Lucifer
(Hebrew helel; Septuagint heosphoros, Vulgate lucifer)
The name Lucifer originally denotes the planet Venus,
emphasizing its brilliancy. The Vulgate employs the
word also for "the light of the morning" (Job 50:17),
"the signs of the zodiac" (Job, xxxviiii, 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 (Ecclus. 50:6), for his
surpassing virtue, to the glory of heaven (Apoc.,
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).
A. J. MAAS Transcribed by Tomas Hancil
[New Advent Catholic Website]
http://www.knight.org/advent
From the Catholic Encyclopedia, copyright � 1913 by the
Encyclopedia Press, Inc. Electronic version copyright �
1996 by New Advent, Inc., P.O. Box 281096, Denver,
Colorado, USA, 80228. (
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