by Bill Dodds
On the eve of the 150th anniversary of the proclamation of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception, a look at Mary's singular honor.
| In this article: |
 St. Anne, St. Joachim and the Unborn Mary |
| Lessons from the Bible and the Catechism |
| Serious Doubts by Serious Saints |
| St. Bernadette's Contribution |
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  Scour the Old and New Testaments and you'll find no definitive word on Mary's being conceived without the stain of original sin.
Pore over the writings of early Christian theologians known as Church Fathers, or later saints and scholars, and you'll discover a jumble of opinions on the matter, including some that are, well, wrong. So how was it that 149 years ago - on Dec. 8, 1854 - Pope Pius IX made this startling announcement? "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." The fact is Pius IX's proclamation - presented in his apostolic constitution Ineffabilis Deus - wasn't all that startling. Why? Two reasons: the development of doctrine and the sensus fidelium, the "sense of the faithful." In our own time, the Catechism of the Catholic Church uses slightly different words to say just that: "Through the centuries the Church has become ever more aware that Mary, ‘full of grace' through God, was redeemed from the moment of her conception. That is what the dogma of the Immaculate Conception confesses" (491).
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| St. Anne, St. Joachim and the Unborn Mary |  Back to Top |
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| And, in our own time, it could be argued that this truth remains one of the Church's most misunderstood - or misapplied - teachings. Those casually familiar with the term erroneously assume it refers to the Virgin Mary's conceiving Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit. But the Immaculate Conception has to do with the unborn Mary and her parents, St. Anne and St. Joachim.
Church historians point out that a feast called the Conception of Mary - also known as the Conception of St. Anne - began in Palestinian monasteries no later than the seventh century. In fact, at one point the Church celebrated a feast for the conception of Mary and one for the conception of St. John the Baptist but neither had to do with sinlessness.The Marian feast - then celebrated in the East on Dec. 9 - isn't identical with the feast of the Immaculate Conception which, over time, came to be marked on Dec. 8 in the West.
Those same historians note that the Immaculate Conception as we know it now in the West really moved along two tracks at the same time. One was liturgical, as it made its way onto the universal calendar. It was approved by Pope Sixtus IV in 1476 and extended to the entire Church by Pope Pius V in 1568. And the other track was theological, as the Church's greatest minds - and some of its most brilliant saints - worked at figuring out what the "Immaculate Conception" really meant. That's where the development of doctrine comes in. The Church's becoming "ever more aware" through the centuries.
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| Lessons from the Bible and the Catechism | Back to Top |
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| The glossary of the Catechism defines the development of doctrine succinctly. It is a "growth in the understanding of God's revelation, which continues through the contemplation and study of believers, theological research, and the preaching of the Magisterium."
How is that possible? "Thanks to the assistance of the Holy Spirit, the understanding of both the realities and the words of the heritage of the faith is able to grow in the life of the Church" (Catechism, 94). It's the same process that has led to the pronouncement of other dogmas, including the relationships among the three Persons of the Blessed Trinity, and the divine and human natures of Christ. Scripture scholars note that although there's no explicit revelation of the Immaculate Conception in the Bible there are texts that support the dogma: • "I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will strike at your head, while you strike at his heel" (Gen 3:15).• "And coming to her, he [Gabriel] said, 'Hail, favored one! The Lord is with you'" (Luke 1:28). • "[Elizabeth] cried out in a loud voice and said, ‘Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb'" (Luke 1:42). Pope Pius cited all three in Ineffabilis Deus as the biblical basis for defining the Immaculate Conception to be a "doctrine revealed by God."
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| Serious Doubts by Serious Saints | Back to Top |
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| Centuries earlier, based on Scripture, most Eastern and Western Church Fathers had taught that Mary was free from even the slightest personal sin but they were unclear about her being exempt from original sin.
For those who need a refresher course, the glossary of the Catechism provides a basic definition of original sin: "Besides the personal sin of Adam and Eve, original sin describes the fallen state of human nature which affects every person born into the world, and from which Christ, the ‘new Adam,' came to redeem us." Although Church Fathers had called Mary the "new Eve" for her obedience to God's request, some of them and, later, some doctors of the Church (great teacher-saints) weren't about to accept the Immaculate Conception as a revealed truth of the faith. Among those with serious doubts were St. Bernard of Clairvaux (credited with writing the Memorare!), St. Albert the Great, St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Bonaventure. The problem? This doctrine seemed to exempt Mary from being redeemed by her Son, the Savior of the world - including her. Other theologians - especially Franciscans - challenged and re-examined that apparent stumbling block. The "theological breakthrough" was mainly the work of John Duns Scotus (1266-1308), who introduced the notion of "preservative" redemption. As later proclaimed by Pope Pius IX, it meant that Mary was free from sin at the first moment of her conception by a special grace from God. This preserved her from original sin, making her a recipient, in a foreseen manner, of the redemptive merits of Christ. Theologians say her "preredemption" was the infusion of grace at the moment of her soul's entry into her body. This special exemption also made Mary free of concupiscence - desires for and tendencies toward sinful pleasure - and free of all sin throughout her entire life. To read more about this see Chapter 8 of Vatican II's Dogmatic Constitution on the Church (Lumen Gentium). |
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| St. Bernadette's Contribution | Back to Top |
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| But the "theological path" from the time of Scotus (who came to be called the "Herald of the Immaculate Conception") until Pius IX's encyclical was not a straight or smooth one. It took centuries for the teaching to gain acceptance.
But it did, in the hearts of the faithful. Five years before issuing Ineffabilis Deus, Pope Pius released an encyclical titled Ubi Primum. This is where the sensus fidelium - the sense of the faithful - formally enters the story. Pius asked his brother bishops around the world what they, their clergy and the faithful believed concerning the Immaculate Conception, and whether these three groups wished it to be defined as dogma. The response to the latter was a resounding "Yes!" Church historians say that of the major influences in the historical development of the Immaculate Conception, a significant one was the sensus fidelium - the beliefs of the faithful, especially in the liturgical worship of the Church. This public witness was behind the gradual extension and elevation of the feast of the Immaculate Conception. And it was the Church at large that helped create the theological climate in which doctrinal difficulties could be addressed and definitively settled. Four years after Pius' pronouncement, yet another voice spoke up. It was heard by a 14-year-old girl near the little town of Lourdes, France, where Mary appeared to Bernadette Soubirous 18 times. On March 25, 1858, the feast of the Annunciation, the teen gently and politely prodded the visitor to please identify herself. That day it was Our Lady herself who declared, "I am the Immaculate Conception." Bill Dodds and his wife Monica write this magazine's "Family" column. His latest book is The Seeker's Guide to the Holy Spirit (Loyola Press). |
