LIMBO. — From the Latin *limbus* (= edge, extremity, border), it is the place and state of souls which, having not merited hell, could not, before the redemption, enter heaven (I. of the Holy Fathers) or are eternally excluded therefrom because of original sin not remitted.
I. THE LIMBO OF THE HOLY FATHERS
State and place in which were found the just of the Old Testament, who, though departing this life in grace and fully purified from their sins, could not enter Paradise because the Redemption of mankind had not yet been accomplished. Therefore the souls of the just who died before Christ were in a tranquil state, serenely awaiting the Redemption. This state was called the limbo of the Fathers, or also the “bosom of Abraham” (*sinus Abrahae*: cf. Lk 16:22), taking the word “bosom” in the same sense as *limbus*: almost a secluded place or haven of tranquil repose, so named from the Patriarch, who was the model of faith in God and as it were the father of believers.The word *limbus* appears in theology only after Peter Lombard (d. 1160); the Hebrews called it *‘ēr’ōl*; in the Greek version of the Bible made by the Seventy, it was translated with the word Hades (*“ᾍδης”*), and in the Latin version with the word Inferno (Inferus), which were the Latin and Greek terms indicating the abode of the dead. The image evoked by these terms is that of a dark place, situated in the bowels of the earth, like an immense chasm. *‘Ēr’ōl* was in the Hebrew language a common term that designated both the abode of the just (“bosom of Abraham”) and the abode of the wicked, Gehenna, as it is called in the Gospel (Mt 5:22; 23:15; 10:28; Mk 9:42; 46; 18:9; Lk 12:15). Subsequently the expression “bosom of Abraham” became synonymous with Paradise. Thus in the liturgy for the dead one prays God to place souls in the “bosom of Abraham” (cf. P. Heinisch, *Teologia del Vecchio Testamento*, Turin 1950, pp. 307-13). The limbo of the Holy Fathers ceased with the descent of Jesus.
II. THE DESCENT OF JESUS CHRIST TO THE LIMBO
I. Dogma
In the time between death and Resurrection, the soul of Christ descended into *‘ēr’ōl* (ad inferos) to bring the fruits of redemption to the souls of the just, who were awaiting the fulfillment of God’s promises in which they had believed. Thus Christ, as Redeemer, shared even the lot of the just who had believed in him, going with his soul into *‘ēr’ōl* to await the hour of his triumph.The descent of Christ’s soul to the limbo is an article of faith explicitly set forth in the Creeds from the 4th century, as is evident from the testimony of Rufinus (Denz-U, 3). Leo the Great in 447 speaks of the descent of Christ to hell as a dogmatic truth believed by the whole Church and beyond dispute (Epist. ad Turribium, 17: PL 54, 690). The Fourth Lateran Council (a. 1215) specified that the descent to the limbo was with the soul (*in anima*) in order to condemn the opinion of Abelard, according to which this descent should be understood in a purely metaphorical sense, i.e., as a simple salvific operation accomplished by Christ in the souls of the just; a descent *per potentiam*, rather than a proper descent of the soul into the very abode of the just of the Old Testament.
This article of faith is contained in Holy Scripture. St. Peter, announcing the Resurrection of Christ to the Jews immediately after Pentecost, said, referring to the prophecy of David (Ps 15:19): “Being therefore a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn to him with an oath that of the fruit of his loins one should sit upon his throne, he foresaw and spoke of the Resurrection of Christ, that he was not abandoned in *‘ēr’ōl*, nor did his flesh see corruption” (Acts 2:24-31). In other passages of the New Testament too allusion is made to the abode of Christ’s soul in the limbo (Mt 22:40; Rom 10:6-7; probably in 1 Pt 3:19-20).
As the Holy Fathers note, the doctrine of Christ’s descent to the limbo harmonizes with the divine plan of Redemption, according to which Christ freely and out of love assumed upon himself all the states of the troubled human condition, in order to redeem all. By descending into the limbo and manifesting himself to the just, the soul of Christ, subsisting in the person of the Word, brought the light of beatitude: *‘ēr’ōl* was transformed into Paradise, and the promise made by Jesus to the good thief was fulfilled: “Today you will be with me in Paradise” (Lk 23:43).
The effect of Christ’s descent to the limbo was the liberation of the souls of the just who had departed this life in the grace of God; just souls belonging not only to the Hebrew people, but also to the pagan peoples, among whom there could be persons enlightened, believing in the future Redeemer and living according to grace, as Clement of Alexandria expressly thinks (Stromata, 6,6). It did not have the effect of redeeming those who had died without faith and without grace, condemned by God to hell for their obstinacy in evil. It did not give redemption to children who died with original sin, nor did it free the souls in Purgatory, except those already purified and ready for Paradise (Sum. Theol., 3,3, q. 52).
Calvin interpreted the descent to the limbo as if Christ had suffered the infernal torments, so that we might be preserved from them. Calvin himself, like all Protestants after him, gave a metaphorical meaning to the descent of Christ to the limbo. Rationalists maintain that this Christian belief was derived from the myths of paganism (Hercules, Orpheus); in reality, between the Christian doctrine of Christ’s descent to hell and pagan myths there is only some external similarity. The Christian dogma is already adumbrated in the Old Testament, where it speaks of the just who descend into *‘ēr’ōl* with the hope of Redemption, awaiting “He who is to be sent” (Gen 40:10).
Marcolino Daffara
2. Art
The representation of this subject in Christian art begins relatively late. Literary evidence places it around the 6th century, when its first known depiction appears on one of the carved columns of the ciborium of St Mark’s in Venice. Later, in the 8th century, the representation of Christ descending to the underworld is found in a fresco at Santa Maria Antiqua in Rome. This already connects to Byzantine and Byzantine-Greek iconography, which would persist until the 13th century and beyond, as evidenced by the psalter from the Chlondof collection and others of the same type (9th–10th centuries; cf. Kondakof [see bibliography]) in Paris, as well as contemporary examples in the Imperial Library of St. Petersburg and the Vatican (Urb. lat. 2), or scenes in frescoes and museums (often included in the Passion cycle), such as the mosaics of Daphni, particularly interesting for the unusual freedom in interpreting the theme, the fresco in the lower church of San Clemente in Rome (11th century), the mosaics of Monreale, Torcello, and Venice (12th century), as well as, up to the present day, in Byzantine and Russian iconostases.The principal source for these artists is the Gospel of Nicodemus, which establishes a compositional scheme in a sequence of episodes, generally representing the moment when Christ appears, extending his hand to Adam, flanked by Eve—these being the only figures in the earliest miniatures. To them are later added, bound Satan, sometimes David and Solomon, and the liberated just. In northern Europe, where the earliest known works do not predate the 11th century, a different approach emerges, as seen in the antependium of Klosterneuburg and the Psalter of Hermann of Thuringia, where the subject tends to become an episode of the Last Judgment (e.g., at Saint-Jacques de Guérets).
Production, especially abundant in the 12th–13th centuries, later declines in subsequent centuries, becoming almost entirely neglected after the 16th century. Among the finest depictions of the 15th century is the fresco by Fra Angelico in the Convent of San Marco; in the 16th century, the subject is still treated by Dürer and Bronzino.
Maria Donati