The King Sleeps

Holy Saturday and the Descent of Christ into Hell

The Valley of Tears, Gustave Dore, Public Domain

"What is happening? Today there is a great silence over the earth, a great silence, and stillness, a great silence because the King sleeps; the earth was in terror and was still because God slept in the flesh and raised up those who were sleeping from the ages. God has died in the flesh, and the underworld has trembled”¹

Hell According to St. Thomas

Today, in the middle of the Sacred Triduum, we find a day of silence and waiting. The horror of the crucifixion has passed but the glory of the resurrection is still some time away. Today, when the churches are bare and the tabernacles are empty, we remember the silence of Holy Saturday. The King sleeps while the world waits.

In the Apostle’s Creed, the church has professed for close to 2000 years that Christ was crucified, died, and was buried, and He descended into hell. We profess this mystery of the faith every time we pray the Rosary. For most people, there is probably a recoil that happens when they think about Christ going into hell. After all, we know that hell is defined as eternal separation from God and so the logical question presents itself: how can God Incarnate be eternally separated from God?

To understand this great mystery, we have to first uncover what the Creed means by the term Hell. The most important thing to first understand is that when the Creed uses the term ‘hell’ it does not mean the place of the damned. Instead, ‘hell’ refers to the abode of the dead. To understand this abode of the dead, we will turn to the Church’s greatest Theologian, St. Thomas Aquinas. In his Summa Theologiae, St. Thomas addresses the Descent of Christ into hell in Question 52 of the Tertia Pars. If we look at articles two and seven, we can see that St. Thomas identifies four parts of hell, properly speaking. In these articles, he references a place where souls are lost who dwell with wickedness and unbelief, those who are detained in Purgatory, a place where the Holy Fathers are detained,² and finally, a place where children who die without baptism reside.³ Putting these together, St. Thomas identifies four levels of hell which are traditionally referred to as (in ascending order):

The Hell of the Damned or Gehenna--- This is the lowest part of the abode of the dead. This is the section of hell that souls go to when they reject the love of God in exchange for a disordered love of a created thing. When the Catholic thinks of hell properly speaking, this is the place that they think of.⁴

Purgatory--- For the souls who die without mortal sin on their soul but still have temporal punishment that they must atone for, purgatory is a great mercy from God. This is where souls go who still need cleansing. St. John of the Cross tells us, “In the evening of life we will be judged on love alone.” The great mystic is elucidating the particular judgment in which souls will be judged on the state of their soul in relation to love, that is, the theological virtue of charity. For those who have no charity, which is lost to us in mortal sin, they go to the hell of the damned, but for those who have charity, but it is still imperfect due to the temporal consequences of sin, they will find the cleansing fire of purgatory to be their path to heaven. St. Paul speaks of this:

“…each man’s work will become manifest; for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work which any man has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If any man’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.”⁵

The Father’s Limbo--- Carrying forward the example above, if a person dies in a state of perfect love they are immediately welcomed into the beatific vision and are filled with God’s essence for eternity.⁶ But, before the death of Christ and the opening of the gates of heaven, no one was permitted into heaven. The question then needs to be answered, where did the souls go to who died either in perfect love or had their love perfected through purgatory before the liberating death of Christ? The answer that the church has given is what is called the Father’s Limbo also referred to as Abraham’s Bosom.⁷ This place is an abode of perfect earthly happiness. There is no pain or suffering but the souls there are deprived of the beatific vision. Again, this is a result of the great mercy of God who, in His goodness, does not damn these souls even though heaven is closed because He knows that the redemptive act of Christ is their salvation.

