise Lateau in the German and Belgian Culture Wars of the Late Nineteenth Century

This article focuses on the political meaning and transnational appeal of the Belgian stigmatic Louise Lateau. It examines the reception and construction of her as a Catholic celebrity in the late nineteenth century and how these changed over time and space. For although Louise Lateau seems to have been a point of reference for European Catholics, this does not mean that her image, or what she represented to the faithful, was the same in the various countries or even within one country. Focus is on her appeal in Belgium, her home country, and in Germany where she seems to have had a special meaning for the beleaguered Catholics. In these countries Louise figured as a symbol of "Catholicism" to the faithful and their anti-Catholic opponents. In a later phase of her life however, her public image changed as she got caught up in intra-Catholic battles and turned into the prophetic type of mystic. She became a point of tension between the liberal and ultramontane Catholics.