O you spirits and souls of the righteous, bless you the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever.
All Commentaries on Daniel 3:86 Go To Daniel 3
Fulgentius of Ruspe
AD 533
We are not ignorant of the fact that through the grace of God it can happen that many people can be designated with a singular term such as in the passage … “the multitude of the believers had one heart and one soul,” where nevertheless it is spoken of a single soul in order to speak of the souls generally; of the faithful, of course, and not of the impious. The Lord spoke, in fact, to his faithful disciples, of whom he says, “By your perseverance you will save your souls.” Also the blessed Peter says to the faithful, “Believing, you rejoice with ineffable joy and a pervasiveness of glory, in attaining the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.” And in the book of Wisdom it is said, “The souls of the righteous are in the hands of God.” We also know that the blessed apostle said to the Thessalonians that he recognized their election was from God: “May the God of peace perfectly sanctify you in all things; and may all your being: spirit, soul and body be guarded blameless for the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Also in the hymn of the three children, one also reads, “Bless the Lord, spirits and souls of the righteous.” We know through the grace of God that the holy church is designated as a single virgin, since the apostle says, “I have in fact betrothed you to Christ, your only spouse, in order to present you as a pure virgin,” but in that one virgin, a plural number of virgins are also designated. We read, in fact, “Virgins will be introduced to the king, after her.”