The Children’s Limbo--- The Children’s Limbo is a theological hypothesis that comes out of the Medieval Church to address the question of what would happen to a child who dies without Baptism. In this case, the child would die with Original Sin and thus be unable to be admitted to the beatific vision, but because they also committed no personal sin, they are not punished in the hell of the damned. Essentially, the theory comes from the reality that no creature is due the beatific vision, we have to be supernaturally lifted to it by God and it is solely out of the condescension of God’s Goodness that we are able to be saved. In recent times, the Catechism of the Catholic Church has addressed the salvation of children who die without baptism by entrusting them to the mercy of God, who desires all men to be saved, and asked for the children to come to Him.⁸ The existence of the Children’s Limbo remains a theological opinion.

Each of these four parts of hell are separate realities, which all comprise what we refer to as the realm of the dead, and they are in accord with the state of the soul of the person when they die in the time before the death of Christ. It is important to note that before the death of Christ, as a result of Original Sin, Heaven was closed to mankind and so people who died before Christ’s death could not enter Heaven.

He Suffered Death and was Buried

Turning then, to the mysteries of the creed, before we can get to the descent of Christ, we have to encounter His death on the cross and the state of His personhood as a result of that death. Death is a phenomenon that affects created, living beings. All living things come to be and pass away. Specifically for humans, this is a result of original sin. Before sin, man had the preternatural gift called immortality that would have prevented them from dying. But, because of the fall, man now has to suffer death.⁹

To redeem man from this great fault and to bestow upon him the gift of immortality again, Christ becomes man and freely gives His life for us. This means that the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity assumes a human nature to His person and becomes incarnate.¹⁰ Taking a human nature to Himself now allows God, for whom death is impossible, to die. It is in affirming this mystery that we can now explore the reality of the death of Christ.

On the first Good Friday, Our Blessed Lord freely went to the cross to give His life for us.¹¹ Christ underwent a true death, that is to say, Christ underwent the separation of His true human soul from His true human body.¹² The Second Person of the Trinity truly and really died. St. Thomas speaks to the fittingness of His death and gives five reasons as to why it is fitting that Christ should die:

First to satisfy for the whole human race which was sentenced to die on account of sin… Secondly, in order to show the reality of the flesh assumed… Thirdly, that by dying He might deliver us from death… Fourthly, that by dying in the body to the likeness of sin—that is, to its penalty—He might set us the example of dying to sin spiritually… Fifthly, that by rising from the dead, and manifesting His power whereby He overthrew death, He might instill into us the hope of rising from the dead.¹³

St. Thomas highlights the reality of Christ’s true humanity here. He had a true body that underwent the passion and in shows forth the power of Christ in His glorious resurrection.

In His death, St. Thomas then turns to two very important questions that need to be explored in connection to the descent of Christ into hell:

Whether the Godhead was separated from the flesh when Christ died?

and

Whether in Christ’s death there was a severance between His Godhead and His soul?

To both of these questions, St. Thomas answers in the negative. While the body and soul of Christ sever from each other as is the case with all humans in death, His divine nature is still united to both in that division. Of the unity of the Godhead to the body, St. Thomas says:

Since, then, there was no sin in Christ, it was impossible for the union of the Godhead with the flesh to the dissolved. Consequently, as before death Christ’s flesh was united personally and hypostatically with the Word of God, it remained so after His death, so that the hypostasis of the Word of God was not different from that of Christ’s flesh after death.¹⁴

St. Thomas says that unity with the Godhead can only be lost through fault. Clearly, Our Lord did not sin and therefore, His humanity was not separated from the Godhead. Essentially, the unity that occurred through the Hypostatic Union was not and could not be undone.

He then moves on to address the soul. He uses the union with the body to show the union with the soul:

The soul is united with the Word of God more immediately and more primarily than the body is, because it is through the soul that the body is united with the Word of God, as stated above (Q. 6, A. 1). Since, then, the Word of God was not separated from the body at Christ’s death, much less was He separated from the soul.¹⁵

St. Thomas rightly says that the soul is more immediately united to the Word of God than the body is, this is a result of its spiritual nature, as well as the fact that Christ beheld the beatific vision in His human soul from the moment of His conception.¹⁶ By this logic, since the body is not separated from the Godhead, then neither is the soul.

