IMMACULATE CONCEPTION; the privilege by which the Virgin Mary, according to Catholic doctrine, was conceived without original sin. As this doctrine is distinctively Catholic, the following exposition is along the lines of the common teaching of Catholic theo logians.
Meaning.—The dogma of the Imniaculate Conception of the Mother of God was defined,. by Pope Pius IX, 8 Dec. 1854, in the bull Ineffabilis Deus. The most important words of this definition are the following: In honor of the holy and undivided Trinity, for the splendor and adornment of the Virgin Mother of God, to extol Catholic faith and increase the Christian religion, by the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ. of the blessed Apostles Peter and Paul, and by. our own authority. we declare, pro nounce and define that the doctrine, which holds that the most blessed Virgin Mary, from the first moment of her con cepts. by a singular grace and privilege of Almighty God. in view of the merits of Jesus Savior of the human was preserved free from all stain of original sits, is revealed by God and therefore to be firmly and constantly believed by all the faithful.
In the above definition the word conception does not refer to the act of conceiving, but to the term of that act. The body of Mary was formed in the ordinary and natural way. Just so soon as the newly created soul animated her body (probably the primordial cell wherefrom the full formed body was evolved), then and then only could the person be said to be con ceived. Now, according to the ordinary course of fallen nature, Mary would at that very moment of her conception have been tainted with original sin. Such is the teaching of Saint Paul: Just as through one man the sin, —i.e., original sin,—came into the world, and through the sin came death; so death passed unto all men, for that all men sinned. . . . Briefly then, just as through a single downfall the result was ( els) condemnation for all men; so, too, through a single decree of justification the result was (Eic) for all men that justification which meaneth life. For, as, through the dis obedience of one man, the whole race was made sinful; so, too, through the obedience of one man, the whole race will be made just. (Romans v, 12, 18,19). This ordinary course of fallen nature was by a special privilege not the course of Mary's nature. She is tainted nature's solitary boast* in that her nature was never tainted, never fallen. The stain of original sin was not removed from her soul; it was simply excluded. In one and the very same moment, Mary's soul was created, animated her body, and was sancti fied by the exclusion of original sin and by the infusion of divine grace. She, who was fore
ordained to be the 'Mother of the Christ, was, from the very first instant of her existence as a human person, freed from original sin and filled with grace; and that through no merit of her own, but entirely in view of the merits of Him who was foreordained to be her divine Son, Jesus Christ.
Defense of the Definition.— To the Cath olic there is no need of any defense of the definition of the Immaculate Conception. He accepts the Church as his authoritative teacher in matters of faith and morals. She cannot err in handing down the message of him who said: "All power hath been given me in heaven and upon earth. Therefore go ye, make disciples of all nations, bap tise them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, teach them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you. And. 10. I am with you all days. even'to the end of the world. (Matthew will. is-so).
When the Council of Trent, Session V, 17 June 1546, declared that it had no intention to Include "the blessed and immaculate Virgin Mary, Mother of God? in its decree on the universality of the fall of man by Adam's sin, the immediate consequence was still greater motive of credibility of the doctrine of Mary's stainlessness, and still greater increase of Cath olic devotion to her privilege of exclusion from Adam's taint. So that the definition of Pius X caused no surprise. For five years his com mission had studied the attitude of the whole Catholic world. The Immaculate Conception was found to be believed all the world over. All hoped and prayed for the definition that "the doctrine is revealed by God, and therefore" to be firmly and constantly believed by the faithful.* All rejoiced, when the Vicar of Christ, speaking ex cathedra as the universal pastor of all the faithful, clearly indicated the defined article of faith. The definition was new; the doctrine was old,— as old as the de posit of faith entrusted to the Church to guard and define. The Church cannot add to this deposit of revelation. Her part is to follow the injunction of Saint Paul: "Guard the glorious deposit, by the help of the Holy Spirit who is within use (2 Timothy i, 14). She receives no new revelations; but defines and guards the old. In every new definition of an old truth, she fearlessly takes her stand in defense of the faith that has once for all been entrusted to the keeping of the saints? (Jude iii).