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

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