O felix culpa, quae talem ac tantum meruit habere Redemptorem [O happy fault, which has deserved to have such and so mighty a Redeemer].

The Latin exclamation “O felix culpa” (“O happy fault”) is a celebrated line from the Catholic liturgy’s Easter Vigil, sung in the Exsultet (Easter Proclamation). It reflects early Christian theological reflection on the Fall of Adam and Eve: although sin is a catastrophe, it becomes the occasion for the Incarnation and Redemption in Christ. The wording is transmitted through the medieval liturgical tradition and is not attributable to a single identifiable author, hence its frequent listing as “anonymous” or “liturgical.” The phrase became a touchstone in Western theology and literature, often invoked to express the paradox that God can draw a greater good from human wrongdoing.

The line expresses a paradox at the heart of Christian soteriology: the “fault” (the Fall) is not good in itself, yet it is called “happy” because it “merited” (i.e., occasioned) so great a Redeemer. The emphasis is on the magnitude of divine mercy and the superabundance of grace—redemption is portrayed as so magnificent that it transforms the narrative of disaster into one of providential triumph. In later usage, “felix culpa” becomes a broader metaphor for unintended benefits arising from error, but in its liturgical setting it remains a doxological claim about salvation history rather than a moral endorsement of sin.

1) “O felix culpa, quae talem ac tantum meruit habere Redemptorem.”
2) “O certe necessarium Adae peccatum, quod Christi morte deletum est! O felix culpa…”
3) English liturgical rendering: “O happy fault that earned for us so great, so glorious a Redeemer!”