Crucifix, Communion, and Convent: The Real Presence of Anglican Ritualism in Bram

Stoker's "Dracula"
Author(s): Noelle Bowles
Source: Christianity and Literature , Winter 2013, Vol. 62, No. 2 (Winter 2013), pp. 243-
258
Published by: The Johns Hopkins University Press

Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/44324133

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 Christianity and Literature
Vol. 62, No. 2 (Winter 2013)

Crucifix, Communion, and Convent:

The Real Presence of Anglican Ritualism in
Bram Stoker's Dracula

Noelle Bowles

Abstract: This essay posits that Draculas sacred symbolism embodies

greater complexity than what has thus far been read as an "either/or"
position of Catholic/ Protestant representation. An examination of the
theological debates that surround Bram Stoker and the composition
of Dracula reveals that the novel speaks more to conflicts within
the Anglican community than it does to the opposition between
Catholicism and Protestantism. When Jonathan Marker wonders if
" there is something in the essence of the [crucifix] itself" (52) that
comforts himy and he and his companions successfully battle the count
with what are typically viewed as Catholic accoutrements , Stoker
advocates the existence and efficacy of the Real Presence , a highly
controversial doctrine of High Church ritualism.

To confront and vanquish Dracula successfully, Abraham Van Heising

tells Dr. Seward that he must "believe in things that you cannot" (Stoker
202). And while Dracula may be "the most religiously saturated popular
novel of its time" (Herbert 101), the issue of faith itself becomes extremely
problematic when we pause to consider the novels protagonists. Aside
from the Catholic Abraham Van Heising, those battling the count are
Protestants. What, asks the careful reader, are Protestants doing clinging
to crucifixes and "Sacred Wafers" (Stoker 295)? The question has prompted
wildly varied critical responses. In its representation of faith, the novel
has been read as "a profoundly theological novel" (Kreitzer 109);1 a text
revelatory of fin de siecle anxieties regarding the conflict of contemporary
faith with older superstitions;2 Stokers attempt to reconcile the interfaith

243

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244 Christianity and Literature

conflicts of his native Ireland;3 the authors effort t

Ascendancy through colonization of faith;4 or ev
of proselytization through which Stoker seeks t
readership to Catholicism5 - a position that disr
upbringing and ignores completely the interneci
Church ritualism and Broad and Low Church pr
Movement, Tractarianism, ritualism, and Anglo-C
interchangeably. For the purpose of this essay and
more encompassing term of "ritualism" is privile
The Irish Studies canon has sought a place f
Irish author and Dracula as representative of An
William Hughes discusses the difficulties in
Dracula positions firmly fixed within that cano
"interpretive convention" (113) that defines auth
the issue of genealogical origin. He notes that "[
differentiate the Ascendancy from the Anglo-Ir
bourgeoisie from the parvenus and the arrivistes,
equally stratified urban and Roman Catholic pop
simply do not function in London, or indeed an
Kingdom" (107). And it was England and Lond
home and there that he locates much of the nove
that Dracula' s sacred symbolism embodies great
has thus far been read as an "either/or" position
representation. For, if we examine the contempor
surrounded Bram Stoker and the composition of
novel speaks more to conflicts within the Anglica
to the opposition between Catholicism and Protes
Crucifixes, communion wafers, and convents a
of critical attention reading them thusly, exclus
notes that "both contemporary and subsequen
the significance of the Church of Ireland as in m
type of Catholic and Reformed church that refle
High-Churchmen" (31). Yates' meticulous detailin
vestments, and liturgy- so far as admittedly limited
allow- opens the door to the possibility that S
scholars view as the predominantly Catholic prac
more Anglican precedence. Thus, interpretations
elements of Dracula as either pro-Catholic or an e

