“ What Is The Immaculate Conception ? ”

“ What Is The Immaculate Conception ? ”

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The Immaculate Conception Of The Blessed Virgin Mary. Feast Day 8 December.

Text from The Saint Andrew Daily Missal,
unless otherwise stated.

Image: SHUTTERSTOCK

The Immaculate Conception of The Blessed Virgin Mary.
   Feast Day 8 December.

Double of The First-Class
   with an Octave.

White Vestments.

The Immaculate Conception.

Illustration: UNA VOCE OF ORANGE COUNTY

Artist: René de Cramer.

“Copyright Brunelmar/Ghent/Belgium”.

Used with Permission.

Feast of The Immaculate Conception

of The Blessed Virgin Mary.

Available on YouTube at

YOU TUBE

Having decided, from all Eternity, to make Mary The Mother of The Incarnate Word (Epistle), God willed that she should crush the head of the serpent from the moment of her Conception.

He covered her "with a Mantle of Holiness" (Introit) and, "preserving her Soul from all stain, He made her a worthy dwelling place for His Son" (Collect).

The Feast of The "Conception" of The Virgin was: From the 8th-Century A.D., Celebrated in The East on 9 December; from the 9th-Century A.D., in Ireland, on 3 May; and, in the 11th-Century, in England, on 8 December.

The Benedictines, with Saint Anselm, and The Franciscans, with Duns Scotus (1308), favoured The Feast of The "Immaculate Conception," which, in 1128, was kept in Anglo-Saxon Monasteries.

Feast of The Immaculate Conception

of The Blessed Virgin Mary.

Available on YouTube at

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In the 15th-Century, Pope Sixtus IV, a Franciscan, erected, at The Vatican, The Sixtine (Sistine) Chapel in honour of The Conception of The Virgin. And, on 8 December 1854, Blessed Pope Pius IX officially proclaimed this great Dogma, making himself the mouthpiece of all the Christian Tradition summed up in the words of the Angel: “Hail Mary, full of Grace, The Lord is with thee, Blessed art thou among women” (Gospel). “Thou art all beautiful, O Mary, and the original stain is not in thee”, says, in truth, the Alleluia Verse.

Like the Dawn, which announces the day, Mary precedes The Sun of Justice, which will soon illumine The World of Souls. Bringing to us her Son, it is she who first appears in The Liturgical Cycle.

Let us ask God “to heal us and to deliver us from all our sins” (Secret, Postcommunion)

in order that, by the Graces which specially belong to The Feast of The “Immaculate”,

we may become more worthy of receiving Jesus in our hearts when He comes into them on 25 December.

Every Parish Priest Celebrates Mass for the people of his Parish.

Mass: Gaudens gaudébo.
Commemoration: Of The Feria.
Creed: Is said.
Preface: Of The Blessed Virgin: Et te in Conceptióne Immaculáta, which is said during
The Octave.

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The Most Blessed Virgin Mary: "Que Soi Era Immaculada Concepcion" — "I Am The Immaculate Conception". (Part Four).

Text and Illustrations from Wikipedia - the free encyclopaedia,
unless otherwise stated.

From The Saint Andrew Daily Missal.
The Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Feast Day 8 December.

Double of the First-Class
      with an Octave.
White Vestments.

Image: CHRISTIAN AND CATHOLIC

Thus, we have, in the first five centuries, such epithets applied to her as "in every respect holy", "in all things unstained", "super-innocent" and "singularly holy"; she is compared to Eve before the Fall, as ancestress of a redeemed people; she is "the Earth before it was accursed."

The well-known words of Saint Augustine (†430 A.D.) may be cited: " As regards the Mother of God," he says, " I will not allow any question whatever of sin." It is true that he is here speaking directly of actual or personal sin. But his argument is that all men are sinners; that they are so through original depravity; that this original depravity may be overcome by the Grace of God, and he adds that he does not know but that Mary may have had sufficient Grace to overcome sin "of every sort" (omni ex parte).

