O you spirits and souls of the righteous, bless you the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever.
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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 t...
But there are many also who while still living in this body are dead and incapable of praising God while lying in the grave. However, there are others of us who, although dead in the body, bless and praise God in the spirit, according to the words of the text, “Bless the Lord, spirits and souls of the righteous,” and “Let every living spirit praise the Lord.” And in the Apocalypse it is said that the spirits of those who have been killed not only praise God but also speak directly with him. - "Conferences 1.1.14"
spirits and souls: On account of these words, certain
people maintained that the spirit in man is one element and the soul another, thus positing two souls in man, that is, one which animates the body and another which carries on the function of reasoning. These opinions are rejected in the Church’s teaching. For it should be realized that these two elements
[which are really one] do not differ essentially, but only by reason of the powers present in them. There are certain powers in our soul which are linked to bodily organs, such as the powers of the sensitive part of the soul. And there are other powers which are not linked to bodily organs, but function apart from the body, insofar as they are the powers of the intellectual part of the soul. The latter powers are regarded as spiritual powers in that they are immaterial and separated in some manner from the body in that they are not functions of the body but are referred to as the mind. “Be renewed in the spirit of your minds” E...