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 Anglican Ritualism in Dracula 245

an Anglo-Irish author wrestling with "compromise

(Schmitt 27) neglect to acknowledge that the "Cat
in the text are, and quite controversially in the n
Anglican.
The hysteria concerning Anglican ritualism and the divisiveness in
sectarian rhetoric that surrounded the Oxford Movement had not died
down by the time Stoker composed and published Dracula. Indeed, the
intervening years saw Parliamentary legislation seeking to contain ritualism
within the Church of England in the Church Discipline Act of 1840, which
gave bishops power to inquire into the practices of individual clergymen
that might violate sanctioned ecclesiastical forms and faith. However, few
cases were ever brought forward, and discontent with its enforcement led to
the legislation of the Public Worship Regulation Act of 1874 which intended
to define what constituted ritualism and to impose clearly defined court
procedures and punishments for those found to be in violation of church
doctrine. In the very year of Dracula s publication, Walter Walsh's The Secret
History of the Oxford Movement (1897) reveals the heated sentiments still
surrounding High Church ritualism and its perceived Catholicism. In his
anti-ritualist tract, Walsh rails against "the triumph of Priestcraft in the
Church of England" and "the Ritualistic enemies of the Protestant religion"
(i). A brief examination of his invective reveals the depth of sentiment that
ritualism provoked. For Walsh, ritualism is antithetical to the very nature
of Protestantism

I have never denied that, in a few instances, Ritualistic priests do succeed in

preventing some of their followers from going over to Rome; but I believe
in most of these cases it is by means of the unworthy tactics suggested
by Dr. Littledale, who maintained that the only way to prevent would-be
seceders from going over to Rome "is to give them here [in the Church
of England] what they are going to look for in Rome" ( Defence of Church
Principles. Sessions to Rome. By the Rev. Dr. Littledale. Page 4. Mowbray).
Loyal Churchmen, however, object more strongly against Popery within
the Church of England than against the same thing in its legitimate place -
the Church of Rome, (xi)

Walsh asserts that the Catholic practices in Anglicanism are what raise
Protestant ire; however, in discussing the conversion of Anglicans to
Catholicism in Ireland, Walsh refers to the Church Review7 and notes that
the majority of "perverts [Father Selley] had received into the Roman

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246 Christianity and Literature

Communion" came from Low Church backgrounds.

could be expected in Cork? In that town there are n
(xii). Here, his substitution of "perversion" for "co
animosity for Catholics and the conversion of Low
appears to him possible only because the obvious t
absent. Walshs diatribe offers us a specific lens into
and the fervor surrounding doctrinal debate wa
Stoker to certainly have been aware of it.
Stoker left little personal material for scholars t
religious views or much of his personal life. Record
St. John the Baptist in Clontarf parish Dublin, 184
was relocated to a new building in 1866. As to its l
the nineteenth century, the present Rector s Churchw
Mr. Brendan Teeling, is uncertain, stating that, "J
features, it strikes [him] as middle of the road: the
angel, and the altar table are more-or-less on a leve
a Broad Church sensibility. Bram Stokers marriage
at St. Annes in Dublin is similarly unrevealing. Alt
architecture and furnishings indicate Broad Churc
attendance of figures such as Wolfe Tone and Doug
hay has been made over the conversion of his wid
Catholicism in 1904 (Belford 314), but because Stok
were interred at Golders Green, a non-denominational
to draw any firm conclusions about his own beliefs.
a curious observation regarding the staging and at
The Cup on January 3, 1881: "Irving8 himself devis
the ceremonies; in fact he invented a ritual. One o
about the audience all through the run of the play
of High Church clergy who attended" ( Personal R
Stoker moves from his comment about the ritual o
attendance of High Church clergy indicates his aw
members were as well as the ritualist practices tha
public scrutiny.
In Dracula we witness the characters shift from skep
and utilization of religious symbols in a process th
their horrific circumstances; however, because
sectarian didacticism, Stokers oblique tactic leads L
"the silence on the subject [of English clergyme

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 Anglican Ritualism in Dracula 247

