In explanation of the dogma, Catholic writers sometimes quote from a sermon by Bossuet, de livered on a Feast of the Immaculate Conception, in which he thus addresses Christ: "Thou art innocent by nature, Mary only by grace; Thou by excellence, she only by privilege; Thou as Redeemer, she as the first of those whom Thy precious blood bath purified." The Catholic in terpretation of the matter is clearly implied in these few words. For Roman theologians dis tinguish between 'active' and 'passive' concep tion. The former is the physical act of the parents, and so far as this is concerned, Mary is held to have been conceived like other mortals. The latter is the divine infusion of the rational soul (on the theory of creationism), and this, in the case of Mary, is held to have been accom panied by a special gift of grace, whereby she differs from all other mortals. She was sanc tified, and therefore sinless, from the beginning. But this was through the merits of the Son who was to be horn from her, not through independent merits of her own. In this way the Church
believes that it solves the two main problems raised by the doctrine of the immaculate con ception, first, how it affects the Virgin Mary in her relation to the rest of the human race, and, secondly. how it affects her in relation to Christ. See Gen. iii. 15; Luke i. 28, 42.
The Feast of the Immaculate Conception, in the Roman calendar, falls on December 8th; in the Greek calendar, on the day following.
Consult: Passaglia, De Immaculato Deiparce Semper Virginia Conceptu (3 vols., Rome, 1854 seq.) ; Ullathorne, The Immaculate Conception of the Mother of God (London. 1855) : Wetzer and Welte, Kirehenle.rikon, iv. (Freiburg, ISM) ; Ad dis and Arnold, Catholic Dietionary. art. "Im maculate Conception" (London. 1884). On the Protestant side, consult: Schaff. Creeds of Chris tendom (New York, 1877), which gives the his tory of the doctrine, and the Latin and English text of the constitution Ineffabilis Deus.