Conversion of pagan europe to christianity
Around 696, Duke Theodore of Bavaria gave the young bishop Rupert of Worms a grant of land in what is now Austria. A small Benedictine monastery called St. Peter's already existed in the midst of what was left of a Roman town. Rupert made the monastery into a launching pad to evangelize the eastern Alps. He also founded the convent of Nonnberg, the oldest continuously existing female convent in German-speaking lands.
In about 100 years, Salzburg went from being a ruin of a Roman town to being the center of missionary activity and learning in its region, with a monk-bishop supervising many monasteries and churches. What happened in Salzburg also happened elsewhere. Just as they built new buildings from old Roman materials, these medieval missionaries adapted or replaced elements of the pagan culture they found, constructing a new Christian culture in its place.
In the year 600, Christianity was almost entirely an urban religion, centered on the still surviving, if often decaying, cities of the Roman Empire. By the time Charlemagne died in 814, Christians had moved into vast rural areas of the old empire, and a broad swathe of central and northern Europeâfrom Hungary through Poland to Scandinaviaâhad .
Support our work
Share This Article:
Converting Europe
This slideshow is only available for subscribers. Please log in or subscribe to view the slideshow.
Read These Next
The Ten Thousand Monk March
Monastic Christians in Palestine showed both a passion for orthodoxy and ecumenical sensitivity.
The Real 12 Days of Christmas
Celebrating Christ's birth with saints of the faith during the actual Christmas season.