officiates at Lucys funeral service?) that one might we

of England as the dog that doesn't bark in Dracula
clergymen do not directly appear, the Church of E
we might initially assume; indeed, if we have the ears
like Holmwoods terriers, baying rather loudly.
Stoker connects faith, English patriotism, and n
skepticism quite early in the novel when Jonathan
counts castle on "the eve of St. Georges Day" (30). S
have easily made the association between St. Georg
knight who slays the dragon (Riquelme 564). In fa
prior to the Union with Scotland in 1601, was simp
field: St. Georges Cross. That Dracula is associated w
propriate on several fronts- the Biblical connection
temptation, and hence, the Satanic- but the associa
is somewhat deeper. Within the very symbol of nat
reference to defeat of the reptile: the crosses of
St. Patrick (Ireland). Although St. Andrews cross o
sociation to conquest of the demonic, the triple c
symbolizes Great Britain's indelible link to the cros
indicates the battle lines before Harker encounters Dracula.
The cross as crucifix figures prominently in Dracula , and it is this imagery
that critics so often categorize as Catholic; however, such an assumption
ignores the ecclesiastical debate surrounding the symbol and its use within
the Anglican Church. The 1855 Consistory Court under Dr. Lushington
in reference to the Liddell judgment9 rejected the use of the crucifix in the
church under the Ornaments Rubric of the Book of Common Prayer which
states "that such Ornaments of the Church, and of the Ministers thereof,
at all Times of their Ministration, shall be retained, and be in use, as were
in this Church of England by the Authority of Parliament, in the Second
Year of the Reign of King Edward the Sixth." The courts reasoning for the
prohibition lay in the canonical doctrines of 1571 under which, Lushington
informs us, "churchwardens were directed to remove all rood lofts in which
wooden crosses stood" and "all crosses were demolished before the end
of the reign of Queen Elizabeth [I]" (126). Lushington speaks specifically
to the crucifix and argues, "It is admitted on all hands that the crucifix is
prohibited. Why? The crucifix had been abused. It might be abused again
to superstitious notions" (127). That Queen Elizabeth I had a crucifix in
her private chapel is not, for Dr. Lushington, sufficient precedent to void

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248 Christianity and Literature

the tenants of the Reformation and accept the ad

Anglican churches.
The Liddell judgment was not, of course, the
crucifixes. Ritualists continued to employ th
ritualists voiced objections through books and
Walsh, Ecclesiastic courts,10 or Parliamentary le
Lords 1874 debate over the Public Worship Regu
Tait reads from the case of "Hebbert v Purchas" to make clear the kinds of
practices to which Broad and Low Church Anglicans objected. Central to
the offenses for which the Reverend John Purchas was brought to trial were:

To kneel before the holy table, and, reading some words out of a book
and making the sign of a cross over him and successively putting into his
hands a candlestick and decanters; and in having censed, or permitted
to be censed, a crucifix placed on the holy table during Divine Service.
Further, he was charged with- Having placed, or caused to be placed, on
the holy table a large metal crucifix and covered and uncovered the same,
and bowed down and done reverence thereto. (Tait, "Divine Service" cc.
808, emphasis mine)

Though much of the legislative effort occurred well before Stokers

composition of the novel, ecclesiastical11 and secular12 conflict surrounding
ritualist practices had not. Understanding the seriousness of the anti-
ritualist position toward symbols like the crucifix allows readers to grasp
the theological import of Stoker s inclusions. Moreover, his choice of names,
in addition to tangible objects, contains significance as well. Van Heising,
whose name is an anagram for "English," may be represented as Dutch, but
he stands for what is "essentially English" (Riquelme 564). Inarguably a
Catholic - he claims he has an "indulgence" (Stoker 217) for his scandalous
use of the Eucharist- Van Heising operates as anti-ritualists feared Catholics
did, becoming a conduit "to introduce practices and ceremonials wholly
repugnant to the feelings of the great mass of the people of this country"
(Gordon-Lennox). No one in Dracula converts to Catholicism, but the
Protestant characters do shift their epistemological positions to embrace
what Anglican Ecclesiastic courts deemed "superstitious."
Nothing in the narrative suggests that we ought to doubt the efficacy
of the vampire hunters methods, perspective, or do other than applaud
their efforts. Indeed, the struggle is positioned as national, not only in the
imagery of St. George versus the dragon and Van Heisings "English"-ness,

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 Anglican Ritualism in Dracula 249

