Catholic Dictionary

Find accurate definitions of over 5,000 Catholic terms and phrases (including abbreviations). Based on Fr. John Hardon's Modern Catholic Dictionary, © Eternal Life. Used with permission.

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MAN

Latin homo, a human being, as distinct from vir, a male person. The term homo has no perfect English equivalent, but it is part of the Church's official vocabulary and occurs in every major document of the Catholic Church. A living substance, composed of a material body that dies and a spiritual soul that is immortal. Creature made by God to his image and likeness, to praise, reverence, and serve him in this life and thereby attain the eternal possession of God in the life to come. In philosophical terms, "man" is a rational animal, and collectively is the human species or the human race. (Etym. Anglo-Saxon man, a person.)