The Black International L International Noire

This book outlines the history of the Black International, a secret organisation, directly linked to the Vatican, which brought together the leaders of the Catholic committees in nine European countries. The organisation tried to stem the tide of liberalism, socialism and nationalism that threatened the Catholic Church at the end of the 19th century. The story of the origins, workings and ending of this International at times seems like a detective story. The book offers an extensive discussion of the influence of this organisation on the press policy and the international position of the Vatican. It also explores its impact on the development of militant Catholicism and, through its after-effects in the Union of Fribourg (1884-1891) on the emergence of social Catholicism in Europe. L'Internationale noire était une association secrète qui groupait les chefs de file des comités catholiques de neuf pays européens. Elle essaya de faire front contre les trois courants qui menaçaient l'Eglise catholique à la fin du XIXe siècle: le liberalisme, le socialisme et le nationalisme. Cette Internationale noire dépendait directement du Vatican. Analysant l'histoire de la naissance, du fonctionnement et de la dissolution de cette organisation secrète, le présent ouvrage ressemble quelquefois à un roman policier. Il accorde également une grande attention à l'influence exercée par ce réseau sur la politique de presse et sur la politique internationale du Vatican. Enfin, il évalue son impact sur le développement du catholicisme militant puis, à travers son prolongement dans l'Union de Fribourg (1884-1891), sur la percée du catholicisme social en Europe.

If we are to believe sensationalist media coverage, Satanism is, at its most benign, the purview of people who dress in black, adorn themselves with skull and pentagram paraphernalia, and listen to heavy metal. At its most sinister, its adherents are worshippers of evil incarnate and engage in violent and perverse secret rituals, the details of which mainstream society imagines with a fascination verging on the obscene. Children of Lucifer debunks these facile characterizations by exploring the historical origins of modern Satanism. Ruben van Luijk traces the movement's development from a concept invented by a Christian church eager to demonize its internal and external competitors to a positive (anti-)religious identity embraced by various groups in the modern West. Van Luijk offers a comprehensive intellectual history of this long and unpredictable trajectory. This story involves Romantic poets, radical anarchists, eccentric esotericists, Decadent writers, and schismatic exorcists, among others, and culminates in the establishment of the Church of Satan by carnival entertainer Anton Szandor LaVey. Yet it is more than a collection of colorful characters and unlikely historical episodes. The emergence of new attitudes toward Satan proves to be intimately linked to the ideological struggle for emancipation that transformed the West and is epitomized by the American and French Revolutions. It is also closely connected to secularization, that other exceptional historical process which saw Western culture spontaneously renounce its traditional gods and enter into a self-imposed state of religious indecision. Children of Lucifer makes the case that the emergence of Satanism presents a shadow history of the evolution of modern civilization as we know it. Offering the most comprehensive account of this history yet written, van Luijk proves that, in the case of Satanism, the facts are much more interesting than the fiction.

The study describes the origins of the Southwest Mongolia vicariate beyond the Great Wall and along the Yellow River Bend during the transition period from Lazarist missionary activities in the 1840s to the Scheutists in the early 1870

In the late nineteenth century in a number of continental European countries Christian associations of workers arose: Christian trade unions, workers' cooperatives, political leagues, workers' youth movements and cultural associations, sometimes separately for men and women. In some countries they formed a unified Christian labour movement, which sometimes also belonged to a broader Christian subculture or pillar, encompassing all social classes. In traditional labour history Christian workers' organizations were solely represented as dividing the working class and weakening the class struggle. However, from the 1980s onwards a considerable amount of studies have been devoted to Christian workers' organizations that adopted a more nuanced approach. This book takes stock of this new historiography. To broaden the analysis, each contribution compares the development in at least two countries, thus generating new comparative insights. This volume assesses the development of Christian workers' organizations in Europe from a broad historical and comparative perspective. The contributions focus on the collective identity of the Christian workers' organization, their denominational and working-class allegiances and how these are expressed in ideology, organization and practice. Among the themes discussed are relations with churches and Christian Democracy, secularization, the development of the Welfare State, industrial relations and the contribution to working-class culture. This volume is the result of a joint intellectual enterprise of the International Institute of Social History (IISG) in Amsterdam (Netherlands) and a group of scholars linked to the KADOC - Documentation and Research Centre for Religion, Culture and Society of the KU Leuven (Catholic University Leuven-Belgium).