but also in Stokers "neo- Arthurian" (Hopkins 1

Clare A. Simmons details the ways in which Dracul
form" (33) of Tennyson's Arthur, returning from the
than save; the healing element of the Eucharist/Gra
Mina. As with Van "Heising," Stoker plays a sym
Lucys fiancé: "Arthur Holmwoods surname associa
which stands traditionally for masculine potency,
properties. With its crimson berries and spikes the
an identification with Christ crucified, his head bl
thorns" (Milbank 19). The evergreen properties of
the name with salvation and the divine; furthermo
of Arthur was already well linked in the public s m
Idylls of the King. To Stoker, Tennyson "was a name o
reverence" (Stoker PR 128), and he was well enoug
poetry to quote the poet to himself (130). The signific
name is made doubly apparent when Arthur's fath
Lord Godalming; readers need not make much of a
God Almighty." Like Tennyson's Arthur,13 Stoker'
in the reclaimed body of Westenra, and his act is
Christ-like power. Under Arthur's stake, Lucy bec
whose soul is with Him!" (D 224). It is only through
and the English protagonist's acceptance of what ot
directions" (Walsh 62) 14 that Lucy (and later Britai
Being neither Catholic nor High Church, the Pr
of Dracula at first fumble with the ornamental sym
initial reaction to the offer of a crucifix before h
to Dracula's castle echoes the views expressed by B
Anglicans and their interpretation of the Ornamen
woman offers Harker a crucifix, he tells us, "I di
for, as an English Churchman, I have been taught
as in some measure idolatrous" (D 31). Not wishing
he accepts the talisman, and, as Hughes notes, "Har
crucifix despite the misgivings of his Protestant co
in his cultural and epistemological identity" (109). I
if the object contributes to his unease, and he im
notion that the journal in which he writes may be
not long, however, before Harker reflects upon hi
to reconfigure his position toward the object:

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250 Christianity and Literature

It is an odd thing which I have been taught to regar

idolatrous should in a time of loneliness and trouble
there is something in the essence of the thing itself,
a tangible help, in conveying memories of sympath
time, if it may be, I must examine this matter and tr
about it. (52)

While still in Draculas castle, Harker tells us he "placed the crucifix

over the head of my bed - I imagine that my rest is thus freer from dreams;
and there it shall remain" (57). Although he uses "imagine" rather than
"believe," his use of the item accords more and more with "the superstitious
notions" that anti-ritualists derided. As he makes his escape from the castle,
Harker wishes he could destroy the count but says, "I fear that no weapon
wrought alone by mans hand would have any effect on him" (71). In this
moment, he comes to understand that Dracula can only be defeated by that
which is intrinsically holy.
Stoker s use of religious items indicates they are imbued with power
beyond symbolic representation, and "Van Heising unequivocally settles
the question in favor of the essentialist" (Herbert 109). The intrinsic power
of the crucifix manifests again when, at Lucys viewing, Van Heising "took
from his neck, inside his collar, a little golden crucifix, and placed it over the
mouth" (D 176). We cannot know with certainty what he hoped to achieve
because the potential efficacy of his action is thwarted by a maid who steals
the crucifix. Van Heising tells us that the maid "robbed the dead and the
living [but that] she knew not altogether what she did, and thus unknowing,
she only stole" (178). That in her lack of knowledge she "only stole" suggests
that the removal of the crucifix did something substantially worse than
deprive Lucys corpse of a trinket. We are clearly meant to assume that, had
the crucifix remained in place, Lucy's full transformation to vampire might
have been mitigated, perhaps obviated altogether. Human failing then,
rather than the potency of holy symbols, is what dooms Lucy.
The central controversy of Anglican ritualism lay in that very potency
of symbol, particularly that contained in the rite of Communion. As Patrick
R. O'Malley explains,

Victorian controversialists disseminated the image of Romanism as

a monstrous and sexually transgressive devourer of British national
independence in tandem with the escalating debate over the Real Presence
of the Eucharist, precisely the question of whether the Communion meal
entails the actual consumption of the Body and Blood of Christ. (134)

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 Anglican Ritualism in Dracula 251

The doctrine of Real Presence, for ritualists, was th

consecration. For non-ritualist Anglicans as well
however, "The Rëal Presence of Christ's most blessed
therefore to be sought in the Sacrament, but in the w
Sacraments" (Richard Hooker15 qtd. in Walsh 220). Th
the Eucharist is symbolic of holiness, not holiness itse
associated with ritualism - the "smells and bells" -
Christ is indeed present in the sacrament, and it is
the theological argument revolves. For non-ritualists,
brings sanctity to the communion, for the ritualist
subsequent holy essence of the blessed object.
Like Harker, Dr. Seward, Quincy Morris, and Arth
the journey from skepticism to acceptance. Dr. S
Renfielďs "religious mania" (119) and regarding his pa
"The Master" says, "He is a selfish old beggar anyhow
and fishes even when he believes he is in a Real Pres
use of the indefinite article "a" highlights his underst
of Real Presence but his acceptance is qualified; it is "
there may be more than one, or, perhaps, none at all. Th
of his observation, Sewarďs comment is, as O'Malley
metaphor" (158), the phrasing signals Stoker's rep
essential nature of divinity and Real Presence even if,
the antithetical mirror of the vampire. Upon the ap
use of the Sacred Wafer, Simmons remarks:

