Bible Dictionaries
Body, Relation of Soul and

1910 New Catholic Dictionary

The body and the soul of a living material being are incomplete substances which so mutually complete and perfect one another, that there arises from their union one complete substance. In the case of a rational soul, if we except the soul of Christ, the result of this substantial union is a human person. In Christ the human nature consisting of soul and body exists in the Divine Personality of the Word, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity. Pius IX (1857) declared it to be Catholic doctrine that in man "the rational soul is the true, per se, and immediate form of the body"; "per se" indicates, naturally and essentially destined for this union; and "immediate" signifies, with nothing intervening between body and soul. The whole human soul is in the whole body and the whole human soul is in each part of the body. According to its faculties, however, it is in definite parts; e.g., as to seeing, it is only in the eye, and as to hearing, it is only in the ear. At the general resurrection the body will be reunited to the soul (see body, resurrection of).

Bibliography Information
Entry for 'Body, Relation of Soul and'. 1910 New Catholic Dictionary. https://www.studylight.org/​dictionaries/​eng/​ncd/​b/body-relation-of-soul-and.html. 1910.