The Bull of Definition of the Dogma, "Ineffabilis Deus", mentioned in particular the Patristic interpretation of Genesis 3:15 as referring to a woman, Mary, who would be eternally at enmity with the evil serpent and completely triumphing over him. It said the Fathers saw foreshadowings of Mary's "wondrous abundance of Divine Gifts and Original Innocence" "in that ark of Noah, which was built by Divine Command and escaped, entirely safe and sound, from the common shipwreck of the whole world; in the ladder, which Jacob saw reaching from the Earth to Heaven, by whose rungs the Angels of God ascended and descended, and on whose top the Lord Himself leaned; in that bush, which Moses saw in the holy place, burning on all sides, which was not consumed or injured in any way, but grew green and blossomed beautifully; in that impregnable tower before the enemy, from which hung a thousand bucklers and all the armour of the strong; in that garden enclosed on all sides, which cannot be violated or corrupted by any deceitful plots; in that resplendent City of God, which has its foundations on the holy mountains; in that most august Temple of God, which, radiant with Divine Splendours, is full of the Glory of God; and in very many other Biblical types of this kind."

Cathedral of The Immaculate Conception,

Albany, New York.

Photo: 10 January 2012.

Source: Own work.

Author: Nheyob.

(Wikimedia Commons)

The Lady Window,

depicting the life of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Cathedral of The Immaculate Conception,

Albany, New York.

Photo: 10 January 2012.

Source: Own work.

Author: Nheyob.

(Wikimedia Commons)

The Bull recounts that the Fathers interpreted the Angel's address to Mary, "highly-favoured One" or "full of Grace", as indicating that "she was never subject to the curse and was, together with her Son, the only partaker of Perpetual Benediction"; and they "frequently compare her to Eve, while yet a Virgin, while yet Innocence, while yet Incorrupt, while not yet Deceived by the deadly snares of the most treacherous serpent".

The Immaculate Conception.

Image: CATHOLIC QUESTIONS IN A SECULAR WORLD

A number of locations consider themselves under the Patronage of the Immaculate Conception. These include Brazil, Ireland, Korea, Nicaragua, Philippines, Spain (Old Kingdoms and present), Portugal, and the United States of America.

For differing reasons, belief in Mary's Immaculate Conception, in the Catholic Doctrinal Form, is not part of the official Doctrines of the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Anglican and Protestant Churches.

The Roman Missal, and the Roman Rite Liturgy of the Hours, naturally includes references to Mary's Immaculate Conception in the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. An example is the Antiphon that begins: "Tota pulchra es, Maria, et macula originalis non est in te" (You are all beautiful, Mary, and the original stain [of sin] is not in you. Your clothing is white as snow, and your face is like the sun. You are all beautiful, Mary, and the original stain [of sin] is not in you. You are the glory of Jerusalem, you are the joy of Israel, you give honour to our people. You are all beautiful, Mary.

The Immaculate Conception is also portrayed 

by artists in the Orthodox Church, 

for example in this Orthodox Church

in Perlez, Vojvodina, Serbia.

Date: 8. XII. 2010.

Source: Own work.

Author: Stebunik.

(Wikimedia Commons)

On the basis of the original Gregorian Chant music, polyphonic settings have been composed by Anton Bruckner, Pablo Casals, Maurice Duruflé, Grzegorz Gerwazy Gorczycki, José Maurício Nunes Garcia, and Nikolaus Schapfl,

Other Prayers honouring Mary's Immaculate Conception are in use outside the formal Liturgy. The Hymn, Immaculate Mary, addressed to Mary as the Immaculately Conceived One, is closely associated with Lourdes. The Immaculata Prayer, composed by Saint Maximillian Kolbe, is a Prayer of entrustment to Mary as the Immaculata. A Novena of Prayers, with a specific Prayer for each of the nine days, has been composed under the title of the Immaculate Conception Novena.

The 1476 extension of the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, to the entire Latin Church, reduced the likelihood of controversy for the artist or patron in depicting an image, so that emblems, depicting The Immaculate Conception, began to appear.

Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception,

Syracuse, New York.

Photo: 12 June 2004.

Date: 16 December 2006 (original upload date).

Source: Transferred from en.wikipedia; 

transferred to Commons by User:Kafuffle 

using CommonsHelper.

Author: Joegrimes.

(Wikimedia Commons)

Many artists in the 15th-Century faced the problem of how to depict an abstract idea, such as the Immaculate Conception, and the problem was not fully solved for 150 years. The Italian Renaissance artist, Piero di Cosimo, was among those artists who tried new solutions, but none of these became generally adopted so that the subject matter would be immediately recognisable to the Faithful.

