St Michael — Jesuits and the Counter-Reformation
Listen at the stop, then read the transcript and follow the sources behind the story.
Listen
Transcript
St Michael’s Church is associated with the Jesuit presence in Passau and the Catholic educational programme of the Counter-Reformation. In cities like Passau, religion after the Reformation was not only a matter of private belief. It shaped schools, architecture, public ceremony and political identity.
The Baroque interior belongs to a culture that aimed to persuade through experience: light, movement, sculpture and music were all part of the message. This makes St Michael a useful contrast with the fortress. Both served the prince-bishops’ world, but one worked through military control and the other through education and devotion.