Catholic Celebrities, Religious Commodities and Commotions in the Light of Swedish Anti-Catholicism

Abstract

In the Protestant tradition the trade and commerce that surrounded different aspects of Catholic spirituality was regarded as something relatively alien. In Protestant Sweden the critique towards these aspects of Catholicism became an essential component in the anti-Catholic rhetoric that was recurring during the latter nineteenth and the early twentieth century. From the perspective of Lutheran theologians in Sweden, this part of Catholic spirituality was regarded as superstitious and a way for the clergy to deceit ordinary people.