The power of the elements of the Eucharist in Dracula s

contain the "Real Presence" [but] Protestant identity
rejection of transubstantiation and of papal power;
reversal of Arthurian motifs may hence be a recognition
of Arthurian tales with modern English nationalism co
than idealizes the national self-image. (33-34)

Here, O'Malley reads Stoker's use of sacrament and

appropriation of Catholicism whilst Simmons inte
conflict as cautionary symbolism, but the fact that th
characters remain within the Protestant fold sugges
seeks not to usurp Catholicism but to validate Anglica
When Van Heising unpacks his vampire combat eq
ignorance of the communal sacrament is so profound

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252 Christianity and Literature

recognize the "thin, wafer-like biscuit" (D 217) a

refers to the material as "stuff" and asks if this is "
"What is that which you are using?" Van Heisings
Hosť [. . .] was an answer that appalled the most s
individually that in the presence of such earnest
a purpose which could thus use the to him mo
impossible to distrust" (217-18). O'Malley notes t
between "to him " (149) and what the other men
he notes, the "earnest purpose" that gains their r
than the wafer itself.

Van Heising first uses the Eucharist to block

tomb, and Lucy s suitors witness its effectiveness
the lifted crucifix and the sacred closing of her
Once the wafer is removed, she dematerializes and
and back to her resting place. The other mens b
power of the Host and, as with Harker and his cr
embrace the Real Presence of the divine in what had seemed at first mere
symbolism.
The sacramental inversion of Draculas baptism of Mina is well
documented,16 but Van Heisings application of the Eurcharist has received
less attention theologically. Yet here again the text counters any reservations
about the essential holiness of the Eucharist in the moment when Minas
forehead is "seared" (295) by the Sacred Wafer. Mina cries that she "must
bear this mark of shame upon [her] forehead until the Judgment Day"
(296), while Van Heising mitigates its implications, telling her "that red scar
[ . . . ] shall pass away when God sees right to lift the burden that is hard upon
us" (296). Judgment Day and Minas scarring resonate with her journal
entry of November 1st - All Saints Day. In The Book of Common Prayer the
reading for the day comes from Rev. 7:2 wherein the angels "have sealed the
servants of our God in their forehead." Within the novel, a serving woman
sees the scar, crosses herself and makes a sign "to keep off the evil eye"
(353). For Mina it is a mark of exclusion - in opposition to the inclusion of
Revelations and the Anglican reading for the holy day. For Harker, Minas
scar becomes a warning against the lure of complacency and denial, as we
see when he comments upon his desire to disregard the horrors he has faced
as "a long-forgotten dream" (312) but he recalls himself to the reality of his
circumstance through Minas stigma: "how can I disbelieve! In the midst of
my thought my eye fell on the red scar on my poor darling s white forehead.

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 Anglican Ritualism in Dracula 253

Whilst that lasts, there can be no disbelief. And afterwar

of it will keep faith crystal clear." Whether or not sh
encounter with the Real Presence of the Host seals Harker s adherence to
faith.

Harker, Seward, Arthur, and Quincy accompany Van Heising as he uses

the Host to sterilize Draculas earthen boxes. Here, Van Heising makes a
careful distinction about sanctity: "we defeat him with his own weapon,
for we make it more holy still. It was sanctified to such use of man, now we
sanctify it to God" (297). The consecration of a grave or churchyard involves
the blessing of a priest - in either Anglican or Catholic practice - but
certainly no Eucharist is strewn about the ground. Why an unholy creature
must rest in holy ground is an unresolved question of vampire mythology,
and although the vampire needs this sacrament (that which sanctifies the
earth to "the use of man"), it cannot tolerate the transubstantiated body
of Christ present in the Eucharist. In the sterilization of the boxes, the
Protestants simply assist Van Heising as he distributes the Host; their direct
experience of the Real Presence occurs when they attempt to beard Dracula
in his Piccadilly lair. Dr. Seward informs us that their weapons are "various
armaments- the spiritual in the left hand, the mortal in the right" (302). The
spiritual weapons Seward wields are the Eucharist and crucifix, and they do
what Harker s Kukri knife cannot. As Seward tells us: "I moved forward
with a protective impulse, holding the crucifix and wafer in my left hand. I
felt a mighty power fly along my arm; and it was without surprise I saw that
the monster cowered back before a similar movement made spontaneously
by each one of us" (304). At this juncture, the early speculation raised by
Harker regarding the "essence of the thing itself" resolves in the efficacy
of symbol against the vampire who must "cower" before their spiritual
weapons. In allowing characters to experience and express the power of the
Real Presence, Stoker s novel advocates the validity of ritualist sacramental
doctrine.