During the 20th century, a variety of social movements and civil society groups stepped into the arena of international politics. This volume collects innovative research on international solidarity movements in Belgium and the Netherlands, and places these movements prominently in debates about the history of globalization, transnational activism, and international politics.

A panoramic picture of international politics and the formation of the modern State The opposition to the omnipotence of the State – as symbolised by Thomas Hobbes’ Leviathan (1651) – had a significant impact on the political organisation of European society. A liberal strategy intended to provide a protective legal status for individual citizens, whereas a social strategy aimed to strengthen the social fabric to counterbalance the power of the State. Gradually both strategies became interwoven. The Struggle with Leviathan pays special attention to the social strategy, developed by conservative and ecclesiastical circles against the omnipotence of the State, and is structured around the fascinating biography of the Austrian diplomat Gustav von Blome, a grandson of Metternich and an important opponent of Bismarck. He proved to be a transitional figure between aristocratic conservatism and Christian democracy, which had a great influence on European integration after 1945. Besides Blome, several other dramatis personae – statesmen, prelates, political and social activists – are featured. As a result the book reads like a compelling narrative. At the same time, it offers a broadly sketched historical fresco of international politics and the gradual formation of the modern State. The original Dutch edition of this book, Het gevecht met Leviathan, has been highly praised in the Dutch and Flemish press, and was awarded the biennial international Arenberg Prize for European History and Culture.

Documenting an audacious Franco-German movement for moral disarmament, instigated in 1921 by war veteran and French Catholic politician Marc Sangnier, in this transnational study Gearóid Barry examines the European resonance of Sangnier's Peace Congresses and their political and religious ecumenism within France in the era of two World Wars.

The attraction and repulsion between the Roman Catholic Church and modernity in Europe between 1750 and 2000 Emiel Lamberts (1941), professor emeritus of contemporary history at KU Leuven, is an international expert in the political and religious history of Europe in the 19th and 20th centuries. His work and the central themes in his research are the starting point in World Views and Worldly Wisdom. No less than eighteen leading international researchers put different aspects of his work in the spotlight. A recurring theme, however, is the attraction and repulsion between the Roman Catholic Church and modernity in Europe between 1750 and 2000. The ambivalent relationship with modernity is therefore the leitmotiv of the first part of this volume, whereas the second part focuses on the repositioning of the Church and the tensions between religion, ideology and politics. In this way the volume reflects Lamberts’s fascination for the history of political institutions as well as his research on Christian democracy. The contributions address – in a comparative way and from a transatlantic viewpoint – this broad period of time in history, which gave rise to different social movements and different models of society in Belgium and elsewhere. Contributors Winfried Becker (Universität Passau), Bruno Béthouart (Université du Littoral Côte d’Opale), Hans Blom (Universiteit van Amsterdam), Alfredo Canavero (Università degli Studi di Milano), Philippe Chenaux (Pontificia Università Lateranense, Roma), Andrea Ciampani (LUMSA, Roma), Jo Deferme (KU Leuven), Jan De Maeyer (KADOC KU Leuven), Henk De Smaele (Universiteit Antwerpen), Carine Dujardin (KADOC KU Leuven), Jean-Dominique Durand (Université Lyon 3), Michael Gehler (Jean Monnet Chair, Universität Hildesheim - Institut für Neuzeit- und Zeitgeschichtsforschung, Wien), Susana Monreal (Universidad Católica del Uruguay), Patrick Pasture (KU Leuven), Patrick M.W. Taveirne (The Chinese University of Hong Kong), Peter Van Kemseke (Europese Commissie, KU Leuven), Vincent Viaene (Attaché bij het Huis van Koning Filip), Els Witte (Vrije Universiteit Brussel)