Catholicism

The Moravian movement was not the first contact Estonians had with Christianity. The first influences arrived through paths of war and by trade routes, both from the East and the West, already before the division of Christianity into the Western and the Eastern in 1054. Beginning with the 13th century, the Roman Catholic Church with the help of various military orders carried out this mission with swords.

Catholicism was the only faith until the arrival of the Reformation in the beginning of the 16th century. Between 1970 and 1980, a renewed interest toward the Catholic church and tradition, which had been marginalised by the militant Northern European Protestantism, arose among Estonian intellectuals and cultural elite. This was partially related to the discovery and cultivation of medieval music and other art forms. Today there are seven Catholic congregations with about 3500 members in Estonia.

Details about this article