The definitive iconography for the Immaculate Conception, drawing on the emblem tradition, seems to have been finally established by the master, and then father-in-law, of Diego Velázquez, the painter and theorist Francisco Pacheco. Pacheco's iconography influenced other Spanish artists, such as Bartolomé Murillo, Diego Velázquez, and Francisco Zurbarán, who each produced a number of artistic masterpieces based on the use of these same symbols.

The popularity of this particular representation of The Immaculate Conception spread across the rest of Europe, and has since remained the best known artistic depiction of the concept: In a heavenly realm, moments after her creation, the spirit of Mary (in the form of a young woman) looks up in awe at (or bows her head to) God. The Moon is under her feet and a halo of twelve stars surrounds her head, possibly a reference to "a woman clothed with the Sun" from Revelation 12:1-2. Additional imagery may include clouds, a golden light, and Cherubs. In some paintings, the Cherubim are holding lilies and roses, flowers often associated with Mary.

THIS CONCLUDES THE ARTICLE ON THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION.

The Most Blessed Virgin Mary: "Que Soi Era Immaculada Concepcion" — "I Am The Immaculate Conception". (Part Three).

Text and Illustrations from Wikipedia - the free encyclopaedia,
unless otherwise stated.

From The Saint Andrew Daily Missal.
The Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Feast Day 8 December.

Double of the First-Class
      with an Octave.
White Vestments.

The Immaculate Conception.

Artist: Diego Velázquez (1599–1660).

Date: Circa 1618.

Current location: National Gallery, London.

Source/Photographer: Web Gallery of Art:

Originally this painting, together with a Saint John the Evangelist at Patmos 

(now in the National Gallery, London), was in the 

Carmelite Convent in Seville, Spain.

(Wikimedia Commons)

Speaking of the witness of the Church Fathers in claiming for Mary titles such as "Free from all contagion of sin", Pope Pius XII wrote:

If the popular praises of the Blessed Virgin Mary be given the careful consideration they deserve, who will dare to doubt that she, who was purer than the Angels and at all times pure, was at any moment, even for the briefest instant, not free from every stain of sin?

The Roman Catholic tradition has a well-established philosophy, for the study of the Immaculate Conception and the Veneration of the Blessed Virgin Mary, in the field of Mariology, with Pontifical Schools, such as the Marianum, specifically devoted to this.

It seems to have been Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, who, in the 12th-Century, explicitly raised the question of the Immaculate Conception. A Feast of the Conception of the Blessed Virgin had already begun to be celebrated in some Churches of the West. Saint Bernard blames the Canons of the Metropolitan Church of Lyon for instituting such a Festival without the permission of the Holy See. In doing so, he takes occasion to repudiate altogether the view that the Conception of Mary was sinless. It is doubtful, however, whether he was using the term "Conception" in the same sense in which it is used in the definition of Pope Pius IX. Saint Bernard would seem to have been speaking of conception in the active sense of the mother's co-operation, for, in his argument, he says: "How can there be absence of sin where there is concupiscence (libido)?" and stronger expressions follow, showing that he is speaking of the mother and not of the child.

English: Statue of The Immaculate Conception, Palmi, Italy.

Italiano: Antica statua di Maria Santissima Immacolata

venerata a Palmi nei secolo passati ed andata distrutta nel 1924.

Photo: 29 November 2012.

Source: Cartolina.

Author: Unknown.

(Wikimedia Commons)

Saint Thomas Aquinas, the greatest of the Mediaeval Scholastics, refused to admit the Immaculate Conception, on the ground that, unless the Blessed Virgin had at one time or other been one of the sinful, she could not justly be said to have been redeemed by Christ.

Saint Bonaventure (†1274), second only to Saint Thomas in his influence on the Christian schools of his age, hesitated to accept it for a similar reason. He believed that Mary was completely free from sin, but that she was not given this Grace at the instant of her Conception.

The celebrated John Duns Scotus (†1308), a Friar Minor, like Saint Bonaventure, argued, on the contrary, that, from a rational point of view, it was certainly as little derogatory to the merits of Christ to assert that Mary was, by Him, preserved from all taint of sin, as to say that she first contracted it and then was delivered.

English: The Immaculate Conception statue above the High Altar,

Kloster Roggenburg, Kreis Neu-Ulm, Bavaria, Germany.

Deutsch: Immaculata und das Lamm Gottes über dem Hochaltar.

Kloster Roggenburg, Kreis Neu-Ulm, Bayern, Deutschland.

Photo: 31 October 2010.

Source: Own work.

