Lucifer

Lucifer(Hebrew helel; Septuagint heosphoros, Vulgate lucifer)The name Lucifer originally denotes the planet Venus, emphasizing its brilliance. The Vulgate employs the word also for "the light of the morning" (Job 11:17), "the signs of the zodiac" (Job 38:32), 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 (Ecclesiasticus 50:6), for his surpassing virtue, to the glory of heaven (Apocalypse 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).LUCIFER shining one, i.e. the morning star, as explained by the following words 'son of dawn,' Is 14:12). - The word is applied by the writer of the prophecy to the King of Babylon, partly in reference to the astrology for which Chaldaea was famous in ancient times, partly to the prevailing belief in the deification of heroes. The king of Babylon had complacently looked forward to the time when he would ascend into heaven and exalt his throne above the stars of God. But in reality his dead body would be treated with the utmost contempt. ''a carcass trodden under foot', while his soul would descend into Sheol, and there receive but an empty honour from the shades, astounded that the great and mighty king could become like one of themselves.