use he enjoyed Christ's Godhead just as the
other saints did.
_______________________

FIFTH ARTICLE [III, Q. 52, Art. 5]

Whether Christ Descending into Hell Delivered the Holy Fathers from
Thence?

Objection 1: It would seem that Christ descending into hell did not
deliver the holy Fathers from thence. For Augustine (Epist. ad Evod.
clxiv) says: "I have not yet discovered what Christ descending into
hell bestowed upon those righteous ones who were in Abraham's bosom,
from whom I fail to see that He ever departed according to the
beatific presence of His Godhead." But had He delivered them, He
would have bestowed much upon them. Therefore it does not appear that
Christ delivered the holy Fathers from hell.

Obj. 2: Further, no one is detained in hell except on account of sin.
But during life the holy Fathers were justified from sin through
faith in Christ. Consequently they did not need to be delivered from
hell on Christ's descent thither.

Obj. 3: Further, if you remove the cause, you remove the effect. But
that Christ went down into hell was due to sin which was taken away
by the Passion, as stated above (Q. 49, A. 1). Consequently, the holy
Fathers were not delivered on Christ's descent into hell.

_On the contrary,_ Augustine says in the sermon on the Passion
already quoted that when Christ descended into hell "He broke down
the gate and 'iron bars' of hell, setting at liberty all the
righteous who were held fast through original sin."

_I answer that,_ As stated above (A. 4, ad 2), when Christ descended
into hell He worked through the power of His Passion. But through
Christ's Passion the human race was delivered not only from sin, but
also from the debt of its penalty, as stated above (Q. 49, AA. 1, 3).
Now men were held fast by the debt of punishment in two ways: first
of all for actual sin which each had committed personally: secondly,
for the sin of the whole human race, which each one in his origin
contracts from our first parent, as stated in Rom. 5 of which sin the
penalty is the death of the body as well as exclusion from glory, as
is evident from Gen. 2 and 3: because God cast out man from paradise
after sin, having beforehand threatened him with death should he sin.
Consequently, when Christ descended into hell, by the power of His
Passion He delivered the saints from the penalty whereby they were
excluded from the life of glory, so as to be unable to see God in His
Essence, wherein man's beat