Immaculate Conception

The depiction of a crescent moon, halo of 12 stars, blue robe, assumption into heaven and a serpent underfoot brings to mind the picture of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. According to the teaching of the Catholic Church, the Immaculate Conception was the conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the womb of her mother, Saint Anne, free from original sin by virtue of the foreseen merits of her son Jesus Christ.

  

   1.      Free from original and personal sin

The dogma of the Immaculate Conception says that Mary was preserved from any strain. The Roman Catholic dogma clearly states “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.” Since she was always free from original sin, the doctrine teaches us that from her conception she received the sanctifying grace that would normally come with baptism after birth. The Church holds that Mary was also sinless personally. The decree of the Council of Trent says, “If anyone shall say that a man once justified can sin no more, nor lose grace, and that therefore he who falls and sins was never truly justified; or, on the contrary, that throughout his whole life he can avoid all sins even venial sins, except by a special privilege of God, as the Church holds in regard to the Blessed Virgin: let him be anathema.”

   2.      Virgin Conception

Very often the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception i. e. Mary being conceived without original sin is confused with the virginal conception of her son Jesus. The term Immaculate Conception is many times misunderstood in the mass media. The Holy See in 1677, condemned the belief that Mary was conceived virginally, which as a belief was frequently coming up since the 4^th Century. The Church teaches that Mary was conceived by normal biological means and not virginally. The Immaculate Conception deals with the conception of Mary herself and not her son. Today Catholics believe that Mary wasn’t the product of a virginal conception but that she was the daughter of human parents; whom we know by the traditional names of Saint Joachim and Saint Anne.

   3.      Redemption

There is another misunderstanding which says that because Mary was immaculately conceived she did not need a Savior. Pope Pius IX when defining the dogma in Ineffabilis Deus openly affirmed that Mary was redeemed in a manner more sublime. He said  that Mary was totally prevented from contracting Original sin in view of the foreseen merits of Jesus Christ, the Savior of the human race rather than being cleansed after sin. The Church teaches that even if man would have never sinned and been sinless in the Garden of Eden, he would still need the grace of God to remain in the state of sinlessness.

   4.      Dogma

Bishops in various countries began to press for a definition as dogma of the teaching of Mary’s Immaculate Conception during the reign of Pope Gregory XVI. In 1839, Mariano Spada, a professor of theology published ‘A critical examination of the doctrine of St. Thomas Aquinas, the Angelic Doctor, regarding original sin with respect to the Most Blessed Virgin Mary’. Here Aquinas was interpreted as dealing with the sanctification of the fetus within Mary’s womb rather than the Immaculate Conception later formulated in the papal bull. His interpretation relieved Pope Pius IX of the problem of having to foster a doctrine not in agreement with Aquinas’ teaching.

At the beginning of his pontificate and again after 1851, Pope Pius IX appointed commission to investigate the whole subject. With support of the overwhelming majority of Roman Catholic bishops, whom he consulted between 1851- 1853, he promulgated the papal bull Ineffabilis Deus (Latin- “Ineffable God”) which defined ex cathedra the dogma of the Immaculate Conception.

We declare, pronounce and define that the doctrine which holds that the Blessed Virgin Mary, at the first instant of her conception, by a singular privilege and grace of the Omnipotent God, in virtue of the merits of Jesus Christ, the Savior of mankind, was preserved immaculate from all stain of original sin, has been revealed by God, and therefore should firmly and constantly be believed by all the faithful.

— Pope Pius IX, Ineffabilis Deus, December 8, 1854

The dogma was defined in accordance with the conditions of papal infallibility, which would be defined in 1870 by the First Vatican Council.

The papal definition of the dogma declares with absolute certainty and authority that Mary possessed sanctifying grace from the first instant of her existence and was free from the lack of grace caused by the original sin at the beginning of human history. Mary's salvation was won by her son Jesus Christ through his passion, death, and resurrection and was not due to her own merits.

    5.      Veneration and Patronage

The Immaculate Conception is venerated in the Roman Catholic Church, some Oriental Orthodox Churches and in the Anglican Communion. Korea, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Philippines, Portugal, Spain, United States, Uruguay are the countries which are under the patronage of the Immaculate Conception. The Catholic Church celebrates the Feast of the Immaculate Conception on December 8; in many Catholic countries, it is a holy day of obligation or patronal feast, and in some a national public holiday.