According to the Catholic Church, are Adam and Eve in heaven?

Question

According to this site

As we have said elsewhere, Adam and Eve are not called saints in ordinary reference, historical or scriptural. But they may be called saints on their feast day, which is the vigil of Christmas, because we know from sound Catholic tradition that they repented of their great sin, lived lives of holiness and are now in Heaven.

What Catholic tradition speaks of them to be in heaven?

I’ve read (and since I cannot remember where, there is no reason to put any credence to the following statement:) that Adam and Eve will stay in Purgatory until the final soul is purified.

Answer 1

What Catholic tradition speaks of them to be in heaven?

This is the doctrine known as the Harrowing of Hell. It says that, after his crucifixion, Jesus descended to the realm of the dead, in order to bring forth the righteous who had died into the Resurrection life. "He descended into Hell," as the Apostles' Creed says.

The doctrine is that the righteous were freed by his Resurrection, and "opened heaven's gates for the just who had gone before him" (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 637).

There is an ancient homily for Holy Saturday (quoted in the Catechism) that mentions Adam and Eve by name:

Today a great silence reigns on earth, a great silence and a great stillness. A great silence because the King is asleep. the earth trembled and is still because God has fallen asleep in the flesh and he has raised up all who have slept ever since the world began... He has gone to search for Adam, our first father, as for a lost sheep. Greatly desiring to visit those who live in darkness and in the shadow of death, he has gone to free from sorrow Adam in his bonds and Eve, captive with him - He who is both their God and the son of Eve... "I am your God, who for your sake have become your son... I order you, O sleeper, to awake. I did not create you to be a prisoner in hell. Rise from the dead, for I am the life of the dead."

This is also a theme in religious art. For example, Bartolomeo Bertejo's painting Christ leads the patriarchs from Hell to Paradise (downloaded from Wikimedia Commons).

Answer 2

Sancti Ada et Eva, orate pro nobis.

According to the Catholic Church, Adam and Eve are in heaven and considered saints?

It is true that there are no feast days for Old Testament saints in the Church's universal calendar.

In the beginning, only martyrs for Christ were honored on the anniversary of their deaths. Soon, feast days for our Blessed Mother began to be observed. This gradual process of development in no way implied we should not ask Old Testament saints to intercede for us.

In fact, the Church does in various ways venerate and ask for the intercession of Old Testament saints.

In 1600 a liturgical book, the Roman Martyrology, listed all the saints whom the Church had officially recognized up to that point. This listing includes large numbers of saints who do not appear in the Church's general calendar.

The Roman Martyrology remembers, among others, the following Old Testament saints: the prophet Habakkuk (Jan. 15); Isaiah (July 6); Daniel and Elias/Elijah (July 20 and 21); the seven Maccabees and their mother (Aug. 17); Abraham (Oct. 9); and King David (Dec. 29).

Meanwhile, in the litanies of the saints we invoke the prayers of "all holy patriarchs and prophets," who are of course Old Testament saints. - Old Testament Saints?

The feast of Adam and Eve is December 24!

As we have said elsewhere, Adam and Eve are not called saints in ordinary reference, historical or scriptural. But they may be called saints on their feast day, which is the vigil of Christmas, because we know from sound Catholic tradition that they repented of their great sin, lived lives of holiness and are now in Heaven. Adam is the father of the human race. Eve, his wife, was formed from Adam’s body. All of us have descended from these two. Adam was created in a state of paradisal innocence, with no human frailties or weaknesses. Adam sinned by disobeying the command of God not to eat a forbidden fruit. The whole human race inherited original sin because of Adam. Adam personally repented. Adam lived for 930 years. By his sorrow, his contrition, his pleading and his love, Adam finally won God’s full forgiveness for himself. Adam died and went to the Limbo of the Just, which is called “hell” in the Apostles’ Creed. This was not the hell of the damned. It was the place where the Just had to wait for the coming of Christ.... Adam’s feast is the vigil of Christmas, which is also the feast of Eve, his wife, who is with him in Heaven. - Saint Adam and Saint Eve (First Age of the world)

Adam the Patriarch is one of the patron saints of gardeners and tailors.

Eve the Matriarch is one of the Patron saints of tailors also.

Adam and Eve by Albrecht Curer

Adam and Eve's Feastday is Christmas Eve (December 24)

All Holy Ancestors of Christ, pray for us.