Why is there no mention of Christ’s descent into hell in the Creed we recite almost every Sunday?

Good night, Father Angelo.

I wanted to ask you why the Creed contained in the Roman Missal, which we recite throughout the liturgical year, doesn’t mention the descent of Our Lord Jesus Christ into hell.

However, it does appear in the Apostles’ Creed.

Could it be that this gesture of love by Jesus, even toward those who preceded him, shouldn’t be considered an act of faith on the part of the faithful? The risk is that it won’t be discussed, or if it were, it will be portrayed as some kind of fairy tale.

Thanks for your reply.

Claudio

Priest’s answer

Dear Claudio,

1. Your observation is correct: the Creed we recite almost throughout the liturgical year does not refer to the descent into hell. It is the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed, which is longer than the Creed known as the Apostles’ Creed.

2. It is pleasing to quote what the Catechism of the Catholic Church writes: “Among all the creeds, two occupy a special place in the Church’s life” (CCC 193). Namely:

” The Apostles’ Creed is so called because it is rightly considered to be a faithful summary of the apostles’ faith. It is the ancient baptismal symbol of the Church of Rome. Its great authority arises from this fact: it is “the Creed of the Roman Church, the See of Peter the first of the apostles, to which he brought the common faith” (CCC 194).

“The Niceno-Constantinopolitan or Nicene Creed draws its great authority from the fact that it stems from the first two ecumenical Councils (in 325 and 381). It remains common to all the great Churches of both East and West to this day” (CCC 195).

3. The Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed was written during the period in which the heresy of Arius was being fought, which claimed that the Son is the first creature of God, but is not God. And precisely for this reason the Creed states of the Son thus: “God from God, light from light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, consubstantial with the Father.”

It is more eloquent in emphasizing the divinity of the Son.

It does the same with regard to the Holy Spirit, of whom it says: “the Lord, the giver of life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, who with the Father and the Son is adored and glorified, who has spoken through the prophets”.

The Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed emphasized statements that were implicit in the Apostles’ Creed, but now needed to be made explicit because they were being denied.

4. I think the only reason for not referring to the descent into hell was precisely to keep the Creed short.

The truth about the descent into hell is included in the “was buried.”

However, the Athanasian Creed, which is much longer and from the same period, mentions the descent into hell, because it is important.

5. Your email gives me the opportunity to remind you of its preciousness.

Three categories of people were enclosed in hell: the damned, the souls in Purgatory, and the righteous who awaited Christ’s liberation to enter heaven.

Jesus Christ went among the latter: this “kind of abode is that into which the souls of the just before the coming of Christ the Lord, were received, and where, without experiencing any sort of pain, but supported by the blessed hope of redemption, they enjoyed peaceful repose ” (Roman Catechism, § 69) 

6. The same Catechism writes: “But although Christ descended into hell, His supreme power was in no degree lessened, nor was the splendor of His sanctity obscured by any blemish. His descent served rather to prove that whatever had been foretold of His sanctity was true; and that, as He had previously demonstrated by so many miracles, He was truly the Son of God. This we shall easily understand by comparing the causes of the descent of Christ with those of other men. They descended as captives; He as free and victorious among the dead, to subdue those demons by whom, in consequence of guilt, they were held in captivity (…).

Christ the Lord descended, on the contrary, not to suffer, but to liberate the holy and the just from their painful captivity, and to impart to them the fruit of His Passion” (ibid., § 70).

“His august presence at once shed a celestial luster upon the captives and filled them with inconceivable joy and delight. He also imparted to them that supreme happiness which consists in the vision of God” (ibid., § 71).

“Another reason why Christ the Lord descended into hell is that there, as well as in heaven and on earth, He might proclaim His power and authority, and that every knee should bow, of those that are in heaven, on earth, and under the earth” (ibid.).

The Catechism of the Catholic Church adds: “Christ went down into the depths of death so that “the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live” (CCC 635).

7. St. Thomas, in his commentary on the Apostles’ Creed, dwells at length on Jesus’ descent into hell. Among the various reasons you also write this: “He would completely triumph over the devil. Now, a person is perfectly vanquished when he is not only overcome in conflict, but also when the assault is carried into his very home, and the seat of his kingdom is taken away from him. Thus Christ triumphed over the devil, and on the Cross He completely vanquished him: “Now is the judgment of this world; now shall the prince of this world (that is, the devil) be cast out” [Jn 12:31]. To make this triumph complete, Christ wished to deprive the devil of the seat of his kingdom and to imprison him in his own house—which is the underworld. Christ, therefore, descended there, and despoiled the devil of everything and bound him, taking away his prey: “And despoiling the principalities and powers, He hath exposed them confidently in open show, triumphing over them in Himself” [Col 2:15]. Likewise, Christ who had received the power and possession of heaven and earth, desired too the possession of the underworld, as says the Apostle: “That in the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those that are in heaven, on earth, and under the earth”(Phil 2:10).

8. Among the spiritual benefits derived from this truth of faith, St. Thomas also lists this: “Christ descended into hell to free his friends, so we too must descend to help ours. They can do nothing, and therefore we must help those in Purgatory. It would be truly heartless to fail to help a loved one locked in an earthly prison; much more heartless, then, is he who does not help a friend in Purgatory, since there is no comparison between those pains and temporal pains.”

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to write all this.

I wish you a peaceful and holy Christmas. I bless you and remember you in my prayers.

Father Angelo

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