American Catholic Tackles Vampires :: Guys... (my guys that is) Be Nice. If we can respectfully debate and discuss the vamp folklore of the world, we can be nice to the Catholics too. So behave yourselves.
Vampires
Published Wednesday, October 15, A.D. 2014
By Foxfier
http://the-american-catholic.com/2014/10/15/vampires/
Through mere glimpses of him, however, demonic accuracy is achieved: Dracula is an Antichrist. He cannot attack unless willingly engaged. He baptizes his victims in his blood even as he drinks theirs in a sacrifice that gives eternal ālifeā in animated death. He unites captive souls to his existence, thriving on the unhallowed. He twists scripture to his purpose, lusts for worship ⦠and fears Christ. Crisis Magazine, Oct 2013
Over at Father Zās blog, he made a (joking) post about how sad he was that he didnāt get a vampire hunting kit for Christmas. One comment pointed out that we canāt sell blessed objects. (Technically false; blessed objects can be sold for their intrinsic value, without added price for the blessing, but accurate enough in terms of buying a Vampire hunting kit which would be pretty worthless without blessing.) This got me thinking about the various legends related to vampires, and Catholicism, especially how often they are portrayed wrongly.
The most famous example of bad (horrifying, really) Catholic theology that involves vampires and popular culture is probably the Dracula story. At one point, Van Helsing makes a putty out of consecrated Hosts, and uses it to vampire-proof a room. Itās supposed to be alright, because he has a dispensation. (No, they donāt work that way.)
Needless to say, this isnāt respectful of the Body of Christ, and if the vampire is reacting to the Body of Christ then it isnāt effective, either.
With respect to the presence of Christ, most theologians hold that, although the host externally remains intact for several days, the real presence ceases as soon as the host is fully soaked with water as from that moment the species is no longer exclusively that of bread.
That aside, Dracula is rather well researched in regards to the folklore of vampires. For example, the crucifix has power in and of itself, since it has a representation of Christ on it, while crosses depend more on the person holding the cross invoking God directly. In various times and places, the formally-blessed cross (or oSuther objects, such as holy medals) was thought to be enough to invoke God. Those objects are called sacramentals, things that recall the sacraments. (Draculaās mistaken abuse of the Host is indicative of someone who didnāt recognize Transubstantiation, but viewed it as a sort of super-strong symbol.) The most obvious sacramental, which is also used in popular pieties and commonly available for the asking, is holy waterā many parishes even have dispensers. It should be kept in mind that the people who really believed in vampires werenāt trying to use holy water or any other sacramental for some kind of a magical effect, but to invoke Godās protection from forces of evil.
Some of the things vampires fear are symbolic, instead of sacramental. Running water calls to mind baptism and the washing away of sins, silver is āwhiteā metal and thus pure, garlic and various plants were believed to be medicines against corruption. Even salt, because of its powers of preservation, was thought in some places to ward off evil, including vampires.
Vampires lack of reflection probably grew out of the folklore of the soulless not having a shadow, and the way that mirrors were once backed with silver. Some more folklore savvy stories had digital cameras work to record vampires, but not silver-based movie cameras, and at least one used silver nitrate in the blood to kill a vampire.
Speaking of souls, this is probably the biggest problem with vampire stories: all too often, authors write āvampiresā that by all evidence possess rational souls. To shamelessly stealāer, borrowā from Jimmy Akinās highly enjoyable Theology of the Living Dead, there are four basic options for any flavor of living dead:
Animal soul ā this is the most traditional, but has more in common with modern zombies as far as behavior goes; modern vampires are generally more intelligent than the average human.
Non-human rational soul ā Buffy the Vampire Slayerās vampiresā they are evil, but the ādemonsā animating vampires arenāt Satanic, and a lot of the ādemonsā are just multidimensional travelers. The theology of that television show makes my head hurtā¦.
Human souls ā the āvampireā subculture would be an example of this, or if a story had vampirism as a sort of disease.
No soul ā the body is remote-controlled, either by technology (nanobot vampires) or perhaps demonic possession. (As I understand it, demons are spirits, rather than souls, and couldnāt inhabit a body the way a human soul would. Iād highly advise a lot of mythology research before anybody tried to write this!)
Most vampire stories these days are either humans with a disease or non-human souls animating a body; some of them arenāt even āallergicā to blessed objects. Obviously, if they have rational souls, we have to treat them as people rather than monsters, but then it doesnāt make any sense why holy objects would harm them.
On a practical level, Iād say that anything that smokes on contact with a holy object is to be avoided.
For Halloween, Iām cross-posting slightly edited versions of my C&C monster series from Catholic Stand, one a week. Hope that you folks enjoy them.
