Holy Saturday and the Harrowing of Hell, by Hunter Leonard

By Hunter Leonard, Crisis Magazine, April 16, 2022

Hunter Leonard is a passionate Catholic with an intense love for learning about and sharing the Faith. He holds an M.A. in Theology from the Augustine Institute and a B.A. in English from California State University at Northridge. …

Between the horrors of Good Friday and the glorious brilliance of Easter Sunday, there is the mysterious and often-overlooked day of silence and stillness known as Holy Saturday.

Far from being a simple day of passive waiting, or a day of inaction and unimportance, this holy day marks the remembrance of one of the shocking and central mysteries of the life of Christ—His descent into Hell.

One ancient homily expertly expresses the solemn nature of this holy day: “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.” Even in His death, the Lord obeys the commandments. Jesus keeps holy the Sabbath as His body lays resting in the tomb the morning following His bloody crucifixion and death. …