Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and the Catholic Church Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and the Catholic Church The celebrated composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was raised a Roman Catholic, and the church played an important role in his life. Mozart's parents (Leopold Mozart and Anna Maria Mozart) were Catholics and raised their children in this religion, insisting upon strict obedience to the requirements of the Church. They encouraged family prayer, fasting, the veneration of saints, regular attendance at Mass, and frequent confession. Leopold Mozart continued to urge strict observance upon Wolfgang even when the latter had entered adulthood. In 1777, he wrote to his wife and son, who at the time
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and his family had moved from central Vienna to the suburb of Alsergrund. Although it has been suggested that Mozart's aim was to reduce his rental expenses, research shows that by moving to the suburb, Mozart had not in fact reduced his expenses (as claimed in his letter to Puchberg), but merely increased the housing space at his disposal. Mozart began to borrow money, most often from his friend and fellow Mason Michael Puchberg; "a pitiful sequence of letters pleading for loans" survives. Maynard Solomon and others have suggested that Mozart was suffering from depression, and it seems that his