Applied to the mystery of the Immaculate Conception, the early Church Fathers taught that it was fitting that she who was to bear the Savior of the world should herself be preserved by Him from sin and its consequences and thus be the first to benefit from what He would win for the whole human race.
Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Origen, Hippolytus, Ephraim the Syrian, Ambrose of Milan, Gregory Nazianzen, Augustine, Theodotus of Ancrya, Proclus of Constantinople, Jacob of Sarug, Romanos the Melodist.