Catholicism and Romanticism in 19th-Century Germany: Approximations and Elective Affinities

Prof. Dr. Robson R. Gomes Filho (Universidade Estadual de Goiás (Brasilien)

Robson Gomes Filho presents his current research on the sociocultural relationship between German Romanticism and Catholicism in the 19th century. In this context, he draws on the motif of “elective affinities”: He argues that both movements actively converged around a shared opposition to liberal-Protestant modernity, industrialization, and secularization. This ideological and spiritual alliance enabled a cultural symbiosis, giving rise to both Romantic Catholicism and Catholic Romanticism. Furthermore, the study explores how this phenomenon provided the cultural and intellectual foundation for the revival of Catholic mysticism in 19th-century Europe. Finally, the case of the stigmatized visionary Anna Katharina Emmerick and her literary transcriber Clemens Brentano, is briefly examined as a tangible consequence of this historical convergence.