Finding antichrist: apocalypticism in nineteenth‐century Catholic England and the writings of Frederick Faber

Abstract

The article discusses the apocalyptic beliefs of the nineteenth-century English Oratorian and devotional writer, Frederick Faber, though initially providing a context among earlier and contemporary English Catholic apocalyptic writers. It proceeds, by means of a consideration of Faber's conscious de-secularisation of language, to give an account of his identification of the elements of a transvalued contemporary popular concept of modernity as the signs of apocalyptic crisis. The article as a whole is intended to provide an aid to the perception and understanding of a pervasive apocalypticism in nineteenth-century English-speaking Catholicism. © 2012 The Author.