The Life and Afterlife of Anna Katharina Emmerick: Reimagining Catholicism in Modern Germany
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The Life and Afterlife of Anna Katharina Emmerick: Reimagining Catholicism in Modern Germany By Cassandra Painter Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of Vanderbilt University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in History August 10, 2018 Nashville, Tennessee Approved: Celia Applegate, Ph.D. David Blackbourn, Ph.D. Helmut Walser Smith, PhD. Barbara Hahn, Ph.D. Copyright © 2018 by Cassandra Painter All Rights Reserved To my parents, John and Beth Painter, whose love has sustained me and To my teachers and professors, whose knowledge and passion have inspired me iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Completion of this dissertation would not have been possible without financial support provided by a Jacob K. Javits Fellowship and a William J. Fulbright Scholarship, both funded by the U.S. Department of Education; a residential graduate student fellowship from the University of Notre Dame Institute for Advanced Study; and a graduate student fellowship from the History Department at Vanderbilt University. Portions of this dissertation appeared in volume 51, no. 2 of Central European History as “Domesticating a Mystic: Catholic Saint-Making in Weimar Germany,” pp. 228-248 (June 2018), and are reprinted with permission. Great thanks are due to editor Andrew Port and the anonymous readers who provided helpful feedback regarding both the content and style of that article. Many individuals helped bring this project to fruition. First and foremost, my advisor Celia Applegate has been a wise mentor, insightful critic, tireless cheerleader, and true friend. David Blackbourn, my Doktor-Stiefvater, and Helmut Walser Smith, have been the dream team of committee members with whom I have long aspired to work, and both their brilliance and their kindness have inspired me in equal measure. Barbara Hahn of the German Department at Vanderbilt has made my work better with her comments and suggestions from the earliest stages of this project. During my time in Germany in 2013-2014, Thomas Großbölting and Martin H. Geyer acted as institutional sponsors for my research, while Heinz Mestrup provided kind assistance at the Bistumsarchiv Münster. Several fellow Vandy doctoral students (many of whom have since graduated) offered insightful comments on early drafts, including Jason Bates, Sean Bortz, Tizoc Chavez, Michell Chresfield, Jennifer Dodd, Lance Ingwersen, Alex Jacobs, Ashish Koul, Lisa Lackney, Steve Lipson, Christopher Mapes, Sonja Ostrow, Danielle Picard, and J’Nese Williams. Especial iv thanks go to the fellow participants in the 2016 German Historical Institute (GHI) Transatlantic Doctoral Seminar, which was a true highlight of my graduate student experience: Ian Beacock, Nils Bennemann, Patrick Gilner, Timon de Groot, David Harrisville, Jean-Michel Johnston, Lukas Keller, Andrew Kloiber, Mary-Ann Middelkoop, Kathleen Rahn, Alexandria Ruble, Konrad Sziedat, Robert Terrell, Marcel Thomas, and Gavin Wiens, along with organizers Anna von der Goltz and Richard F. Wetzell, and faculty mentors David Blackbourn, Neil Gregor, Dagmar Herzog, and Ulrike Weckel. I owe a great deal to the Director and Associate Director of the Notre Dame Institute for Advanced Study (NDIAS), Brad Gregory and Donald Stelluto, as well as NDIAS staff members Carolyn Sherman and Grant Osborn; the 2016-2017 class of NDIAS Fellows, including John Betz, Catherine E. Bolten, David Ciepley, Evan Claudeanos, David Bentley Hart, Katie Jarvis, Mary Ellen Konieczny, Ian Kujit, Leslie Lockett, Alexander M. Martin, Koritha Mitchell, Haruko Momma, Stephen Osadetz, Paul Ramirez, John Sitter, and Mariusz Tabaczek O.P.; and the several other Notre Dame faculty who attended my seminar presentations asked thought- provoking questions, including Kathleen Sprows Cummings, John Deak, Robin M. Jensen, Thomas Kselman, and Mark Noll. Not only did this incredible group of scholars and professionals sharpen my thinking, but they also welcomed me as a colleague and helped make Notre Dame a second home. I would like to acknowledge the many teachers and professors, too numerous to name, who inspired in me a lifelong love of learning, from kindergarten to graduate school. Your dedication, knowledge, and passion lit a fire in me that has blazed the trail to my PhD. Finally, I would never have made it to this day without the unconditional love and support of my parents, John and Beth Painter. This is your achievement, too. v TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................................................... iv LIST OF TABLES AND GRAPHS ............................................................................................ viii LIST OF MAPS AND FIGURES .................................................................................................. ix TIMELINE ..................................................................................................................................... xi DRAMATIS PERSONAE ........................................................................................................... xiii CHAPTER Introduction ......................................................................................................................................1 Anna Katharina Emmerick’s Enduring Cult: A Red Thread to Follow through German History .........................................................................................................................................1 Primary Sources..........................................................................................................................9 Existing Emmerick Literature: Adding a Historical Perspective .............................................12 Contributions to the Historiography of Catholicism in Modern Germany: Topical, Methodological, Argumentative ................................................................................................18 Chapter Outline ........................................................................................................................44 1. Stigmatized by Choice: Anna Katharina Emmerick’s Story ...................................................50 Introduction: Whose Story? .....................................................................................................50 Unlikely Nun ............................................................................................................................64 Untutored Visionary.................................................................................................................83 Unconventional Redeemer .......................................................................................................96 Conclusion: Emmerick’s Story ..............................................................................................113 2. A Body of Evidence: Church Investigations of Anna Katharina Emmerick .........................125 Introduction: “To Separate the Purely Spiritual from the Purely Physical” ........................125 The Spiritual Investigation: Walking the Line between “Heroic Virtue” and “False Holiness” ...............................................................................................................................138 The Physical Investigation: Binding Wounds and Opening Wounds ....................................152 The Secret Informant..............................................................................................................163 The Observation of June 1813 ...............................................................................................172 Conclusion: “Critical Revisions” ..........................................................................................175 vi 3. Experiments in Faith: Dr. Franz Wilhelm Wesener and Medical Investigations of Anna Katharina Emmerick ..............................................................................................................184 Introduction: “Every Means at my Disposal to Uncover the Nature of the Matter” ............184 An Intellectual “Conversion” and a Foundational Friendship .............................................193 Treating Emmerick’s Physical Health: Practicing Medicine amid Mysticism ......................198 Grappling with Emmerick’s Mystical Phenomena: Magnetism and the early Nineteenth-Century Catholic Imagination .............................................................................212 Bodde’s Pamphlet and the Decision not to Publish...............................................................219 Conclusion: Experiments in Faith .........................................................................................224 4. “Like a Wayside Cross:” Clemens Brentano and Anna Katharina Emmerick as Symbol of the Catholic Church .....................................................................................................................240 Introduction: A Story Worth a Historical Re-telling .............................................................240 A Context of Conflict: Wesener’s Opposition ........................................................................247 Questions of Authorship, Authority, and Agency ...................................................................255 Das bittere Leiden in Historical Context ...............................................................................265 Conclusion: “Like a Wayside Cross” ....................................................................................272