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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PARACLETE

A title of the Holy Spirit. Christ was and remains the first advocate. When he was to leave earth in visible form, he promised "another Paraclete" so that his followers would not be orphans. That Paraclete came on Pentecost. He is the advocate of the Mystical Body, pleading God's cause for the human family, keeping the Church from error, sanctifying souls through the preaching of God's word and through the sacraments. The Holy Spirit, whose function is to teach, bear witness, and "to convince the world of sin," is the love of God producing the effects of divine grace on earth, and appropriated to the third Person of the Trinity. (Etym. Greek Greek para-, beside + kalein, to call: parakletos, advocate.)