Additionally, against the tide of anti-ritualist rhetoric, the text provides

a positive glimpse of yet another aspect of ritualism often derided as suspect:
women's religious orders. Dracula is quite sympathetic toward the Sisters of
St. Joseph and St. Mary who take in Harker when he is incoherently raving.
Mina tells us Sister Agatha is "a good creature and a born nurse [...], a
sweet, good soul" (122), that the "dear Sisters were so kind" (123) and that
"Please God, I shall never, never forget them." Within the overall narrative,
the convent hospital plays but a small part, and though the Sisters of Dracula

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254 Christianity and Literature

must be read as specifically Catholic, the existence a

monastic orders, especially those for women, occasi
The first Anglican sisterhood, the Sisterhood of
established in London in 1845, and "much of the op
(and probably most of the verbiage directed agains
cled anti-Romanism" (Reed 202). 1851 saw the intro
gious Houses Bill that sought to impose regulation
"for Catholic ladies only, but that it would refer als
Protestants, of which [the bills sponsor] was inform
be found" ("Religious Houses Bill" cc949). Under th
gious houses would be registered and subject to mag
sessions without prior notice. The express purpose
to extract such women as might be held there again
inconceivable to H. E. Lacy, MP for Bodmin and
"every one could be perfectly contented to remain
life's end" ("RHB" cc 949). The bill failed partly be
abuses in Holland and Mexico were all the evidence o
cause other MPs suspected that the real motivation
should women in monastic orders die; it was argued
be best dealt with in Chancery ("RHB" cc 965). Sati
outside the prescribed roles of daughter, wife, and mot
some to credit. Indeed, "[s]ome argued that women
aspirations to the religious life were going against t
even though much of the work within the conven
primarily nursing, charity, and education. Althou
about women's religious orders took place well bef
tion, oversight and inspection of religious houses w
1897 when Walsh asks, as Lacy did forty-six years e
inspection, how much more do Ritualistic Convents
of contemporary social history, Stoker's representat
pathetic cloistered women in some measure counter
against them.
Although the novel gives us sisters, we see little of priests, whether
Anglican or Catholic. As Hopkins remarks, "there has perhaps been
insufficient attention paid to who doesn't appear in Dracula : there is no
priest, in any shape, denomination or form" (77). Hopkins' assessment,
however, isn't entirely accurate. We know, for example, that Mina and
Jonathan Harker's wedding ceremony is performed by "the chaplain of the

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 Anglican Ritualism in Dracula 255

English mission church" (123), and there must be so

the various funerals - Lord Godalming, Mrs.Weste
Lucy s- even if Stoker chooses not to present us fully
priests are excluded, faith, and very specifically An
when Mina requests that her husband read the Bu
they near the final phase in their pursuit of Drac
this section of the novel, and because neither he n
the request or text, we understand implicitly tha
service from The Book of Common Prayer. Indeed
identification as "an English Churchman" (31) an
of "the simple and beautiful service for the Buria
underscores such a reading. The characters do turn
courage and support, and if clerics are only periphe
as Van Heising explains, "Our toil must be in silen
secret; for in this enlightened age, when men believ
doubting of wise men would be his greatest stren
Heising implies, would get away from them while t
a similar belief in authority figures, whether tempora
The Real Presence of Gods power as it manife
heroes indicates a real presence of High Church
Stokers advocacy was not as quixotic as might
historical and emotional depth of the campaign ag
and sacrament, for despite anti-ritualist desire that
inaugurated by a warfare against priestcraft and
will sweep every Sacrificing Priest out of the Refor
(Walsh xx), the "number of Anglican churches wh
ritualist probably rose from fewer than 200 in 187
(Yates 278). Within the Anglican fold, the practic
occasioned suits in ecclesiastic courts "had been
of the Anglican churches in England and Wales" (2
of the twentieth century. The crucifix that so disc
Eucharist that so bewildered Seward become, if not standard, at least
somewhat commonplace within Anglican sacramental practices. Although
Stoker wrote nothing polemical regarding his position on or belief in
High Church ritualist practices, Draculas engagement with contemporary
religious controversy is too specific in its details and implications to be
merely coincidental.