Author: Andreas F. Borchert.

(Wikimedia Commons)

Deutsch: Chorraum der Klosterkirche des Klosters Roggenburg, 

Bayern, Deutschland.

English: Choir of the Imperial Abbey of Roggenburg

(Reichsstift Roggenburg), Roggenburg Abbey, Bavaria, Germany.

The statue of The Immaculate Conception can be seen above the High Altar.

Photo: 11 October 2003.

Source: Own work.

Author: Vincent Pál, permission given.

(Wikimedia Commons)

Proposing a solution to the theological problem of reconciling the Doctrine with that of universal redemption in Christ, he argued that Mary's Immaculate Conception did not remove her from Redemption by Christ; rather, it was the result of a more perfect Redemption, granted her because of her special role in Salvation history.

The arguments of Scotus, combined with a better acquaintance with the language of the Early Fathers, gradually prevailed in the schools of the Western Church. In 1387, the University of Paris strongly condemned the opposite view.

Scotus' arguments remained controversial, however, particularly among the Dominicans, who were willing enough to celebrate Mary's sanctificatio (being made free from sin) but, following the Dominican, Thomas Aquinas', arguments, continued to insist that her Sanctification could not have occurred until after her Conception.

Deutsch: Bamberg, Neuer Ebracher Hof, Unterer Kaulberg 4, Immaculata-Statue.

English: Statue of The Immaculate Conception, Bamberg, Germany.

Photo: 14 September 2008.

Source: Own work.

Author: AndreasPraefcke.

(Wikimedia Commons)

Popular opinion remained firmly behind the celebration of Mary's Conception. In 1439, the Council of Basel, which is not reckoned an Ecumenical Council, stated that belief in the Immaculate Conception of Mary is in accord with the Catholic Faith.

By the end of the 15th-Century, it was widely professed and taught in many theological faculties, but such was the influence of the Dominicans, and the weight of the arguments of Thomas Aquinas (who had been Canonised in 1323 and declared "Doctor Angelicus" of the Church, in 1567) that the Council of Trent (1545–63) — which might have been expected to affirm the Doctrine — instead declined to take a position.

It is admitted that the Doctrine, as defined by Pope Pius IX, was not explicitly mooted before the 12th-Century. It is also agreed that "no direct or categorical and stringent proof of the Dogma can be brought forward from Scripture". But it is claimed that the Doctrine is implicitly contained in the teaching of the Fathers. Their expressions on the subject of the sinlessness of Mary are, it is pointed out, so ample and so absolute, that they must be taken to include Original Sin, as well as actual sin.

English: The Church of The Immaculate Conception, Tobelbad, Austria.

Deutsch: Chor der Kath. Pfarrkirche Unbefleckte Empfängnis 

in Tobelbad, Osterreich.

Photo: 29 June 2013.

Source: Own work.

Author: Isiwal.

(Wikimedia Commons)

English: The High Altar, The Church of The Immaculate Conception, 

Tobelbad, Austria.

Deutsch: Altar der Kath. Pfarrkirche Unbefleckte Empfängnis 

in Tobelbad, Osterreich.

Photo: 29 June 2013.

Source: Own work.

Author: Isiwal.

(Wikimedia Commons)

PART FOUR FOLLOWS.

The Most Blessed Virgin Mary: "Que Soi Era Immaculada Concepcion" — "I Am The Immaculate Conception". (Part Two).

Text and Illustrations from Wikipedia - the free encyclopaedia,
unless otherwise stated.

From The Saint Andrew Daily Missal.
The Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Feast Day 8 December.

Double of the First-Class
      with an Octave.
White Vestments.

English: The Immaculate Conception.

Español: La Inmaculada concepción de los Venerables.

Français: L'Immaculée Conception des Vénérables.

Artist: Bartolomé Esteban Murillo (1617–1682).

Date: 1678.

Current location: Museo del Prado, Madrid, España.

Notes: Deutsch: Urspr. Altargemälde im Hospital de los Venerables

in Sevilla, Auftraggeber: Justino de Nece.

Source/Photographer: Unknown.

(Wikimedia Commons)

On 4 September 1483, referring to the Feast as that of "the Conception of Immaculate Mary ever Virgin", he condemned both those who called it mortally sinful and heretical to hold that the "Glorious and Immaculate Mother of God was conceived without the stain of Original Sin", and those who called it mortally sinful and heretical to hold that "the Glorious Virgin Mary was conceived with Original Sin", since, he said, "up to this time, there has been no decision made by the Roman Church and the Apostolic See." This Decree was reaffirmed by the Council of Trent.

