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Immaculate Conception |
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Pope Pius IX on December 8, 1854, solemnly defined as a dogma of Catholic faith Mary’s Immaculate Conception in the womb of her own mother, St. Ann. The precise words of the definition found in the apostolic constitution Ineffabilis Deus are these: “We declare, pronounce and define that the doctrine which holds that the most Blessed Virgin Mary, in the first instant of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege granted by almighty God in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, the Savior of the human race, was preserved free from all stain of original sin, is a doctrine revealed by God and therefore to be believed firmly and constantly by all the faithful” (Denzinger-Schönmetzer, 2803). A number of important revealed truths are taught in this definition. One that the subject of Mary’s preservation from original sin is the person of the Blessed Virgin, that is, her body and soul substantially united, and not her soul alone. This took place at the very beginning of her human conception, the initial instant of her existence as a human person or an embodied soul within her mother’s womb. Another revealed truth is that she is the only human person (her Son is a Divine Person) to have been conceived immaculately in the entire course of salvation history. Third, Mary is truly redeemed by her Son by a unique kind of redemption, usually called “preservative,” whereby she was kept free from all sin, both original and actual, or personal. Finally, as a consequence, although a daughter of Adam – that is, a member of our fallen human race – she was in no way contaminated by any effect of Adam’s sin. The main reason for Mary’s unique privilege of the Immaculate Conception given in Pius IX’s apostolic constitution is that she was predestined by the Divine Persons of the Trinity to be the Theotokos (God-Bearer), or Mother of the Word (second Person) incarnate, that is, made flesh. Out of reverence for his infinite holiness, it was most fitting that he became hypostatically (personally) united with a human nature in the womb of a woman who was never infected by even the slightest sin: neither original sin (which would have made her a part of the human race’s corporate alienation from God) nor personal, or actual, sin, even though venial (which would have impeded her love of God and neighbor). This theological reasoning applies Vatican Council II’s teaching about the “hierarchy of truths” (cf. Decree on Ecumenism, Unitatis Redintegratio, 11) by showing the connection between the dogma of the Immaculate Conception and the primary truths of Christian faith, namely, the Blessed Trinity, the Incarnation, and the redemption (cf. Unitatis Redintegratio, 12). Since 1854 there have been several reaffirmations of this dogma by the Magisterium. Pope St. Pius X issued an encyclical, Ad Diem Illum (1904), on the fiftieth anniversary of its definition. Pope Pius XII, in his encyclical Fulgens Corona (1953), repeated the entire dogmatic formula on the eve of its centenary, while declaring 1954 a Marian year in the Roman Catholic Church worldwide. He also recalled that Mary introduced herself to Bernadette of Lourdes with the words “I am the Immaculate Conception”; these apparitions occurred in 1858, just a few years after the definition of the dogma. Pius XII also related it to the dogma of Mary’s Assumption, which he had solemnly defined in 1950. In the Mariological teaching of Vatican II, the references to Mary’s Immaculate Conception are found in the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Lumen Gentium: “the Immaculate Virgin preserved free from all stain of original sin” (59) and “Enriched from the first instant of her conception with the splendor of an entirely unique holiness” (56). Development of the Dogma • Although there is no explicit revelation of the Immaculate Conception in the Bible, the following are the principal scriptural texts used to support the dogma: “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel” (Gn 3:15); “and she [Elizabeth] exclaimed with a loud cry, ‘Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb!’ ” (Lk 1:42); “And he [Gabriel] came to her and said ‘Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you’ ” (Lk 1:28). In Ineffabilis Deus Pius IX uses these three texts as the biblical basis for defining the Immaculate Conception to be a “doctrine revealed by God.” Just how the dogma gradually grew out of such roots in the inspired word of God depends upon a theological theory of development. This tries to explain the various factors in the Tradition that seemed to help make clear and explicit the divine “insinuations,” or suggestions, of the biblical revelation. Noting that the earliest image of Mary after the New Testament is the “new Eve,” which portrays her as most closely associated with her Son, the “new Adam” (cf. Rom 5:12-21), in re-creating the fallen human race by his redemptive activity, Cardinal Newman says this implies the Immaculate Conception as well as Mary’s glorious Assumption. His total victory over sin and death, symbolized by the “serpent-devil” in Genesis 3:15 (the protoevangelium, or first announcement of the Good News of salvation, immediately after the Fall), is most fittingly shared completely with Mary. If she had been infected by original sin, even for a single instant, it would have diminished the perfection of her Son’s redemptive activity, since his own Mother would have come under the dominion of Satan. While most of the Eastern and Western Fathers of the Church taught that Mary was always free from any personal sin, even the slightest, it is not clear whether they intended to exempt her from original sin. St. Augustine’s problem in this regard concerned the fact that she was not conceived virginally like her Son, but naturally through the marital act, which Augustine considered the instrument of transmitting original sin from one generation to the next. Augustine’s incomparable authority in the Western Church proved to be a serious deterrent in the development of the dogma over the centuries. Even such outstanding devotees of the Blessed Mother as St. Bernard of Clairvaux and the great Scholastics (among them Sts. Albert the Great, Bonaventure, and Thomas Aquinas) were unable to accept it as a revealed truth of faith. The main difficulty of the thirteenth-century saints and scholars was that it seemed to exempt Mary from being redeemed by her Son, the Savior of the whole world (which included his own Mother). The theological breakthrough came chiefly through John Duns Scotus (1266-1308), who was mainly responsible for introducing the notion of “preservative” redemption into the explicit consciousness of the Church. Yet there still remained another six centuries before the definition of 1854. On February 2, 1849, Pope Pius IX issued an encyclical, Ubi Primum, in which he asked his brother bishops around the world to inform him about what they, their clergy, and faithful believed concerning the Immaculate Conception, and also whether or not these three groups in the universal Church wished it to be defined as a dogma. The response was overwhelmingly positive. Reflecting upon the major influences in the historical development of the Immaculate Conception, it seems that the most significant was the sensus fidelium, the beliefs of the faithful, particularly as celebrated in the liturgical worship of the Church. This witness inspired the gradual extension and elevation of the feast of the Immaculate Conception (December 8) and finally helped create the theological climate in which the difficulties could be discussed and decisively settled. It was only appropriate that the voice of the faithful was heard in the response to Pius IX’s encyclical and clearly set him on course to oversee the final preparations for the 1854 definition. Examination of the dogma’s historical development also reveals many other significant factors, such as the objectivity and impartiality of the Popes during the many centuries of development from the Middle Ages to modern times. Their own personal inclinations were always subordinate to the criteria for determining whether or not the Immaculate Conception is a “doctrine revealed by God and therefore to be believed firmly and constantly by all the faithful.”
See: Assumption of Mary; Development of Doctrine; Divine Revelation; Dogma; Infallibility; Mary, Mother of God; Original Sin; Redemption; Sacred Tradition.
Suggested Readings: CCC 490-493. Vatican Council II, Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Lumen Gentium, Ch. VIII. F. Jelly, O.P., Madonna: Mary in the Catholic Tradition; “Immaculate Conception” in J. Komonchak, M. Collins, D. Lane, eds., The New Dictionary of Theology. M. O’Carroll, C.S.Sp., “The Immaculate Conception” and “Ineffabilis Deus” in Theotokos: A Theological Dictionary of the Blessed Virgin Mary. F.M. Jelly, O.P. |
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