Starting from a typical and largely constant manifestation of inner feeling, namely the shedding of tears, this thesis develops the idea that the Catholic reform of the 16th and 17th centuries must be understood - more than previously recognized - as a time of 'spiritual sensitivity.' Through numerous documented instances of public lamentation and a comprehensive examination of emotions in contemporary treatise literature, it can be demonstrated how much the Church around 1600 aimed to incorporate feelings as a means of faith constitution into pastoral care. This endeavor, particularly promoted through the medium of art, sought to make the entirely Other perceptible to the 'believer' in their bodily self. It is based on a long-theologically justified and epistemologically secured preference for an 'irrational' safeguarding of God. The representation of the Most High is now not only theorized as an emotion or a sensory event or experience but is also newly metaphorized, while the (often pleasurable) self-perception is methodically practiced and socially organized.