IMMACULATE CONCEPTION, THE. This dogma of the Roman Catholic Church was defined as "of faith" by Pope Pius IX. in the Bull Ine ff abilis Deus (Dec. 8, 1854) in the fol lowing terms : "The doctrine which holds that the Blessed Virgin Mary, from the first instant of her conception, was, by a most singular grace and privilege of Almighty God, in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, the Redeemer of the human race, preserved from all stain of Original Sin, is a doctrine revealed by God, and there fore to be firmly and steadfastly believed by all the faithful." These words presuppose the distinction between original, or racial, and actual, or personally incurred sin. There is no dispute that the Church has always held the Blessed Virgin to be sinless, in the sense of actual or personal sin. The question of the Immaculate Conception regards original or racial sin only. It is admitted that the doctrine as defined by Pius IX. was not explicitly mooted before the 12th century. But it is claimed that it 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. Controversy on the subject was forbidden by the Council of Trent, pending further action on the part of the Holy See; but the doctrine was widely taught in the Roman Catholic Church long before the middle of the 19th century when bishops of various countries began to press for a definition. Pius IX. ap pointed commissions to investigate the subject, and was advised that the doctrine was one which could be defined and that the time for definition was opportune. On Dec. 8, 18S4, in a great assembly of bishops at St. Peter's, Rome, he promulgated the Bull Ine ff abilis Deus, in which the history of the doctrine is summarily traced, and which contains the definition given above.
The chief repertoire of Patristic passages, both on the doctrine and on the festival, is C. Passaglia's great collection, entitled De irnmaculato Deiparae semper Virgins conceptu commentarius (3 vols., Rome, • The state of Catholic belief in the middle of the 19th century is well brought out in La Croyance generale et constante de l'Eglise touchant l'immaculee conception de la bienheureuse Vierge Marie, published in 1855 by T. M. J. Gousset (1792-1866). For English readers the doctrine, and the history of its definition, is clearly stated by Archbishop Ullathorne in The Immaculate Concep tion of the Mother of God (2nd ed., London, 19o4), and with many references, by F. C. Holweck, art. "Immaculate Conception" in the Catholic Encyclopaedia, and (from a different point of view) in the article, "Immaculate Conception" in Hastings' Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics.