Immaculate Conception

Immaculate Conception For other uses, see Immaculate Conception (disambigua- The definition makes no declaration about the Church’s tion). belief that the Blessed Virgin was sinless in the sense “Immaculata” and “Immacolata” redirect here. For other of freedom from actual or personal sin.[4] However, the uses, see Immaculata (disambiguation) and Immacolata Church holds that Mary was also sinless personally, “free (disambiguation). from all sin, original or personal”.[5] The Council of Trent decreed: “If anyone shall say that a man once justified The Immaculate Conception, according to the teaching can sin no more, nor lose grace, and that therefore he who of the Catholic Church, was the conception of the Blessed falls and sins was never truly justified; or, on the contrary, Virgin Mary in her mother’s womb free from original sin. that throughout his whole life he can avoid all sins even venial sins, except by a special privilege of God, as the The Immaculate Conception is commonly confused with Church holds in regard to the Blessed Virgin: let him be the doctrine of the Incarnation and the virgin birth of anathema.”[6] Jesus, though the two deal with separate subjects. The Catholic Church teaches Mary was conceived by normal biological means, but her soul was acted upon by God 1.2 Virginal conception (kept “immaculate”) at the time of her conception. Although the belief that Mary was sinless and conceived The doctrine of the immaculate conception (Mary being immaculate has been widely held since Late Antiquity, conceived free from original sin) is not to be confused the doctrine was not dogmatically defined until 1854, with her virginal conception of her son Jesus. This mis- by Pope Pius IX in his papal bull Ineffabilis Deus. The understanding of the term immaculate conception is fre- Catholic Church celebrates the Feast of the Immaculate quently met in the mass media. Catholics believe that Conception on December 8; in many Catholic countries, Mary was not the product of a virginal conception herself it is a holy day of obligation or patronal feast, and in some but was the daughter of a human father and mother,[7] a national public holiday.[1][2] traditionally known by the names of Saint Joachim and Protestants generally reject the doctrine because they do Saint Anne. In 1677, the Holy See condemned the belief that Mary was virginally conceived, which had been not consider the development of dogmatic theology to be [8] authoritative apart from Biblical exegesis. It is accepted a belief surfacing occasionally since the 4th century. by some Anglo-Catholics, but is rejected by most in the The Church celebrates the Feast of the Immaculate Con- Anglican Communion. ception (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 1 Distinctions Incarnation of Jesus) is celebrated on 25 March, nine months before Christmas Day.[9][10] 1.1 Original sin and actual (personal) sin 1.3 Redemption The defined dogma of the Immaculate Conception re- gards original sin only, saying that Mary was preserved Another misunderstanding is that, by her immaculate from any stain (in Latin, macula or labes, the second conception, Mary did not need a saviour. When defin- of these two synonymous words being the one used in ing the dogma in Ineffabilis Deus, Pope Pius IX explicitly the formal definition).[3] The proclaimed Roman Catholic affirmed that Mary was redeemed in a manner more sub- dogma states “that the most Blessed Virgin Mary, in the lime. He stated that Mary, rather than being cleansed af- first instance of her conception, by a singular grace and ter sin, was completely prevented from contracting Orig- privilege granted by Almighty God, in view of the merits inal Sin in view of the foreseen merits of Jesus Christ, of Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the human race, was pre- the Savior of the human race. In Luke 1:47, Mary pro- served free from all stain of original sin.”[3] Therefore, claims: “My spirit has rejoiced in God my Saviour.” being always free from original sin, the doctrine teaches This is referred to as Mary’s pre-redemption by Christ. that from her conception Mary received the sanctifying Since the Council of Orange II against semi-pelagianism, grace that would normally come with baptism after birth. the Catholic Church has taught that even had man never 1 2 2 HISTORY sinned in the Garden of Eden and was sinless, he would title of Mary at the Annunciation as “prepurified” was still require God’s grace to remain sinless.