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The following is the complete chapter entitled, A detached Account of the Descent into Hell, from The Dolorous Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ by Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich. This chapter presents Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich’s visions of the descent of Jesus Christ into Hell (The Limbo of the Fathers) on Holy Saturday. The events of Holy Saturday are also known as the Harrowing of Hell. Chapter 49 from The Dolorous Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ by Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich: CHAPTER LIX A detached Account of the Descent into Hell. When Jesus, after uttering a loud cry, expired,...

[Catholic Caucus] Holy Saturday: The Harrowing of Hell (Let the Angelic Doctor, St. Thomas Aquinas, speak to us, console us, and edify us as The Blessed Mother surely did in the Cenacle as she awaited the fulfillment of her Son’s promise, never doubting for an instant, despite the horror of the previous day, that He would do as He said He would.)From the descent of Christ to hell we may learn, for our instruction, four things:1. Firm hope in God. No matter what the trouble in which a man finds himself, he should always put trust in God’s help and...

Where Is Jesus Between His Death and Resurrection? Msgr. Charles Pope • March 30, 2018 • Christ Preaching to the Dead, Duccio (1308-11)Where is Christ after He dies on Friday afternoon and before He rises on Easter Sunday? Both Scripture and Tradition answer this question. Consider the following excerpt from a second century sermon as well as this meditation from the Catechism of the Catholic Church.Ancient Homily for Holy Saturday (ca. 2nd century A.D.):Today a great silence reigns on earth, a great silence and a great stillness. A great silence because the King is asleep. The earth trembled and...

The Catechism of St. Thomas Aquinas THE FIFTH ARTICLE: "He Descended into Hell." The death of Christ was the separation of His soul from His body as it is with other men. But the Divinity was so indissolubly conjoined to the Man Christ that although His soul and body were disunited, His Divinity was always most perfectly united to both the soul and body. This we have seen above. Therefore in the Sepulchre His body was together with the Son of God who together with His soul descended into hell.[1] REASONS FOR CHRIST'S DESCENT There are four reasons why...

Where Is Jesus Between His Death and Resurrection? By: Msgr. Charles PopeWhere is Christ after He dies on Friday afternoon and before He rises on Easter Sunday? Both Scripture and Tradition answer this question. Consider the following excerpt from a second century sermon as well as this meditation from the Catechism of the Catholic Church.Ancient Homily for Holy Saturday (ca. 2nd century A.D.):Today a great silence reigns on earth, a great silence and a great stillness. A great silence because the King is asleep. The earth trembled and is still because God has fallen asleep in the flesh and he has raised up...

The Easter Triduum: Entering into the Paschal MysteryThe Easter Triduum: Entering into the Paschal Mystery | Carl E. Olson The liturgical year is a great and ongoing proclamation by the Church of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and a celebration of the Mystery of the Word. Through this yearly cycle, the Catechism of the Catholic Church explains, "the various aspects of the one Paschal mystery unfold"(CCC 1171). The Easter Triduum holds a special place in the liturgical year because it marks the culmination of the yearly celebration in proclaiming the Passion and Resurrection of Jesus Christ. The Latin word...

The second reading from the Office of Readings for Holy Saturday is taken from an ancient homily on Christ’s descent into hell. It begins: “Something strange is happening—there is a great silence on earth today, a great silence and stillness. The whole earth keeps silence because the King is asleep.” The King fell asleep when His soul was separated from His body on Good Friday afternoon. He remained asleep until His soul reanimated His body on Easter morning. But during the silence and stillness of the King’s sleep, He harrowed hell.Our Lord’s descent into hell is well attested to...

Where is Christ after he dies on Friday afternoon and before he rises on Easter Sunday? Both Scripture and Tradition answer this question. Consider the following from a Second Century Sermon and also a mediation from the Catechism of the Catholic Church.An Ancient Sermon: Today a great silence reigns on earth, a great silence and a great stillness. A great silence because the King is asleep. The earth trembled and is still because God has fallen asleep in the flesh and he has raised up all who have slept ever since the world began. . . He has gone...

Click below (scroll to the bottom of this post) to listen to our special Holy Saturday podcast. Listen on iTunes or right click the link below. On Holy Saturday we meditate on one of the most obscure lines in the Apostles' Creed: "he descended into hell." What does this part of the Creed refer to? Is it biblical? Moreover, what does it mean to say Christ "descended into hell"? Did he experience the torments of wicked? Christ and the "Spirits in Prison"In 1 Peter we read that Christ continued to save souls--even after his death. For Christ also died for sins once for...

III. The Easter Triduum in General 38. The greatest mysteries of the redemption are celebrated yearly by the Church beginning with the evening Mass of the Lord's Supper on Holy Thursday and ending with Vespers of Easter Sunday. This time is called "the triduum of the crucified, buried and risen"; [42] it is also called the "Easter Triduum" because during it is celebrated the paschal mystery, that is, the passing of the Lord from this world to his Father. The Church, by the celebration of this mystery through liturgical signs and sacramentals, is united to Christ, her spouse, in intimate...

