St. Anthony's Tongue A Catholic's Guide to Vampires
Oct 24, 2025
Delve into the intriguing connection between vampires and faith. Explore ancient blood-drinking spirits and discover medieval saints who rose from their graves to confess. Uncover the chilling case of Arnold Paole, where the supernatural blurs with reality. Engage with the theological inversions presented by Dom Augustin Calmet, revealing how vampire lore distorts Christian symbols. This discussion also highlights the modern adaptation of vampiric desires and offers spiritual antidotes to counteract these 'thirsts' through confession and the Eucharist.
AI Snips
Chapters
Books
Transcript
Episode notes
Vampire As A Spiritual Mirror
- The vampire functions as a mirror revealing spiritual longings like fear of decay and desire for immortality.
- It inverts Christian symbols, showing a hunger for life without surrender to grace.
The Arnold Paole Case
- Arnold Paole was bitten, later died, and villagers exhumed him to find a pink, whole corpse with blood on his lips.
- They staked, beheaded, burned him and scattered his ashes to stop the scourge of dying villagers and animals.
Calmet's Balanced Inquiry
- Dom Augustin Calmet treated vampire reports seriously and sought a theological balance between superstition and doctrine.
- He concluded these events mix paranormal reports with folk belief and represent theological inversions, not true resurrections.
