Austria’s Conversion to Christianity

It is not until the 11th century AD that we can speak of Austria being a thoroughly Christian country (Romanowski 1994: 57). This is all the more astonishing when one considers that even before the turn of the first century most of what is today Austria was part of the Roman Empire and how quickly Christianity spread to other parts of the Roman Empire. But how did the Christianization of Austria come about in the first place? Who were the bearers of mission? What strategies were used? Is the term ‘missionary work’ appropriate at all or was it not rather a superficial, politically motivated Christianization? These questions are to be investigated and answered in the following article.