The Day the Graves Opened: What I Never Bothered to Ask About

By Keith Abell, RPh MI | Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam

Let me be honest with you for a minute.

I've been Catholic my whole life. I've sat in Mass more times than I could ever count. I've said the Apostles' Creed so many times it flows out of my mouth the way my own phone number does — automatic, reflexive, barely conscious. And somewhere in the middle of all those Masses, all those Creeds, all those Gospel readings, there's a line — actually there are several — that I just... floated right past.

Maybe you've done the same thing.

Here's the Gospel passage I'm talking about. It's Matthew 27:52-53, and it shows up in the Passion narrative that gets proclaimed every Palm Sunday. You've heard it. I've heard it. We've both probably nodded along and then started thinking about where we were going for lunch.

"The tombs were opened, and the bodies of many saints who had fallen asleep were raised. And coming forth from their tombs after his resurrection, they entered the holy city and appeared to many."

Did you catch that? Dead people. Walking out of their tombs. In Jerusalem. On the day Christ died and rose.

I've heard that reading proclaimed out loud at Mass my entire life and I never once stopped to ask — wait, what? Who were these people? Where did they go? Why does Matthew mention it so matter of factly and then just... move on? And what on earth does that have to do with the Creed I say every Sunday?

That's what we're going to dig into today. And here's what surprised me most when I started digging — this isn't some new theological idea cooked up in a modern Catholic catechism. The earliest Christians — men who walked with the Apostles or learned directly from those who did — were writing about this within decades of the resurrection itself. This is as old as the faith gets.

I think by the end of this you're going to look at the Passion narrative — and that Creed — very differently.

First — What Actually Happened?

Matthew is the only one of the four evangelists who records this event. That alone should make us stop and pay attention. This isn't a minor detail he threw in. He's describing something extraordinary — dead holy people physically rising from their graves and walking into Jerusalem appearing to multiple witnesses.

The Church has never said this is symbolic or poetic. This is recorded as historical fact in the inspired Word of God. It happened.

A few details in the text are worth slowing down for:

The tombs opened at the moment of Christ's death. But the saints didn't come out until after His resurrection. Matthew is precise about this. There's a sequence here that matters — the death of Christ broke the power of death, but the resurrection of Christ is what actually pulled these holy ones out. He's the first. They follow.

They appeared to many in Jerusalem — not just one or two people having a private vision. Multiple witnesses. Multiple appearances. This was meant to be seen.

So Who Were These Saints?

Scripture doesn't name them. And honestly, that's okay — because the who matters less than the why.

The most widely held understanding among the Church's greatest theologians is that these were the righteous souls of the Old Testament. The patriarchs. The prophets. The holy men and women who had lived and died trusting in a Messiah they hadn't yet seen. People like Abraham, Moses, Isaiah, and the countless faithful Jews who had kept the covenant and died waiting for God to keep His promises.

They had been dwelling in what Scripture calls Sheol — the realm of the dead. Not hell as in eternal damnation. Think of it more like a waiting room. A place where the righteous dead waited for the redemption God had promised them.

And on Good Friday — that waiting was over.

Now Here's Where the Creed Comes In

You've said it hundreds of times:

"He descended into hell..."

If you grew up anything like me, you probably either glossed over that line or quietly wondered if it was some kind of mistranslation. He descended into hell? That seems... off.

Here's what's actually being said. The word translated as "hell" here is the Latin infernum — and it corresponds to the Hebrew concept of Sheol — that waiting room for the dead we just talked about. The Catechism is crystal clear:

"Jesus did not descend into hell to deliver the damned, nor to destroy the hell of damnation, but to free the just who had gone before him." — CCC 633

So between His death on Good Friday and His resurrection on Easter Sunday, Christ descended into Sheol — into that waiting place — and He personally liberated every righteous soul who had been waiting there. He walked into death's own territory and said — you're coming with me.

And Matthew 27 gives us the visible, historical evidence that He did exactly that. The opening of the tombs. The saints walking out. The appearances in Jerusalem.

The Creed announces the mission. Matthew 27 shows us the first fruits of that mission breaking into the visible world.