[11][12] subsequently adopted by all theologians interested in his Mariology to justify the Byzantine equivalent of the Im- maculate Conception. This is especially apparent in the 2 History Fathers St. Sophronios of Jerusalem and St. John Dama- scene, who will be treated below in this article at the sec- tion on Church Fathers. About the time of Damascene, A feast of the Conception of the Most Holy and All Pure the public celebration of the “Conception of St. Ann [i.e., Mother of God was celebrated in Syria on 8 December of the Theotokos in her womb]" was becoming popular. perhaps as early as the 5th century. Note that the title After this period, the “purification” of the perfect natures of achrantos (spotless, immaculate, all-pure) refers to the of Jesus and Mary would not only mean moments of grace holiness of Mary, not specifically to the holiness of her and glory at the Incarnation and Baptism and other public conception.[13] Byzantine liturgical feasts, but purification was eventually associated with the feast of Mary’s very conception (along with her Presentation in the Temple as a toddler) by Or- thodox authors of the 2nd millennium (e.g., St. Nicholas Cabasilas[17] and Joseph Bryennius).[18] By 750 the feast of her conception was widely celebrated in the Byzantine East, under the name of the Concep- tion (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[19] or took it from English usage.[20] The spread of the feast, by now with the adjective “Immaculate” attached to its title, met op- position on the part of some, on the grounds that sancti- fication was possible only after conception.[21] Critics in- cluded Saints Bernard of Clairvaux, Albertus Magnus and Thomas Aquinas. Other theologians defended the expres- sion “Immaculate Conception”, pointing out that sanctifi- cation could be conferred at the first moment of conception in view of the foreseen merits of Christ, a view held especially by Franciscans.[22] Writers such as Mark Miravalle and Sarah Jane Boss interpret the existence of the feast as a strong indica- tion of the Church’s traditional belief in the Immaculate An 11th-century Eastern Orthodox icon of the Theotokos Conception.[23][24] Panachranta, i.e. the “all immaculate” Mary[14] On 28 February 1476, Pope Sixtus IV, a Franciscan af- Mary’s complete sinlessness and concomitant exemption ter whom the Sistine Chapel is named, authorized those from any taint from the first moment of her existence dioceses that wished to introduce the feast to do so, and [20] was a doctrine familiar to Greek theologians of Byzan- introduced it to his own diocese of Rome in 1477, with [25] tium. Beginning with St. Gregory Nazianzen, his ex- a specially composed Mass and Office of the feast. planation of the “purification” of Jesus and Mary at the With his bull Cum praeexcelsa of 28 February 1477, in circumcision (Luke 2:22) prompted him to consider the which he referred to the feast as that of the Concep- primary meaning of “purification” in Christology (and tion of Mary, without using the word “Immaculate”, he by extension in Mariology) to refer to a perfectly sin- granted indulgences to those who would participate in the less nature that manifested itself in glory in a moment of specially composed Mass or Office on the feast itself or grace (e.g., Jesus at his Baptism). St. Gregory Nazianzen during its octave, and he used the word “immaculate” of designated Mary as “prokathartheisa (prepurified).” Gre- Mary, but applied instead the adjective “miraculous” to [26][27] gory likely attempted to solve the riddle of the Purifica- her conception. On 4 September 1483, referring to tion of Jesus and Mary in the Temple through consider- the feast as that of “the Conception of Immaculate Mary ing the human natures of Jesus and Mary as equally holy ever Virgin”, he condemned both those who called it mor- and therefore both purified in this manner of grace and tally sinful and heretical to hold that the “glorious and im- glory.[15] Gregory’s doctrines surrounding Mary’s purifi- maculate mother of God was conceived without the stain cation were likely related to the burgeoning commemo- of original sin” and those who called it mortally sinful and ration of the Mother of God in and around Constantino- heretical to hold that “the glorious Virgin Mary was con- ple very close to the date of Christmas.[16] Nazianzen’s ceived with original sin”, since, he said, “up to this time 2.2 Later developments 3 there has been no decision made by the Roman Church Esame Critico sulla dottrina dell’ Angelico Dottore S. Tom- and the Apostolic See.”[28] This decree was reaffirmed by maso di Aquino circa il Peccato originale, relativamente the Council of Trent.[29] alla Beatissima Vergine Maria [A critical examination of One of the chief proponents of the doctrine was the Hun- the doctrine of St.

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