Bible Dictionaries

1910 New Catholic Dictionary

Abel

Second son of Adam, slain by his brother Cain because the latter's oblation was not accepted favorably by God, as Abel's was. For his death in this way he is regarded as a type of Our Saviour. His death symbolizes, too, the bloody sacrifice of the Cross and the unbloody one of the altar. He is mentioned in the Canon of the Mass, and his name holds first place in the Litany for the Dying.