Hello, I'm trying to find out if the doctrine of "felix cupla" is accepted by the Catholic church? the idea is of course that man was allowed to fall of our own freewill, the "happy fall", because in the end with our divine redeemer we have been elevated to a higher level of grace than initially deemed (ie, pre-Fall). thanks Brian

Dear Brian,

The expression "felix culpa" occurs in the liturgy of Holy Saturday. I don't think it means that the death of Christ raised us to a higher level than Adam and Eve. There were created with sanctifying grace. It means that were were restored to grace through the sacrifice of Christ. Christ would not have died for us unless we had already fallen.

Dr. Geraghty

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