Does an onion have a soul?

[Jean_S]

I was encouraged to read Frank Sheed’s Theology for Beginners after listening to “Catholic Answers Live.” The author states that every living body has a soul including animals and vegetables. As a child I was taught that the soul was what your sins stained. Mr. Sheed says that it animates the body. What is the purpose of the soul in a non-human? Does it mean that the soul is what makes an onion turn its leaves toward the sun? Is this what animating the body means?

 

[Michelle_Arnold]

Yes, an onion has a soul, as do all plants and animals. Plants have vegetative souls. In a non-human, such as an onion for example, a soul is what makes it what it is. An onion’s soul makes it an onion and not a rutabaga. Because plant and animal souls are not spiritual souls (like those of humans and angels), the plant or animal soul ceases to exist when the plant or animal dies. Because the soul is what animates the plant or animal (i.e., keeps it alive and growing), when the plant or animal dies its form breaks down. Humans have bodies that break down too when they die, but because their soul is spiritual and not material, their soul lives on after death.