Urs Altermatt is Professor Emeritus in Contemporary History at the University of Fribourg. Jan De Maeyer is professor emeritus of contemporary church history at KU Leuven and honorary director of KADOC-KU Leuven. His research focuses on political and social Catholicism, material Christianity, and the development of religious institutions and congregations. Franziska Metzger is Lecturer in Contemporary History at the University of Fribourg.

• Introduction Urs Altermatt, Jan De Maeyer & Franziska MetzgerReligious Institutes as a Factor of Catholic Communities of Communication Urs Altermatt & Franziska MetzgerDISCOURSES AND NETWORKS OF KNOWLEDGE Catholic Intellectual Elites in the Netherlands Fruitful and Vulnerable Alliances during the Interbellum Marit MonteiroStimmen der Zeit and Benediktinische Monatsschrift The Different Approaches of two Religious Orders to the Cultural Communication of the Weimar Republic Joachim SchmiedlPROMULGATION AND MEDIATION OF DISCOURSESConvent Schools in Central Switzerland Sites of Female Catholic Identity Construction and Networking for Catholic Laywomen Esther Vorburger-BossartThe Institut St. Elisabeth A Place of Conservation and Encouragement of a Catholic Identity for the Female Youth of Liechtenstein Martina Sochin D' EliaCreating and Disseminating a Catholic Subculture through Children's Literature The Forgotten Role of the Publishing Houses of Religious Institutes Jan De MaeyerStarving, Spanking and Steam Trains English Catholic Patriotism and Bodily Penitence in the Children's Writing of Frances Taylor and Elizabeth Giles Katherine Harper The Scandinavian Mission of the Sisters of Saint Joseph A Female Counter-Culture in Nordic Society Yvonne Maria WernerReligious Communities and the Catholic Poverty Discourse in the First Half of the 19th Century The Relationship between Charitable Service and Denomination-specific Identity as reflected in the Church Press Patrick Bircher (†) Belgian Jesuits and their Labourer Retreats (c. 1890-1914) Kristien SuenensConclusion Urs Altermatt & Franziska MetzgerBibliography Index Contributors Colophon

But on the whole, the articles were engaging, informative, thought provoking and elicited a desire to delve deeper. The collection represents both a tribute of recognition to the orders and congregations whose works are described and a welcome contribution to nineteenth and early twentieth-century social and religious history.Anselm Nye, Trajecta Portal