"When the Jesuits entered Germany in the 1540s, the Protestant Reformation was on the verge of obliterating a Catholic Church already in tatters. Yet the seemingly imminent collapse never happened, and Catholicism recovered dramatically. This extensively illustrated book explores a key reason why German Catholicism survived and flourished. It provides the first comprehensive treatment of the Jesuits' poorly understood but remarkable revitalization of German religious art and culture - an accomplishment that would guide the direction of both religious life and subsequent German Baroque art."--BOOK JACKET. Source: OpenLibrary