But This Isn't a New Idea — Not By a Long Shot

Here's what really stopped me cold when I started researching this. Before I even got to the medieval theologians or modern Catholic catechisms — I ran straight into the earliest Christian writers. Men who were one or two generations removed from the Apostles themselves. And they were already writing about this — clearly, confidently, and in detail.

This isn't something the Church invented later. This is what Christians believed from the very beginning.

Ignatius of Antioch — Died Around 107 AD

In his Letter to the Magnesians he wrote that the Old Testament prophets "lived according to Jesus Christ" and that Christ raised them from the dead when He came.

St. Justin Martyr — Died Around 165 AD

In his Dialogue with Trypho, Justin directly addresses the descent of Christ into Sheol and argues from the Old Testament that this was foretold in Scripture.

St. Irenaeus of Lyons — Died Around 202 AD

In Against Heresies, Irenaeus wrote that Christ "descended into the regions beneath the earth, preaching His advent there also, and the remission of sins received by those who believe in Him."

Tertullian, Origen, St. Cyril of Alexandria, and St. John Chrysostom

All of these early Fathers wrote powerfully about the Harrowing of Hell, connecting it to Matthew 27 and the Old Testament prophecies. St. John Chrysostom’s Easter Homily remains one of the most stirring victory proclamations in Christian history.

What Did God Say Was Coming? The Old Testament Connections

God had been announcing this moment for centuries:

Zechariah 9:11 — “By the blood of your covenant with me, I will release your prisoners from the waterless pit.”
Psalm 16:10 — “For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol...”
Isaiah 42:7 & 49:9 — Commands to bring prisoners out of darkness and dungeons.
Daniel 12:2 — “Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake...”
Ezekiel 37 — The valley of dry bones coming to life.
Hosea 13:14 — “From the power of Sheol I will redeem them... Where is your sting, O death?”

Putting It All Together

The Old Testament pointed to it. Matthew recorded it. The earliest Church Fathers proclaimed it. And it’s right there in the Creed we say every Sunday.

What Does All of This Mean For You and Me?

We are cradle Catholics. We received this faith as a gift. But familiarity can lead to autopilot. Don’t let the greatest story ever told become background noise.

God kept every single promise He ever made.

A Prayer Before You Go

Lord Jesus,

You descended into the darkness so that no one who trusted in You would be left behind. You kept every promise — to Abraham, to David, to Isaiah — to every soul that ever cried out to You from the depths.

Forgive us for sleepwalking through the faith we were given. Forgive us for saying Your truth with our lips while our hearts were somewhere else.

Open our eyes — the way You opened those tombs — to the magnitude of what You have done for us. Help us to hear the Creed not as a formula but as a victory cry. Help us to sit in Mass not out of habit but out of awe.

And when we stand before You at the end of our lives — may we be found among those who not only received the faith, but actually lived it.

Mary, Mother of the Church — pray for us.
Blessed Thomas Abell — pray for us.

Amen.

Your Challenge This Week

The next time you're at Mass don't go on autopilot.

When you say the Creed, slow down at “He descended into hell.” Let those four words hit you the way they should. Remember what they mean. Remember Zechariah. Remember Isaiah. Remember the tombs opening in Jerusalem. Remember Ignatius and Justin and Irenaeus who proclaimed this truth at the cost of their lives.

And then ask yourself honestly:

Do I actually know the faith I was born into — or have I just been going through the motions?

If This Post Helped You — Here's How You Can Help Back

If this opened your eyes to something you've been saying your whole life without really hearing it — don't keep it to yourself.

You almost certainly know another cradle Catholic who needs to read this. A family member. A friend. Someone who drifted away. Someone who is getting hammered with questions from a non-Catholic and doesn't know how to answer.

Here's what you can do right now:

Like this post so more people find it
Share it — on Facebook, in a text message, in your Catholic small group, with your kids
Subscribe to BornCatholic.com so you never miss a post
Drop a comment below — especially if you have questions, your own story, or yes — your own Baptist brother-in-law experience

Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam.

— Keith

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