This is so interesting!
Did you know that Dracula was actually a Catholic? On this week’s episode of The Catholic Talk Show, Ryan Scheel, Fr. Rich Pagano, and Ryan DellaCrosse discuss The Catholic Church vs. Vampires.
Dracula is based off of the story of Romanian prince Vlad Țepeș.
Listen to the story below:
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Ryan Scheel explains that Prince Țepeș lead the a fight against Ottoman Empire as they invaded the Slavic lands. Scheel says Tepes “was really effective at it.”
“He became known as ‘Vlad the Impaler‘ because one time, the Ottomans came in and sent an advanced scout to start the battle. The bulk of the forces came up, and Vlad Tepes and his forces killed them all. He took all of them and put them on eight-foot-tall stakes.
“So when the rest of the Ottomans came, they saw 5,000 dead bodies hanging on stakes, impaled. They’re like, ‘I’m out! I don’t want Romania that bad!'”
“In Western Society, he’s seen as creepy. But he’s a national hero in Romania. He’s the guy who saved their country.”
The reason Vlad the Impaler became known as Dracula is “he was in what was called the Order of the Dracul, or the Dragon. This was a religious order, kind of like the Knights Templar. They vowed to fight the invading Ottoman Empire.”
“‘Vlad Dracul,’ or ‘Dracula,'” Scheel explained of the name Dracula.
“[Vlad’s] father was the first one of his lineage to be a member of the Order of the Dragon. Since he was the diminutive, he was ‘Dracula.’ So that’s where the word Dracula comes from — a Christian religious order to fight the Ottoman invasions.”
Were you surprised by the Christian story behind Dracula?
[See also: Dracula vs. the Catholic Eucharist]
[See also: The Triduum of Death: The Forgotten Season of Allhallowtide]