angel in the sunlight (antique statue)
An excerpt from “Death and Afterlife in the Bible and the Church: Developing Traditions in History and our Final Hope” by Father Michael Wensing
Limbo has been defined historically as that state of happiness in the afterlife enjoyed apart from the beatific vision of heaven. There is no Church dogma on limbo (though it will forever remain a popular cliché in the English language for a kind of immobile in-between state of existence). The new Catechism of the Catholic Church does not even mention it. It was never taught, even if proposed, as a matter of faith and morals.
A popular kind of catechesis and theological proposal arose out of the medieval discussions concerning the possible state of happiness of the innocent unbaptized or the just person of good conscience who died not knowing Christ or being baptized in Christ, which was deemed necessary for salvation as reflected in John 3. Surely God would be merciful to such people, such was the thinking and, somehow, they should fit under God’s will of universal salvation for his human creatures.
It was proposed that such poor souls would have an eternity of natural happiness, but without the vision of God. Many a child grew up learning about limbo in their religious education classes. However, in the last century, the Scriptures have come to be understood to show that any eternal happiness would require union with God and beholding his “face,” a popular biblical image for happiness.
It is natural that the Lover and the beloved need to behold one another in any eternal bond of union. We can trace some confusion arising because of the historical status of occasional early writings in Christianity about the “limbo of the fathers.” For instance, this term was used by the early Church Father Clement of Alexandria (ca. 159-215 A.D.) who maintained that it was not right that these (the righteous who lived and died before Christ) should be condemned without trial, and that those alone who lived after the coming of Christ should have the advantage of the divine righteousness.
Jesus’ descent to the dead after his crucifixion as reflected in 1 Peter 3:19 and Ephesians 4:8-9 were used as primary Scriptures in these writings. Luke 16:22 speaks of the “bosom of Abraham,” which both the Western Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church, following early Christian writers, understood as a temporary state of souls awaiting entrance into heaven. The “limbo of the fathers” included humankind all the way back to and inclusive of Adam and Eve. These two were never proclaimed saints (those canonized) by the Western Church, but the eastern Orthodox did proclaim them saved and even have a feast day in their honor on December 24.
From the early Church, an ancient homily is still read each year in the Western Church, as well as in the office of reading for Holy Saturday while keeping vigil for Easter. It speaks about the descent of Jesus to the dead, to the faithful dead, and he searches for and finds the first parent and speaks to him (the second Adam speaks to the first Adam). In an early sermon by St. Ephrem the deacon we read, “after his death he came upon Eve.” Thus, one can imagine why it is held that they and many of their descendants were invited to the gates of paradise, which had been opened by Jesus’ crucifixion and death.
The “limbo of the fathers” was not imagined as a permanent state as was the later development in popular catechesis about the limbo of infants and others. There is no doctrine or early tradition about the limbo of infants. However, at some later time, medieval theologians said that the limbo of infants (limbus infantium or limbus puerorum) is the hypothetical permanent status of the unbaptized who die in infancy, too young to have committed actual sins, but not having been freed from original sin. Such theologians were confronting the necessity to come to faith in Jesus Christ and being born again and baptized to be saved, and this kind of limbo became a popular teaching for a number of centuries.
Part of putting limbo behind us in the last century was influenced by further reflection on the so-called “baptism in blood” or “baptism of desire” being extended to the innocent young ones or to righteous adults of good conscience. The Church has the long tradition of celebrating the Holy Innocents of Bethlehem, murdered by Herod, children two years down to infancy who were never baptized. Their blood in death on account of the Christ child was seen as a supreme example of their own spiritual baptism in blood.
Thus, today, funerals for unbaptized children in the church tend to be more joyful and hopeful in celebrating Divine Providence caring for the innocent ones. Even the custom of burying the unbaptized outside of the consecrated ground of a church cemetery or in a special designated area for such deaths is no longer a custom. Hope commands the day, hope in the infinite mercy of God, and hope in what might have been otherwise in a person unbaptized if all the obstacles to knowing Chrsit had been removed. For “[God our savior] wills everyone to be saved to come to knowledge of the truth” (1 Tm 2:4).
Father Michael Wensing is a senior priest in our diocese. He holds a licentiate in sacred theology.
Interested in reading more? Father Michael Wensing’s book, “Death and Afterlife in the Bible and the Church: Developing Traditions in History and our Final Hope,” is available on Amazon.
