Holy Saturday is a very quiet time in the church. There is no mass celebrated anywhere in the world. No sacraments are celebrated (except in danger of death). Catholic churches, for one day of the year, sit quite. Jesus lays in the tomb. To the world, he is dead. But tradition holds that Jesus is very much at work.

The Harrowing of Hell is the period of time between the death of Jesus on the cross at around 3pm on Good Friday and his resurrection sometime during the night on Sunday morning. Before Christ, everyone in the world is subject to death due to the disobedience of Adam and Evil that brought death into the world. Jesus was was able to redeem humanity by the sacrifice of himself. Jesus tells us that all who die to themselves and are buried in Christ by baptism and following his teachings will also find redemption in him as his friends at their death and rise on the last day.

On Good Friday when Jesus dies on the Cross, Christ triumphantly descends into death and tradition tells us he brought salvation to the dead held captive there since the beginning of the world.

There’s nothing explicit in the Bible about it. It’s inferred from a few passages (primarily 1 Peter 4:6 and parts of Ephesians 4) that Jesus descended into “Sheol” or “Hell” or “Hades”. Matthew tells us in Chapter 27 that right after Jesus’ death that:

⁵⁰Jesus cried out again in a loud voice, and gave up his spirit. ⁵¹ And behold, the veil of the sanctuary was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth quaked, rocks were split, ⁵² tombs were opened, and the bodies of many saints who had fallen asleep were raised. ⁵³ And coming forth from their tombs after his resurrection, they entered the holy city and appeared to many.

While some might say it is “just tradition” and can be discarded, the Bible itself is a product of tradition and should not be considered a sole or separate source of authority—though we may regard it as the most important product of tradition. After all, most of the bible after the gospels are writings and traditions of the earliest Christians – including the apostles.