Creeping Jesus

For the song, see Deloris.

Creeping Jesus is a Hiberno-English term, originally used derogatively, to describe a Roman Catholic seeking to make a public display of religiosity in a manner which seems hypocritical and simply for show.

Origins of term

The origins of the term remain unclear. One possible meaning is of someone who creeps around a packed church to pray at each of the Stations of the Cross hanging on the walls with the intention that everyone in the pews can see him doing so, as if to say "notice how religious I am".

It is used in a rather different sense in William Blake's poem The Everlasting Gospel:

If he had been Antichrist, Creeping Jesus,

He'd have done anything to please us:

Changing meanings

By the end of the 20th century the term had evolved somewhat away from a purely religion-focused term to one levelled at any public display presumed to be totally hypocritical.

Though originally a Hiberno-English term it has now appeared in British English, Australian English, American English, Scots, and Scots English, having been brought to other countries by Irish emigrant communities.

Examples of usage

A habitual show of ostentatious piety earned Irish President Seán T. O'Kelly (1945–1959) the accusation of being a "creeping Jesus".^{[citation needed]}