One of the chief proponents of the Doctrine was the Hungarian Franciscan, Pelbartus Ladislaus, of Temesvár. Pope Pius V, while including the Feast in the Tridentine Calendar, removed the adjective "Immaculate" and suppressed the existing special Mass for the Feast, directing that the Mass for the Nativity of Mary (with the word "Nativity" replaced by "Conception") be used instead. Part of that earlier Mass was revived in the Mass that Pope Pius IX ordered to be used on the Feast and that is still in use.

On 6 December 1708, Pope Clement XI made the Feast of the Conception of Mary, at that time still with the Nativity of Mary formula for the Mass, a Holy Day of Obligation. Until Pope Pius X reduced in 1911 the number of Holy Days of Obligation to eight, there were, in the course of the year, thirty-six such days, apart from Sundays.

During the reign of Pope Gregory XVI, the Bishops in various countries began to press for a definition as Dogma of the teaching of Mary's Immaculate Conception.

Saint Bernadette

(Bernadette Soubirous).

Date: Upload March 2008.

Source: Weltwoche 8/08.

Author: unknown, Upload by Adrian Michael.

(Wikimedia Commons)

Bernadette (Marie Bernarde Soubirous) (Gascon name: Bernadeta Sobiróus; 1844 – 1879) 

was a miller's daughter, born in Lourdes, France, and is Venerated as a Christian Mystic 

and Saint in the Catholic Church.

Saint Bernadette is best known for her participation in the Marian apparitions of "a small young lady", who asked for a Chapel to be built at a cave-grotto in Massabielle, France, where the apparitions occurred between 11 February 1858 and 16 July 1858. She would later 

receive recognition when the lady, who appeared to her, identified 

herself as the Immaculate Conception.

Despite initial scepticism from the Catholic Church, Saint Bernadette's claims were 

eventually declared "worthy of belief" after a Canonical investigation, and the 

Marian apparition is now known as Our Lady of Lourdes. Since her death, 

Saint Bernadette's body has apparently remained internally incorrupt.

The Marian Shrine at Nevers (Bourgogne, France) went on to become a major pilgrimage site, attracting over five million Christian pilgrims of all denominations each year.

On 8 December 1933, she was Canonised, by Pope Pius XI, as a Saint of the Roman Catholic Church; her Feast Day is observed on 16 April.

In 1839, Mariano Spada (1796 - 1872), Professor of Theology at the Roman College of Saint Thomas, published Esame Critico sulla dottrina dell’ Angelico Dottore S. Tommaso di Aquino circa il Peccato originale, relativamente alla Beatissima Vergine Maria, in which Aquinas is interpreted, not as treating the question of the Immaculate Conception, later formulated in the Papal Bull "Ineffabilis Deus", but, rather, the Sanctification of the fetus within Mary's womb. Mariano Spada furnished an interpretation, whereby Pius IX was relieved of the problem of seeming to foster a Doctrine not in agreement with the Aquinas' teaching. Pope Pius IX would later appoint Spada Master of the Sacred Palace in 1867.

Pius IX, at the beginning of his Pontificate, and again after 1851, appointed Commissions to investigate the whole subject, and he was advised that the Doctrine was one which could be defined and that the time for a definition was opportune.

It was not until 1854 that Pope Pius IX, with the support of the overwhelming majority of Roman Catholic Bishops, whom he had consulted between 1851–1853, promulgated the Papal Bull "Ineffabilis Deus" (Latin for "Ineffable God"), which defined, Ex Cathedra, the Dogma of the Immaculate Conception:

We declare, pronounce and define that the Doctrine which holds that the Blessed Virgin Mary, at the first instant of her Conception, by a singular Privilege and Grace of the Omnipotent God, in virtue of the merits of Jesus Christ, the Saviour of mankind, was preserved Immaculate from all stain of Original Sin, has been revealed by God, and therefore should firmly and constantly be believed by all the Faithful.

— Pope Pius IX, Ineffabilis Deus, 8 December 1854.

The Immaculate Conception.

Image: CATHOLIC TRADITION

The Dogma was defined in accordance with the conditions of Papal Infallibility, which would be defined in 1870 by the First Vatican Council.

