"Sensational" Children's Literature as a Means of Transmitting Anti-Catholicism in the Era of Transition

Although historians, literary scholars, and sociologists have produced several significant studies of anti-Catholicism over the years, few have addressed the way adults sought to disseminate anti-Catholicism among children. During the late 1800s and early 1900s, the British religious scene was rent by ecclesiastical divisions and theological parties. Even within the Church of England, mutually antagonistic Evangelical Protestant and Ritualist (also called Anglo-Catholic) branches developed. Zealous anti-Catholic Protestants were not just born; they were also formed through children's fear of violence and supposed fascination with it. This article offers a close examination of the magazines promoted by anti-Ritualist Protestant youth organizations demonstrates that sharing stories about the dangers of Catholicism was a common method of binding children of both genders more closely to their parents' theological subculture.