The Immaculate Conception refers to the condition that the Blessed Virgin Mary was free from original sin from the very moment of her conception in the womb of her mother, Saint Anne. We celebrate the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary on September 8, nine months before is December 8, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception.
Misconceptions about the Immaculate Conception
The Feast of the Immaculate Conception is the subject of a lot of misconceptions (so to speak). Perhaps the most common one, held even by many Catholics, is that it celebrates the conception of Christ in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary. We celebrate that feast—the Annunciation of the Lord—on March 25, exactly nine months before Christmas. It was at the Annunciation, when the Blessed Virgin Mary humbly accepted the honor bestowed on her by God and announced by the angel Gabriel, that the conception of Christ took place.
Is Immaculate Conception Biblical?
1. Mary is full of grace.
Luke 1:28 [RSV]: "And he came to her and said, 'Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you!'"
The term traditionally translated "full of grace" or "highly favored" is kecharitomene. This past perfect form denotes something that happened in the past and continues into the present. She was perfectly graced in the past and continues in that state. Luke 1:28 has served as the locus classicus for the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception of Our Lady.
2. Mary as having enmity with Satan
1. Mary is full of grace.
Luke 1:28 [RSV]: "And he came to her and said, 'Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you!'"
The term traditionally translated "full of grace" or "highly favored" is kecharitomene. This past perfect form denotes something that happened in the past and continues into the present. She was perfectly graced in the past and continues in that state. Luke 1:28 has served as the locus classicus for the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception of Our Lady.
2. Mary as having enmity with Satan
Gen 3:15 "And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall crush your head, and you shall strike at His heel."
In this verse God addresses Satan. The Seed here is Christ. The Woman is His Mother, that is, Mary. Thus Satan has perfect enmity with Christ and with His Mother. The Catholic Church has interpreted this as indicating the sinlessness of Christ and Mary. If either actually committed sin, then they would not be at enmity with Satan but actually a cooperator with Satan at times.
3. Mary as Ark of the Covenant
In the Old Covenant the Ark of the Covenant contained the Word of God on stone. In the New Covenant, the Word made Flesh was also contained - and that in the womb of the Blessed Virgin. The Catholic Church has therefore understood Mary as the mystical Ark of the New Covenant. This connection is made in the book of Revelation.
Rev 11:19-12:2 Then God's temple in heaven was opened, and the ark of his covenant was seen within his temple; and there were flashes of lightning, voices, peals of thunder, an earthquake, and heavy hail. And a great portent appeared in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars; she was with child.
The Ark of the Covenant appears in Heaven and then in the next breath (and next verse) St John describes a pregnant woman appearing in Heaven. This Woman "contains" the Messiah.
The thinking goes that if Mary is the fulfillment of the Ark of the Covenant, then she must be all holy. Remember that in the Old Covenant a man was killed for touching the ark. It was holy. If the box that held stone tablets was so restricted - so also would be the woman who actually carried God Himself. And so she is all pure and all holy, without the stain of sin.
The thinking goes that if Mary is the fulfillment of the Ark of the Covenant, then she must be all holy. Remember that in the Old Covenant a man was killed for touching the ark. It was holy. If the box that held stone tablets was so restricted - so also would be the woman who actually carried God Himself. And so she is all pure and all holy, without the stain of sin.
History of the Feast
The Feast of the Immaculate Conception, in its oldest form, goes back to the seventh century, when churches in the East began celebrating the Feast of the Conception of Saint Anne, the mother of Mary. In other words, this feast celebrates the conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the womb of Saint Anne; and nine months later, on September 8, we celebrate the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
As originally celebrated (and as still celebrated in the Eastern Orthodox Churches), however, the Feast of the Conception of Saint Anne does not have the same understanding as the Feast of the Immaculate Conception has in the Catholic Church today. The feast arrived in the West robably no earlier than the 11th century, and at that time, it began to be tied up with a developing theological controversy. Both the Eastern and the Western Church had maintained that Mary was free from sin throughout her life, but there were different understandings of what this meant.
Development of the Doctrine
Because of the doctrine of original sin some in the West began to believe that Mary could not have been sinless unless she had been saved from Original Sin at the moment of her conception (thus making the conception "immaculate"). Others, however, including St. Thomas Aquinas, argued that Mary could not have been redeemed if she had not been subject to sin—at least, to Original Sin.
The answer to St. Thomas Aquinas's objection, as the Franciscan Blessed John Duns Scotus (d. 1308) showed, was that God had sanctified Mary at the moment of her conception in His foreknowledge that the Blessed Virgin would consent to bear Christ. In other words, she too had been redeemed—her redemption had simply been accomplished at the moment of her conception, rather than (as with all other Christians) in Baptism.
After Duns Scotus's defense of the Immaculate Conception, the feast spread throughout the West, though it was still often celebrated at the Feast of the Conception of Saint Anne. On February 28, 1476, however, Pope Sixtus IV extended the feast to the entire Western Church, and in 1483 threatened with excommunication those who opposed the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception. By the middle of the 17th century, all opposition to the doctrine had died out in the Catholic Church.
Promulgation of the Dogma of the Immaculate Conception
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| Madonna della Strada |
On December 8, 1854, Pope Pius IX officially declared the Immaculate Conception a dogma of the Church, which means that all Christians are bound to accept it as true. As the Holy Father wrote in the Apostolic Constitution Ineffabilis Deus, "We declare, pronounce, and define that the doctrine which holds that the most Blessed Virgin Mary, in the first instance of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege granted by Almighty God, in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, the Savior of the human race, was preserved free from all stain of original sin, is a doctrine revealed by God and therefore to be believed firmly and constantly by all the faithful."
For the Roman Catholic Church the dogma of the Immaculate Conception gained additional significance from the reputed apparitions of Our Lady of Lourdes in 1858. At Lourdes a 14-year-old girl, Saint Bernadette Soubirous, claimed that a beautiful woman appeared to her and said, "I am the Immaculate Conception". Many believe the woman to have been the Blessed Virgin Mary and pray to her as such.
The Papal Encyclical Fulgens Corona was published in 1953 by Pius XII on centenary of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception. The encyclical proclaims a Marian Year for 1954, to commemorate the centenary of the definition of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary.
A Holy Day of Obligation
The Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception is a Holy Day of Obligation. Because this feast honoring Mary, the Mother of God, celebrates one of the most important events in salvation history, it is never abrogated, even when it falls on a Saturday or a Monday.
On 6 December 1708, Pope Clement XI made the feast of the Conception of Mary, at that time still with the Nativity of Mary formula for the Mass, a Holy Day of Obligation.
Patronage
These are countries which placed themselves under the patronage of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception: Portugal (1646), Ireland (1650), Spain (1760), United States (1847), Brazil and the Philippines.
By the bull Impositi Nobis of 12 September 1942, Pope Pius XII, at the request of the bishops of the Philippines declared the Blessed Virgin Mary, under the title of the Immaculate Conception, principal patron of the Philippines, with Saints Pudentiana and Rose of Lima as secondary patrons.
Saint Maximilian Maria Kolbe OFM Conv.
Due to his efforts to promote consecration and instrument to Mary, he is known as the Apostle of Consecration to Mary. Saint Maximilian Maria Kolbe, OFM Conv. organized the Militia Immaculata or Army of Mary, to work for conversion of sinners and enemies of the Catholic Church, specifically the Freemasons, through the intercession of the Virgin Mary. So serious was St. Maximilian about this goal that he added to the Miraculous Medal prayer: Oh Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee. And for all those who do not have recourse to thee; especially the Masons and all those recommended to thee.
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