41

At the end of the Victorian era, Catholicism became an object of fascination in English literary circles, and many Decadent writers drew on the Roman faith for images. They were particularly receptive to the importance of signs and symbols in the sacraments of the Catholic Church. Their interest in the aesthetic dimension of the liturgy can be traced back to Pater’s vision of religion and of Christian rituals. In fin de siècle literature, the sacrament is emptied of its sacred dimension, and the liturgical symbol loses its deictic function: it does not point any longer to something beyond itself, but becomes self-sufficient and is considered first and foremost for its aesthetic qualities. The Eucharistic mysteries, in particular, become the central elements in a religion devoid of transcendence, and a source of poetic images dissociated from any theological meaning.