Paper short abstract:

The paper focuses on the religious forms of healing in the 18th century. The authors examine three seemingly separate topics: cases of posthumous magic (vampirism), apparitions of the souls of the dead (revenants) and miraculous healings through images and other sacred objects.

Paper long abstract:

The paper focuses on the religious forms of healing (of the soul and body) in the period before the middle of the 18th century, when there was a change of sensitivity towards this phenomenon. Using examples from the Czech lands, the authors examine three seemingly separate topics: cases of posthumous magic (vampirism), apparitions of the souls of the dead (revenants) and miraculous healings through images and other sacred objects. These topics are linked by the question of so-called spiritual medicine and its relevance in the 18th-century society. In all cases, interaction between church representatives - parish clergy, members of religious orders, officials of episcopal consistories - and, gradually, secular authorities played a crucial role. The authors show, among other things, the pivotal role of the lower clergy, who provided spiritual and material comfort in the local context, actively intervened in the investigations, or questioned witnesses. They often supported practices that were gradually perceived as problematic by both church and secular authorities. This paper presents the results of three research projects, namely on posthumous magic on the Moravian-Silesian border, revenants in the Czech lands in the 17th and 18th centuries, and the role of images in Central European culture in the 18th century.