Call it "shameless self-promotion" if you will, but, hey, somebody's got to do it. We're looking for a shot as a musical guest on Mike Huckabee's Fox Show on Holy Saturday with a song about the Resurrection called "That Rock Is Gonna Roll". Folks can hear it on the music player at http://www.emmettgrayson.com/ and there's also a link there to Huckabee's production staff. It is perfect placement for this particular song to carry the message that He died and yet He Lives. The single most important part of our faith is that He didn't stay dead. So, yes, I'm asking...

Dear Brothers and Sisters,In his farewell discourse, Jesus announced his imminent death and resurrection to his disciples with these mysterious words:  “I go away, and I will come to you”, he said (Jn 14:28).  Dying is a “going away”.  Even if the body of the deceased remains behind, he himself has gone away into the unknown, and we cannot follow him (cf. Jn 13:36).  Yet in Jesus’s case, there is something utterly new, which changes the world.  In the case of our own death, the “going away” is definitive, there is no return.  Jesus, on the other hand, says of...

by Fr. William Saunders Other Articles by Fr. William Saunders The Triduum and 40 Days 04/20/06 Is the Triduum part of Lent? When I count the days from Ash Wednesday through Holy Saturday, I find that it only turns out to be 40 if we count the Triduum and do not count the six Sundays during that period. I know that the date of Ash Wednesday was specifically selected to produce a 40-day Lent. So aren’t the three days of the Triduum really part of Lent? Here is one time when the “straight answer” is not going to be clearly “straight.”...

Holy Saturday and the Easter VigilHoly SaturdayThe women sawhow his body was laid; and they prepared spices and ointments;and rested the sabbath day according to the commandment.Luke 23:55,56Holy Saturday (in Latin, Sabbatum Sanctum ), the 'day of the entombed Christ,' is the Lord's day of rest, for on that day Christ's body lay in His tomb. We recall the Apostle's Creed which says "He descended unto the dead." It is a day of suspense between two worlds, that of darkness, sin and death, and that of the Resurrection and the restoration of the Light of the World. For this reason...

The blessing of the Easter Baskets on Holy Saturday is a tradition in the parishes in Western Pa. and other places where there is a large population of Polish and Slovak parishioners. Tomorrow I will bake my Easter breads (Paska) and get other foods ready to put in the basket to be taken to the Church on Saturday to be blessed. I take ham, kielbassa, butter (molded in the shape of a lamb), beets w/horseradish, salt, colored eggs, cream cheese, a bottle of wine and a candle, among other stuff. I cover it with a lace cloth. My breads are...

On the Easter Triduum "We Will Relive the Passion, Death and Resurrection" VATICAN CITY, APRIL 12, 2006 (Zenit.org).- Here is a translation of Benedict XVI's address at today's general audience, which he dedicated to explain the meaning of the Easter triduum. * * * Dear Brothers and Sisters: Tomorrow the Easter triduum begins, which is the fulcrum of the whole liturgical year. Aided by the sacred rites of Holy Thursday, Good Friday and the solemn Easter Vigil, we will relive the passion, death and resurrection of the Lord. They are propitious days to reawaken in us a more intense desire...

Jesus is laid in the Sepulchre V. We adore Thee, O Christ and we praise Thee, R. Because by Thy holy cross Thou hast redeemed the world. Priest: Consider that the disciples carried the body of Jesus to bury it, accompanied by His Holy Mother, who arranged it in the sepulchre with her own hands. They then closed the tomb, and all withdrew. People: Ah, my buried Jesus, I kiss the stone that encloses Thee. But Thou didst rise again the third day. I beseech Thee, by Thy resurrection, make me rise glorious with Thee at the Last Day, to...

Part I - The Easter Triduum We have just entered the season of Lent. This has always been an important time in the life of the Catholic Church. It begins very dramatically with the reception of ashes, in a sense, marking us as God's people. Near the end of the season we receive palms which remind us of the people's love for Jesus - a love which turned to hate and indifference quite rapidly. The special practices of Lent….added prayer, fasting, abstinence, almsgiving… remind us that this is no ordinary time. Because Lent is a season with a personality...

April 10, 2004 At the Easter Vigil in the Holy Night of Easter Psalm: Saturday 17 Reading I Responsorial Psalm I Reading II Responsorial Psalm II Reading III Responsorial Psalm III Reading IV Responsorial Psalm IV Reading V Responsorial Psalm V Reading VI Responsorial Psalm VI Reading VII Responsorial Psalm VII Epistle Responsorial Psalm VIII Gospel Reading I Gn 1:1–2:2 or Gn 1:1, 26-31a In the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless wasteland, and darkness covered the abyss, while a mighty wind swept over the waters. Then God said, "Let there be...

The Holy Season of Lent Fast and Abstinence.It is a traditional doctrine of Christian spirituality that a constituent part of repentance, of turning away from sin and back to God, includes some form of penance, without which the Christian is unlikely to remain on the narrow path and be saved (Jer. 18:11, 25:5; Ez.  18:30, 33:11-15; Joel 2:12; Mt. 3:2; Mt. 4:17; Acts 2:38). Christ Himself said that His disciples would fast once He had departed (Lk. 5:35). The general law of penance, therefore, is part of the law of God for man. The Church for her part has...