Now why is this important for the descent of Christ into Hell? St. Thomas answers this question:

Accordingly, since what regards the body severed from the soul is affirmed of the Son of God—namely, that it was buried—so is it said of Him in the Creed that He descended into hell, because His soul when separated from the body did go down into hell.¹⁷

It is fitting that Our Lord’s body be buried in the tomb after His death and so too, was it fitting that His soul, now separated from His body, descend to the realm of the dead just as all humans do. As the body is buried, the soul descends to hell.

He Descended into Hell

With the groundwork laid down, we can return to question 52 of the Summa where St. Thomas addresses the descent into hell. To begin, St. Thomas makes it clear that of the four sections of hell, Christ only went to one, and that was the Father’s Limbo. Of the eight articles that make up this particular question, the final four articles are dedicated to asking whether Christ delivered the souls in each of the four sections of hell stated above. According to St. Thomas, Christ did not deliver the lost, those in purgatory, or those in the children’s limbo.¹⁸

In the first article, he gives three reasons that it was fitting for Christ to descend into hell and the Father’s Limbo:

First of all, because He came to bear our penalty in order to free us from penalty…Second, because it was fitting when the devil was overthrown by the Passion that Christ should deliver the captives detained in hell…Third, that as He showed forth His power on earth by living and dying, so also He might manifest it in hell, by visiting it and enlightening it.¹⁹

The first reason St. Thomas gives is in accord with the penalty that man incurred due to Original Sin. Not only did we incur death from our sin, but we also incurred a descent into hell, or the realm of the dead. Christ then embraces our penalty and not only willingly takes death upon Himself but also the descent into the realm of the dead. He then cites that it is fitting that the devil’s power, i.e., his power to detain righteous souls in the realm of the dead, ought to be overthrown by Christ and so the captives are set free. Finally, He manifests His power and glory both on earth and in the realm of the dead, just as St. Paul says:

“…that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth…”²⁰

Christ descended to the Father’s Limbo to bring glory to those who were detained there, to break the chains of the evil one, and to abolish the hold that death had over mankind as a result of His passion. He comes bearing His cross to shine the light in the darkness:

“The Lord approached them bearing the Cross, the weapon that had won him the victory. At the sight of him Adam, the first man he had created, struck his breast in terror and cried out to everyone, ‘My Lord be with you all.’ Christ answered him: ‘And with your spirit.’”²¹

The righteous souls who were awaiting the consummation of the world, who had anticipated the coming of Christ through their implicit faith, are enlightened by the coming of Christ to the Father’s Limbo. The beauty of this event is that the patriarchs, prophets, and the holy men and women who desired to see the day of the Lord are finally able to witness His glory. The Divine Second Person of the Trinity descends to their prison,²² calls them to rise, and to follow Him into Glory.

“I order you, O sleeper, to awake. I did not create you to be held a prisoner in Hell. Rise from the dead, for I am the life of the dead. Rise up, work of my hands, you who were created in my image. Rise, let us leave this place, for you are in me and I in you; together we form one person and cannot be separated.”²³

Christ descends into hell to bring His body, the church, to Himself. He will not leave them abandoned in the netherworld. While there, they were excluded from the glory of the beatific vision but as Christ comes and preaches to them, the glory that is beheld in His soul overflows to them and becomes the principle of their beatific vision.²⁴ While residing in the Father’s Limbo, Christ dwells with the souls there until the Resurrection and is the principle of their beatific vision. St. Thomas speaks to this rather beautifully:

“Directly Christ died His soul went down into hell and bestowed the fruits of His Passion on the saints detained there; although they did not go out as long as Christ remained in hell, because His presence was part of the fullness of their glory.”²⁵

