In the theology of the Catholic Church, Limbo (Latin limbus, edge or boundary, referring to the "edge" of Hell) is a speculative idea about the afterlife condition of those who die in Original Sin without being assigned to the Hell of the Damned. Limbo is not an official doctrine of the Catholic Church or any other Christian denomination. Medieval theologians, in western Europe, described the underworld ("hell", "hades", "infernum") as divided into four distinct parts: Hell of the Damned (which some call Gehenna), Purgatory, Limbo of the Fathers or Patriarchs, and Limbo of the Infants.
Read more about Limbo: Limbo of The Patriarchs, Limbo of Infants, In Other Denominations and Religions, In Popular Culture, As A Colloquialism
Famous quotes containing the word limbo:
“Dreams have a poetic integrity and truth. This limbo and dust- hole of thought is presided over by a certain reason, too. Their extravagance from nature is yet within a higher nature.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“Limbo is the place. In Limbo one has natural happiness without the beatific vision; no harps; no communal order; but wine and conversation and imperfect, various humanity. Limbo for the unbaptized, for the pious heathen, the sincere sceptic.”
—Evelyn Waugh (1903–1966)
“He moved with the shades of the dead and the dead-born and the unborn and the never-to-be-born, in a Limbo purged of desire.”
—Samuel Beckett (1906–1989)