The Papal definition of the Dogma declares, with absolute certainty and authority, that Mary possessed Sanctifying Grace from the first instant of her existence and was free from the lack of Grace, caused by Original Sin at the beginning of human history. Mary's salvation was won by her Son, Jesus Christ, through His Passion, Death, and Resurrection, and was not due to her own merits.

For the Roman Catholic Church, the Dogma of the Immaculate Conception gained additional significance from the reputed apparitions of Our Lady of Lourdes in 1858. At Lourdes, a 14-year-old girl, Bernadette Soubirous, claimed that a beautiful woman appeared to her and said, "I am the Immaculate Conception". Many believe the woman to have been the Blessed Virgin Mary and pray to her as such.

Pope Pius IX defined the Dogma of the Immaculate Conception "not so much because of proofs in Scripture or ancient tradition, but due to a profound sensus fidelium and the Magisterium".

English: Main Altar of Catedral de la Inmaculada Concepcion (Immaculate Conception), 

Cuenca, Ecuador. The Cathedral is commonly designated as 

Catedral Nueva (New Cathedral) by the inhabitants of the city.

Français: Cuenca, Équateur : autel principal de la cathédrale de l'Immaculée Conception, communément appelée Nouvelle cathédrale par les habitants de la ville.

Photo: 8 April 2010.

Source: Own work.

Author: Cayambe.

(Wikimedia Commons)

PART THREE FOLLOWS.

The Most Blessed Virgin Mary: "Que Soi Era Immaculada Concepcion" — "I Am The Immaculate Conception". (Part One).

Text and Illustrations from Wikipedia - the free encyclopaedia,
unless otherwise stated.

From The Saint Andrew Daily Missal.
The Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Feast Day 8 December.

Double of the First-Class
      with an Octave.
White Vestments.

The Immaculate Conception.

Stained Glass Window.

Saint Peter and Saint Paul Church,

Clonmel, County Tipperary,

Ireland.

Photo: 7 September 2012.

Source: Own work.

Author: Andreas F. Borchert.

(Wikimedia Commons)

The Immaculate Conception is a Dogma of the Catholic Church, maintaining that, from the moment when she was conceived in the womb, the Blessed Virgin Mary was kept free of Original Sin, so that she was, from the start, filled with the Sanctifying Grace normally conferred in Baptism. It is one of the four Dogmas in Roman Catholic Mariology. [The four Dogmas are: Perpetual Virginity; Mother of God; Immaculate Conception; and Assumption. They form the basis of Mariology.]

The Doctrine of the Immaculate Conception of Mary concerns her mother's conception of her, not Mary's conception of Jesus (the Virgin Birth of Jesus), nor the Perpetual Virginity of Mary. Although the belief, that Mary was conceived immaculate, was widely held since at least Late Antiquity, the Doctrine was not Dogmatically defined until 8 December 1854, by Pope Pius IX in his Papal Bull "Ineffabilis Deus". It is not formal Doctrine, except in the Roman Catholic Church. The Feast of the Immaculate Conception is observed on 8 December in many Catholic countries as a Holy Day of Obligation, or Patronal Feast, and in some as a national public holiday.

The defined Dogma of the Immaculate Conception regards Original Sin, only, saying that Mary was preserved from any stain (in Latin, macula, or labes, the second of these two synonymous words being the one used in the Formal Definition). The proclaimed Roman Catholic Dogma states "that the most Blessed Virgin Mary, in the first instance of her conception, by a singular Grace and Privilege, granted by Almighty God, in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the human race, was preserved free from all stain of Original Sin." Therefore, being always free from Original Sin, the Doctrine teaches that, from her conception, Mary received the Sanctifying Grace that would normally come with Baptism after birth.

English: Immaculate Conception.

Español: Inmaculada Concepción (La Colosal).

Artist: Bartolomé Esteban Murillo (1617–1682).

Date: Circa 1650.

Source: http://www.juntadeandalucia.es/cultura/museos/MBASE/index.jsp?redirect=S2_3_1_1.jsp&idpieza=25&pagina=3.

Author: Bartolomé Esteban Murillo (1617–1682).