Holy Saturday is a day of waiting. It is a day of anticipated hope. The souls in the Father’s Limbo exemplify this hope, awaiting the manifestation of the Incarnate Christ whom they longed to see with all their being. We, too, await the manifestation of Christ in the glory of the Resurrection on Easter Sunday. The Triduum is a time for preparation for what is to come. As the closing lines of the Office of Readings for today tell us, Christ has prepared a place for us, He has lifted mankind higher than the angels through the Incarnation, and He has freed us from the snares of death. He beckons us, like those in the Father’s Limbo to rise with Him in His resurrection. Holy Saturday teaches us to hope. It teaches us that in order to be with Christ, we must take up our cross and follow Him into death. We must descend into the realm of the dead and in that, we will follow Him in the resurrection to life eternal.

He beckons, “Awake, O Sleeper, arise from the dead!”

“Rise, let us leave this place. The enemy led you out of the earthly Paradise. I will not restore you to that Paradise but will enthrone you in heaven. I forbade you the tree that was only a symbol of life, but see, I who am life itself am now one with you. I appointed cherubim to guard you as slaves are guarded, but now I make them worship you as God. The throne formed by cherubim awaits you, its bearers swift and eager. The Bridal Chamber is adorned, the banquet is ready, the eternal dwelling places are prepared, the treasure houses of all good things lie open. The Kingdom of Heaven has been prepared for you from all eternity.”²⁶

1. Anonymous Homily, Office of Readings for Holy Saturday.

2. St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae IIIa, q. 52, a. 2. Hereafter cited as ST.

3. ST IIIa, q. 52, a. 7.

4. Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1035.

5. 1 Corinthians 3:13–15.

6. Cf. Benedict XII, Benedictus Deus.

7. Cf. Luke 16:19-31.

8. Cf. CCC 1261.

9. Cf. Genesis 2:15-17.

10. Cf. John 1:14.

11. Cf. John 10:17-18.

12. Throughout the history of the church, multiple heresies have professed that Christ did not die on the cross. Some, like the Docetists from the first century, claim that He had no body and that someone else died in His place. Islam professes that Christ did not die but He was taken into heaven. The Church has continuously affirmed since the first century that Our Lord died a true death.

13. ST IIIa q. 50, a. 1.

14. ST IIIa q. 50, a. 2.

15. ST IIIa q. 50, a. 3.

16. Cf. ST IIIa q. 10 and q. 34, a. 1.

17. ST IIIa q. 50, a. 3.

18. In each of these sections, there is something about these souls which prevented Christ’s Passion from taking effect. For the lost, the Passion only delivered those who were united to it through faith and charity, thus the lost cannot be saved since they rejected faith and charity in their lives. For the children’s limbo, he says that since they were already dead, Baptism could not be administered to them and thus they could not be delivered. For the souls in purgatory, he says that the Passion did not immediately deliver them as it was not stronger then than it is now and so those souls still needed cleansing. However, it should be mentioned that theologians such as Fr. Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange consider it probable that Christ’s descent into hell gave the souls in purgatory a ‘quasi-plenary indulgence’ and so, perhaps it limited the time they needed to stay in purgatory. Either way, Garrigou will affirm that the descent of Christ infused much hope into those there who were awaiting the glory to come. Cf. Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange, Christ The Savior: A Commentary on the Third Part of St. Thomas’ Theological Summa, 662.

19. ST IIIa q. 52, a. 1.

20. Philippians 2:10.

21. Anonymous Homily, Office of Readings for Holy Saturday

22. Cf. 1 Peter 3:18-19.

23. Anonymous Homily, Office of Readings for Holy Saturday

24. St. Thomas very beautifully speaks of Christ’s beatific vision in His human soul as the cause of our beatific vision, “And hence it was necessary that the beatific knowledge, which consists in the vision of God, should belong to Christ preeminently since the cause ought always to be more efficacious than the effect.” ST IIIa q. 9, a. 3.

25. ST IIIa q. 52, a. 5.

26. Anonymous Homily, Office of Readings for Holy Saturday.