Donald R. McClarey on Thursday, October 16, A.D. 2014 at 5:49am
āOn a practical level, Iād say that anything that smokes on contact with a holy object is to be avoided.ā
Brilliant Foxfier! That goes in my little black book of quotations that I steal borrow!
WK Aiken on Thursday, October 16, A.D. 2014 at 8:01am
Iāve always considered the traditional vampire legend to be a metaphor for the carnal (corrupt) as opposed to the spiritual (perfect) and as such was used initially as an anecdotal teaching tool. When instruction in metaphysics and theology were more familiar, a good instrument to initiate the young or help inform the less-erudite would be āwhat to not be and how to avoid itā as illustrative models.
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In that vein (pun intended) it is easy to see how the vampire pathos has been made more approachable as the carnal has become elevated to equality with the spiritual in popular culture. Religious teaching is virtually non-existent in the main, so how can the denouement of carnal deterrent by application of the sacred make any sense?
Stephen E. Dalton on Thursday, October 16, A.D. 2014 at 9:34am
If one wants a fun read on vampires, the Rev. Montague Summers is the man. This somewhat controversial priest actually believed in the existence of vampires and other revenants. However, his books on the subject are chock full of stories of the living dead from ancient times to now. So, if you want to read books with a lot of folklore about these critters, you canāt go wrong with Monty.
T. Shaw on Thursday, October 16, A.D. 2014 at 11:49am
I think zombies are the ālargerā post-modern bogey-man. The proliferation of zombie-themed movies and TV series is proof.
When the zombie apocalypse (trope for societal collapse?) falls, Iāll be head-shooting Zās and gut-shooting liberalss.
Need to increase my supplies of ammunition.
Foxfier on Thursday, October 16, A.D. 2014 at 12:25pm
I was kinda proud of it, Donald. :D
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WK- thereās so many possible metaphors, and it mines so many things we fear, that itās hard to pick ātheā thing that itās about.
Thereās a writer named Mary C that points out modern vampires fill the role of the āfairy loverā in classic stories, and the modern zombie is more like the classic vampires.
Paul Zummo on Thursday, October 16, A.D. 2014 at 12:39pm
At the risk of coming off as completely self-serving and stealing Foxfierās thunder, here is a link to a short story that I wrote and published on Amazon about Dracula and friends. Itās available on Kindle for the low low price of 99 cents, and is more of a spoof of modern vampire literature. I have what might be considered a unique interpretation of why Vampires fear crucifixes, and of their entire back-story for that matter.
http://www.amazon.com/Dracula-Friends-Paul-Zummo-ebook/dp/B00G4ST8G4/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1413480766&sr=8-3&keywords=paul+zummo
Mary De Voe on Thursday, October 16, A.D. 2014 at 1:52pm
Vampires, werewolves, zombies and ghouls are devoid of self-sacrifice.This is why remembrances of self-sacrifice disturb them. Once they were human beings. Now, they are trapped in a dimension of the living dead, which they chose for themselves, thinking it better than to be a Christian. They must be ex-patriots from hell operating on the forbearance of God, which is to warn sinners to behave. They may be the rich man allowed to return to earth to warn his brothers of the hell awaiting them.
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Remember too, it was not the state, nor the mad scientist who gave Frankenstein life. It was the lightening of God.
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Let me be the first to wish you all a HAPPY HALLOWEEN, a HOLY ALL SAINTSā DAY and a memorable ALL SOULS DAY, Nov. 2nd.
WK Aiken on Thursday, October 16, A.D. 2014 at 1:56pm
Paul Zummo, thanks for the momentary distraction. Very amusing. How much of my 99 cents do you keep?
Mary De Voe on Thursday, October 16, A.D. 2014 at 2:48pm
T Shaw: got to get silver bullets. The economy is bad. Tell the vampires to go to hell and keep the silver for yourself.
T. Shaw on Thursday, October 16, A.D. 2014 at 3:28pm
Mary Dear,
Not sure the melting temperature of silver. Itās likely much higher than lead. That makes loading my own more difficult.
Iām piling up Scotch whisky. Might as well go out on a spree.
Foxfier on Thursday, October 16, A.D. 2014 at 3:40pm
962*, T. Shaw.
Paul Z- that is AWESOME! Iām all about supporting self-pub.
T. Shaw on Thursday, October 16, A.D. 2014 at 4:03pm
The Lone Ranger also used silver bullets.
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According to wikipedia, āThe masked man decided to use bullets forged from the precious metal as a symbol of justice, law and order, and to remind himself and others that life, like silver, has value and is not to be wasted or thrown away.ā