QUOTATION: He Descended Into Hell

To make this triumph complete, Christ wished to deprive the devil of the seat of his kingdom and to imprison him in his own house--which is hell. Christ, therefore, descended there, and despoiled the devil of everything and bound him, taking away his prey: "And despoiling the principalities and powers, He hath exposed them confidently in open show, triumphing over them in Himself."

--St. Thomas Aquinas, The Catechetical Instruction of St. Thomas Aquinas