Gender of the Holy Spirit?

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Is there a consensus in Catholicism about the gender of the Holy Spirit? Wikipedia says that in English liturgy, the gender is male. However, apparently the Holy See says to use the traditional gender of each language. I’m used to seeing the Holy Spirit referred to as it.

Thanks
 
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None of the persons of the Trinity have a gender.
We refer to God as Father because He is referred to as such throughout the Bible.
We refer to Jesus as a man, because He took on flesh as a man in the Incarnation.

Thus, while it’s not prescribed that the HS has a gender, over time He had been referred to as male since the other two persons of the Trinity are referred to as such.
 
Thank you, Maximilian75. I notice you capitalize He when referring to God. I was just told in another thread that capitalization of pronouns referring to God is primarily a Protestant convention. What’s your experience from reading Catholic literature?

Thanks
 
Jesus refers to the Holy Spirit as male, just as He does His Father. Technically, God has no gender but if the Son of God assigns a gender then it is so.

John 15:26

New International Version
"When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father–the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father–he will testify about me.

New Living Translation
"But I will send you the Advocate–the Spirit of truth. He will come to you from the Father and will testify all about me.

English Standard Version
“But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me.
 
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Also confer John 14: 16-17 and John 14: 26 where Jesus refers to the Holy Spirit as ‘him’ and ‘he’ which in response to the OP is preferable to ‘it’ because (1) Jesus expressed it this way and we only know the Trinity by divine revelation and (2) the Holy Spirit is a person which the word ‘it’ does not necessarily signify.
 
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I feel compelled to add that in the original Greek manuscripts, the Holy Spirit is referred to as τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον, which is gramatically neuter.
 
I do not know the Protestant practice because I am not a Protestant. But my personal experience in reading Catholic literature is that most writers capitalize the pronouns that refer to God. In the past they also capitalize the H for heaven, but not the h for hell. Some Catholic writers don’t follow this practice anymore, but I still do. I also capitalize C for Church (which refers to the People of God), but not for church (which refers to the building or structure). I capitalize C for Catholic, just as I capitalize P for Protestant.
 
This is just my opinion

But I’ve always pictured the Holy Spirit as either a ghost or bird

Who is very sarcastic with a great sense of humor

Idk why but it’s always helped me take liking to Him and remember him more

He is left out of the picture a lot so he’s quite humble
 
No Gender. Otherwise it would be saying His divinity was “not perfect”, still needing complimentarity.

We have genders because we need compiimentarity, completing.
 
Isn’t there reference in the OT to Wisdom as feminine?

Wisdom 1:6: For wisdom is a kinly spirit, yet she aquites not the blasphemer of his guilty lips; Because God is the witness of his inmost self and the sure observer of his heart and the listener to his tongue.

Wisdom 6:23: Now what Wisdome is, and how she came to be, I shall relate…

Is Wisdom as referred to considered a foreshadowing of the Holy Spirit?
 
Until very recently, “he” was the default third person singular pronoun in the English language. Nowadays that isn’t seen as politically correct, so the word “it” is often used instead. However, since the Holy Spirit is a person and not an animal or something, “he” seems like a better option than “it.” Trying to describe indescribable things is definitely a challenge.
 
sko said:
I feel compelled to add that in the original Greek manuscripts, the Holy Spirit is referred to as τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον, which is gramatically neuter.
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This is true. ‘Spirit’ in greek transliterated ‘pneuma’ is neuter. In the hebrew Old Testament, I believe spirit is ‘ruah’ which is feminine. Jesus also calls the Holy Spirit, the Counselor, Helper, Comforter, Advocate which in the greek text is ‘Parakletos’ which is a masculine singular noun. Also, in John 14:26, ‘he will teach you all things’, ‘he’ in the greek text, ekeinos, is a demonstrative pronoun in the masculine singular. ‘Ekeinos’ is also used in John 15:26: ‘He will bear witness’; 16:8; 16: 13-14; 16:7 ‘I will send Him (auton) to you’, is a personal/possessive pronoun - accusative masculine third person singular; 16:13 "He will speak not from/for himself (greek heautou)’, reflexive pronoun - masculine. (Source of greek NT text: BibleHub.com)

I’m not saying the Holy Spirit is of male gender because the CCC says that God is neither man or woman but transcends male/female gender identity, ‘He is God’. At the same time, John quotes Jesus as using masculine pronouns for the Holy Spirit as well as the name ‘Paraclete’ which is masculine in greek. The Holy Spirit is a person and not just some kind of force or something of that nature so this usage of Jesus in John’s gospel is meant to portray that I believe, i.e, that the Holy Spirit is a divine person.
 
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In the Syriac tradition, from which we get the Maronites, Chaldean Catholics, and Syriac Catholics, the Holy Spirit is often referred to as “she” and is portrayed as playing a strong motherly role. This is, in part, because the Syriac word for “spirit” is a “feminine” word. But such great saints as Ephrem (a Doctor of the Church) and Jacob of Sarug sure seemed to enjoy playing up the feminine qualities of the Spirit (as well as that of the Father for that matter).
 
resolute said:
I have heard Catholic theologians refer to the Holy Spirit as the mystical spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary. So I say male because every Catholic notion of marriage is between a male and a female.
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Those sort of weak arguments never go very far.

Just recall that Mary is a symbol of the Church.
The Church is also the bride of Christ.
See what I mean?
 
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The Holy Spirit is definitely not an “it”. He is a person. But he is not a man or a woman. Here is the relevant portion of the Catechism:
CCC 239 We ought therefore to recall that God transcends the human distinction between the sexes. He is neither man nor woman: he is God.
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But since the Church and the Bible uses masculine pronouns for all the persons of the Trinity, that’s what I use.
 
Interesting. I’d just like to add some further reflections in this vein. St Ephrem also had a great devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary and sang her praises. We consider Mary to be the Mother of the Church and the spouse of the Holy Spirit in the incarnation of Jesus, the eternal Son of God, and we call Mary the Mother of God. The Holy Spirit and Mary are intimately united. In this connection, the theological reflections of St Maximillian Kolbe are very interesting. This saint considered the Holy Spirit as a divine maternity of love in the bosom of the Holy Trinity. Human motherly love is analogous or a created reflection of the very person of the Holy Spirit who is also called Love. The Blessed Virgin Mary is the pinnacle of created motherly love and manifestation of the person of the Holy Spirit. In the words of St Maximillian, Mary is a quasi-incarnation of the Holy Spirit. Of course, the Holy Spirit is not the mother of God the Son whom the Father alone begot. But the Love which proceeds from the Father and the Son and which they have for each other and which is personified in the Holy Spirit, according to St Maximillian’s reflections, is infinitely tender and maternal like, expressed in creation by human motherly love and especially so by the person of Mary.
 
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