Lucifer
A.J.
MAAS
Transcribed by Tomas Hancil
(Hebrew helel; Septuagint heosphoros, Vulgate
lucifer)
The name Lucifer originally denotes the planet Venus, emphasizing its
brilliance. The Vulgate employs the word also for "the light of the morning"
(Job 50:17), "the signs of the zodiac" (Job 38:32), and "the aurora" (Psalm
109:3). Metaphorically, the word is applied to the King of Babylon (Isaiah
14:12) as preeminent among the princes of his time; to the high priest Simon
son of Onias (Ecclesiasticus 50:6), for his surpassing virtue, to the glory
of heaven (Apocalypse 2:28), by reason of its excellency; finally to Jesus
Christ himself (II Petr. 1:19; Apocalypse 22:16; the "Exultet" of Holy
Saturday) the true light of our spiritual life. The Syriac version and the
version of Aquila derive the Hebrew noun helel from the verb yalal, "to
lament"; St. Jerome agrees with them (In Isaiah 1:14), and makes Lucifer the
name of the principal fallen angel who must lament the loss of his original
glory bright as the morning star. In Christian tradition this meaning of
Lucifer has prevailed; the Fathers maintain that Lucifer is not the proper
name of the devil, but denotes only the state from which he has fallen (Petavius,
De Angelis, III, iii, 4). (v)
Resource List - entry taken verbatim from the
original source:
(v)
http://www.newadvent.org/ The Catholic
Encyclopedia, Volume II. Copyright © 1907 by Robert Appleton Company.
Online Edition Copyright © 2003 by Kevin Knight. Imprimatur. +John
M. Farley, Archbishop of New York
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