Kent State University at Trumbull

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 256 Christianity and Literature

NOTES

1 Kreitzer details the allusions between Stokers text and the bible, but t
examination focuses on the very broad strokes of Christianity rather
examining the specific and historic denominational implications of the novels
of Christian symbol.
Christopher Herbert contextualizes the novels fin de siecle anxieties
asserts that Stoker "conceives his book as an extended meditation on the relations
of modern ethical religion to the superstitious notions of uncleanness" (103). In
the dynamic of Herberts examination, Van Heising represents rationally conceived
Christian thought against the pagan superstition embodied in the Count (105).
3Seeking a place for Stokers novel in the canon of Irish Studies, Alison Milbank
views the novels apparent syncretic impulse as "a union of Protestant and Catholic
sacrament, figured as modern and ancient modes of communication" (21).
4Gregory Castle argues that Stokers "recourse to sacramentalism amounts
to a preemptive tactic, one in which the Irish Catholics sacramental desire and
the rituals that express it are appropriated. His intention is to exert a symbolic
domination over Catholic Ireland and thus to forestall the decline of an ineffectual
Ascendancy class and to fend off the reverse colonization or absorption that events
in finde siècle Ireland seemed ominously to foreshadow" (524). Patrick R. O'Malley
contends " Dracula is itself an extended fantasy of Catholicism, a script into which
its Anglo-Irish author can write himself as Catholic, as participant in Romanist
rituals and traditions with all their perversions and all their power" (160). Despite
O'Malley s acknowledgment of the debates surrounding High Church ritualism, the
assessment here seems overly simplistic if we consider the text within its historical
context.

5D. Bruno Starrs reads Dracula as pro -Catholic and wonders if Stoker wrote "a
novel promoting the proselytization of Protestants to Catholicism in an era when
to do so might be dangerous to an Irishman's health and/or freedom" and suggests
that Stoker "was a closet Catholic cloaking his dangerous views in a relatively safe
literary medium."
6For specific discussion of the terms, their use, and historical progression, see
Pickering, W. S. F. Anglo-Catholicism: A Study in Religious Ambiguity. London:
Routledge, 1989 (17-24).
7 The Church Review (est. 1860) was a newspaper publication dedicated to pro-
moting ritualist views and practices.
8Sir Henry Irving, manager of the Lyceum Theatre (1878 -1899) and its lead
actor, under whom Bram Stoker worked as the business manager.
9Robert Liddell, vicar of St. Pauls, Knightsbridge, was brought up on suit by
one of his churchwardens for violations against the Ornaments Rubric, primarily
"altar crosses and lights, chancel screens with gates and crosses, coloured frontais,
altar cloths edged with lace, and the Ten Commandments not being inscribed on

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 Anglican Ritualism in Dracula 257

the east wall" (Yates 215). Though the judgment was up

1857 the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council reversed
so that ten points of the fourteen original to the suit were
were" (Liddell qtd. in Yates 216).
10The Church Association (est. 1865), for example, was
mote the persecution of ritualist clergy" (Yates 216).
11 Among later notable cases was that of King, Bishop
cused of various ritual irregularities" (Yates 249). The C
at Canterbury in 1890 and ruled primarily in the bishop
plainants against King appealed to the Judicial Commit
judgment was upheld in 1892.
12Secular opposition to ritualism had proponents like
the Protestant Truth Society in 1889, and his supporte
services, protested against ritualism at church congresse
at confirmation ceremonies" (Yates 316).
13See Noelle Bowles, "Tennyson's Idylls of the King an
Christianity and Literature 56 (2007): 573-94.
14Walsh does not write in relation to Dracula but to t
holy water on a body immediately after death.
15Reverend Richard Hooker (1554-1600), an Anglican
the foremost scholars of the Protestant Reformation in
abeth I.

16See, for example, Christopher Herbert, "Vampire R

79 (2002): 100-21 and Patrick R. O'Malley, Catholicis
Victorian Gothic Culture (Cambridge: Cambridge UP
Dracula as Christs antithesis.

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