(Wikimedia Commons)

The Definition makes no declaration about the Church's belief that the Blessed Virgin was sinless, in the sense of actual or personal sin. However, the Church also holds that Mary was also sinless personally, that she was "free from all sin, Original or personal". The Council of Trent decreed: "If anyone shall say that a man once justified can sin no more, nor lose Grace, and that, therefore, he who falls and sins was never truly justified; or, on the contrary, that throughout his whole life he can avoid all sins, even venial sins, except by a special privilege of God, as the Church holds in regard to the Blessed Virgin: let him be anathema."

The Doctrine of the Immaculate Conception (Mary being conceived free from Original Sin) is not to be confused with her Virginal Conception of her Son Jesus. This misunderstanding of the term "Immaculate Conception" is frequently met in the mass media. Catholics believe that Mary was not the product of a Virginal Conception herself, but was the daughter of a human father and mother, traditionally known by the names of Saint Joachim and Saint Anne.

In 1677, the Holy See condemned the belief that Mary was Virginally Conceived, which had been a belief surfacing occasionally since the 4th-Century. The Church celebrates the Feast of the Immaculate Conception (when Mary was conceived free from Original Sin) on 8 December, exactly nine months before celebrating the Nativity of Mary. The Feast of the Annunciation (which commemorates the Virginal Conception and the Incarnation of Jesus) is celebrated on 25 March, nine months before Christmas Day.

English: The Immaculate Conception.

Español: Inmaculada Concepción.

Artist: Juan Antonio de Frías y Escalante (1633–1670).

Date: Circa 1667.

Current location: Museum of Fine Arts of Córdoba, Spain.

Source: CERES.

(Wikimedia Commons)

Another misunderstanding is that, by her Immaculate Conception, Mary did not need a Saviour. When defining the Dogma Ineffabilis Deus, Pope Pius IX explicitly affirmed that Mary was redeemed in a manner more sublime. He stated that Mary, rather than being cleansed after sin, was completely prevented from contracting Original Sin, in view of the foreseen merits of Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the human race.

In Luke 1:47, Mary proclaims: "My spirit has rejoiced in God my Saviour." This is referred to as "Mary's pre-redemption by Christ". Since the Council of Orange II, against Semi-Pelagianism, the Catholic Church has taught that, even had man never sinned in the Garden of Eden and was sinless, he would still require God's Grace to remain sinless.

A Feast of the Conception of the Most Holy and All Pure Mother of God was celebrated in Syria on 8 December, perhaps as early as the 5th-Century. Note that the title "ofachrantos" (spotless, immaculate, all-pure) refers to the Holiness of Mary, not specifically to the Holiness of her Conception.

By the 7th-Century, the Feast of her Conception was widely celebrated in the East, under the name of the Conception (active) of Saint Anne. In the West, it was known as the Feast of the Conception (passive) of Mary, and was associated particularly with the Normans, whether these introduced it directly from the East or took it from English usage.

English: Cathedral of The Immaculate Conception.

Beijing, China.

Traditional Chinese: 宣武門聖母無染原罪天主堂.

Photo: 19 April 2008.

Source: DSCF2007.

Author: alexandrine_chan.

(Wikimedia Commons)

The spread of the Feast, by now with the adjective "Immaculate" attached to its title, met opposition on the part of some, on the grounds that Sanctification was possible only after conception. Critics included Saints Bernard of Clairvaux, Albertus Magnus, and Thomas Aquinas. Other Theologians defended the expression "Immaculate Conception", pointing out that Sanctification could be conferred at the first moment of conception in view of the foreseen merits of Christ, a view held especially by Franciscans.

Writers, such as Mark Miravalle and Sarah Jane Boss, interpret the existence of the Feast as a strong indication of the Church's traditional belief in the Immaculate Conception.

On 28 February 1476, Pope Sixtus IV, a Franciscan, after whom the Sistine Chapel is named, authorised those Dioceses that wished to introduce the Feast to do so, and introduced it to his own Diocese of Rome in 1477, with a specially-composed Mass and Office of the Feast. With his Bull "Cum praeexcelsa", of 28 February 1477, in which he referred to the Feast as that of the Conception of Mary, without using the word "Immaculate", he granted Indulgences to those who would participate in the specially-composed Mass or Office on the Feast itself or during its Octave, and he used the word "Immaculate" of Mary, but applied instead the adjective "Miraculous" to her Conception.

English: Interior of the Catholic Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception,

Beijing, China.

Traditional Chinese: 宣武門聖母無染原罪天主堂.

Photo: 2003.

Source: Own work.

Author: InfernoXV.

(Wikimedia Commons)

PART TWO FOLLOWS.