dark night of the soul
dark night of the soul noun: a period of time in which a holy person (someone believed to be potentially on their way to sainthood) experiences a seeming withdrawal of God's previously-felt presence in their lives, and undergoes stark spiritual attacks. This period of time is seen (by Catholics) to be a period in which God is calling the holy person to rid themselves of any remaining vestiges of self-pride and vanity that they may have.
Noun
dark night of the soul (plural dark nights of the soul)
- a period of time in which a holy person (someone believed to be potentially on their way to sainthood) experiences a seeming withdrawal of God's previously-felt presence in their lives, and undergoes stark spiritual attacks. This period of time is seen (by Catholics) to be a period in which God is calling the holy person to rid themselves of any remaining vestiges of self-pride and vanity that they may have.
- Your dear friend ought to take heart. From what you have told me, it is quite likely that they are going through a dark night of the soul.
- Synonyms:
- dark night
Synonyms of dark night of the soul
Forms of dark night of the soul
| plural | dark nights of the soul |
|---|
Origin of dark night of the soul
Coined by John of the Cross.
Questions about dark night of the soul
- What does dark night of the soul mean?
- Dark night of the soul means a period of time in which a holy person (someone believed to be potentially on their way to sainthood) experiences a seeming withdrawal of God's previously-felt presence in their lives, and undergoes stark spiritual attacks. This period of time is seen (by Catholics) to be a period in which God is calling the holy person to rid themselves of any remaining vestiges of self-pride and vanity that they may have.
- What part of speech is dark night of the soul?
- Dark night of the soul is a noun.
- What is the plural of dark night of the soul?
- The plural of dark night of the soul is dark nights of the soul.
Words near dark night of the soul in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: dark night of the soul (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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