The Immaculate Conception: A Marvelous
Theme
This year the Church celebrates
the 150th anniversary of the proclamation of the Dogma
of the Immaculate Conception which affirms that Mary was
conceived without Original Sin.
For centuries, the Immaculate Conception
of Our Lady was defended by saints, theologians and laymen.
However, it took centuries of theological debate to establish
a consensus in the Church. Only in 1854, did Blessed Pope
Pius IX, after consulting with the bishops of the whole
world, proclaim this dogma in his Apostolic Constitution
Ineffabilis Deus, thus affirming as revealed truth that
Our Lady was preserved from Original Sin from the very
moment of her conception.
Many defended this position because they
felt that the glory of the Most Holy Trinity would be
tarnished if the Mother of the Word Incarnate were not
the most perfect of all creatures. It would also be against
God’s wisdom and mercy if the Savior’s mother
did not receive the highest transcendental gifts of nature
and grace.
The Immaculate Conception and
America
The Immaculate Conception is particularly
significant for Americans.
Americans join with Catholics the world
over in celebrating the feast of the Immaculate Conception
on December 8. They are filled with joy this year which
marks the 150th anniversary of the proclamation.
However, this feast is especially dear
to Americans because Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception
is the nation’s patroness. Even before the proclamation
of the dogma, the American bishops collectively placed
the nation under the protection of the Immaculate Conception
at the first Council of Baltimore in 1846. The pope ratified
this decision on February 7, 1847.
The special place of Our Lady under this
invocation led Theodore Cardinal McCarrick, Archbishop
of Washington to ask the Holy See to grant a plenary indulgence
for those who visit the Basilica of the Immaculate Conception
in the nation’s capital for the year ending on December
8, 2004.
Reconciling Christ’s Universal
Redemption
Although the Immaculate Conception can
be found in Revelation and is part of the Deposit of Faith,
it is not expressed with all the clarity of other truths
like the Resurrection of Our Lord.
The main objection to the dogma revolved
around the fact that, according to the dogma of Christ’s
universal redemption, all men were redeemed from Original
Sin by the merits of Our Lord Jesus Christ. However, if
Our Lady was conceived without Original Sin, it would
seem that she could not be redeemed from it by the merits
of Christ.
How can these two assertions be reconciled?
How does one explain the truth of the whole matter?
As Pius IX explains in his Apostolic
Constitution Ineffabilis Deus, Mary Most Holy by the same
merits of her Divine Son has been redeemed in a special,
preventive manner, preserving her from Original Sin. As
the Pope says, “the most Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother
of God …. her soul, in the first instant of its
creation and in the first instant of the soul's infusion
into the body, was, by a special grace and privilege of
God, in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, her Son and
the Redeemer of the human race, preserved free from all
stain of original sin. And in this sense have the faithful
ever solemnized and celebrated the Feast of the Conception."
While this simple formulation resolved
the problem, it took several centuries to uncover. This
is not surprising since the solution of delicate theological
problems often takes a long time to resolve. Thus, in
1854, the Pope used the authority given him by Our Lord
Jesus Christ to safeguard and infallibly interpret Revelation
and defined the dogma once and for all.
Popular
Piety Affirmed Dogma
Already in the fifth century, St. Augustine
affirmed that “piety imposed the recognition of
Mary as not having sin.”1
Popular devotion took up this belief and the feast of
the Immaculate Conception was already celebrated in the
Oriental Catholic Church as early as the sixth century.
Beginning in the eleventh century, theologians made detailed
studies into the matter and verified the fact that popular
devotion had grown. Popular enthusiasm for the feast increased
so much that it was celebrated all over Europe in 1476.
Taking a vow
In the sixteenth and especially the
seventeenth century, the topic became such a burning issue
that “in Spain it became impossible to sustain from
the pulpit a contrary opinion [to the Immaculate Conception]
since the people would react against such preachers with
murmurs, clamor and even violence.”2
Beginning in 1617, the University of Granada in Spain
began the custom of making a “votum sanguinis”,
which was a vow to defend the Immaculate Conception even
to the point of shedding blood in its defense. This practice
soon spread to religious orders, universities, confraternities
and other entities.
The heretical theologian Muratori contested
the vow labeling it imprudent, “unenlightened”
and even gravely irresponsible. He started a debate on
the subject arguing that one cannot risk one’s life
for a doctrine that has not yet been defined. This thesis
was refuted by the great Catholic moralist St. Alphonsus
Liguori. He favored the vow for two reasons: a) there
was a universal consensus among the faithful in respect
to the subject; b) a universal celebration of the feast
of the Immaculate Conception was already established.3
In Defense of the Immaculate Conception
Great defenders and preachers of the
privilege of the Immaculate Conception included: St. Leonard,
St. Peter Canisius, St. Robert Bellarmine and many others.
The desire to defend the Immaculate Conception
was so great that some universities would refuse to admit
any students who did not swear to defend this special
privilege of the Virgin. Even civil authorities would
demand such an oath as was the case of the congressmen
who declared Venezuela’s independence. They swore
to defend independence, the Catholic religion and the
mystery of the Immaculate Conception.4
Was the Debate Justifiable?
Some modern Catholics who are not well
informed or deformed by today’s religious relativism
might object: Was not such an obstinate defense of this
privilege of Our Lady exaggerated?
Such Catholics do not understand the
profundity of the dogma and its implications. As Prof.
Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira explained: “the
dogma of the Immaculate Conception, considered in itself
clashed with the essentially egalitarian spirit of the
Revolution that since 1789 has despotically reigned in
the West. To see a simple creature so elevated over others
by an inestimable privilege conceded to her at the first
moment of her existence, cannot help but pain the children
of the Revolution that proclaim absolute equality among
men as the principle of all order, justice and good.”5
This is one more reason why the Church
celebrates this marvelous privilege of the Immaculate
Conception on December 8. This justification of the privilege
was so well expressed by the French orator Bossuet who
said the Immaculate Conception represented “flesh
without fragility, senses without rebellion, life without
stain and death without suffering.”6
The feast of the Immaculate Conception
is an excellent opportunity to ask her special intercession
for our country. May she protect us against the evils of
abortion, same-sex unions, and so much promiscuity that
is destroying the family. May she protect our brave troops
that are selflessly shedding their blood in Iraq, Afghanistan
and so many other places. Let us pray for all families struggling
to be faithful to the Church and to raise their children
in the love and reverent fear of God.
* * *
To
read Fr. Saint-Laurent's Commentary on the Immaculate Conception,
click
here
To
order your free copy of a picture of Our Lady of the Immaculate
Conception, click
here
