Collective worship and personal piety in Breton pigrimages during the Counter-Reformation

This paper - based on the example of Breton pilgrimages - aims at showing how the Counter-Reformation linked collective worshiping to personal piety. It seems that the Breton pilgrim had a collective approach to religion in the 17th and 18th century. More than ever, it focused on the "pardon" with its intense group rituals such as processions. These were meant to manage the pilgrims as a crowd but also to involve them individually - letting them carry a banner, a candle, or a personal "ex-voto". The paradox is that the great aim of the Council of Trent - i.e. to promote individual worship - could only come true through a growing emphasis on collective worshipping.