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1.1
The dened dogma of the Immaculate Conception regards original sin only, saying that Mary was preserved
from any stain (in Latin, macula or labes, the second
of these two synonymous words being the one used in
the formal denition).[6] The proclaimed Roman Catholic
lime. He stated that Mary, rather than being cleansed after sin, was completely prevented from contracting Original Sin in view of the foreseen merits of Jesus Christ,
the Savior of the human race. In Luke 1:47, Mary proclaims: My spirit has rejoiced in God my Saviour.
This is referred to as Marys pre-redemption by Christ.
Since the Council of Orange II against semi-pelagianism,
the Catholic Church has taught that even had man never
sinned in the Garden of Eden and was sinless, he would
still require Gods grace to remain sinless.[14][15]
History
HISTORY
designated Mary as prokathartheisa (prepuried). Gregory likely attempted to solve the riddle of the Purication of Jesus and Mary in the Temple through considering the human natures of Jesus and Mary as equally holy
and therefore both puried in this manner of grace and
glory.[18] Gregorys doctrines surrounding Marys purication were likely related to the burgeoning commemoration of the Mother of God in and around Constantinople very close to the date of Christmas.[19] Nazianzens
title of Mary at the Annunciation as prepuried was
subsequently adopted by all theologians interested in his
Mariology to justify the Byzantine equivalent of the Immaculate Conception. This is especially apparent in the
Fathers St. Sophronios of Jerusalem and St. John Damascene, who will be treated below in this article at the section on Church Fathers. About the time of Damascene,
the public celebration of the Conception of St. Ann [i.e.,
of the Theotokos in her womb]" was becoming popular.
After this period, the purication of the perfect natures
of Jesus and Mary would not only mean moments of grace
and glory at the Incarnation and Baptism and other public
Byzantine liturgical feasts, but purication was eventually
associated with the feast of Marys very conception (along
with her Presentation in the Temple as a toddler) by Orthodox authors of the 2nd millennium (e.g., St. Nicholas
Cabasilas[20] and Joseph Bryennius).[21]
By 750 the feast of her conception was widely celebrated
in the Byzantine East, under the name of the Conception (active) of Saint Anne. In the West it was known as
the feast of the Conception (passive) of Mary, and was
associated particularly with the Normans, whether these
introduced it directly from the East[22] or took it from
English usage.[23] The spread of the feast, by now with
the adjective Immaculate attached to its title, met opposition on the part of some, on the grounds that sanctication was possible only after conception.[24] Critics included Saints Bernard of Clairvaux, Albertus Magnus and
Thomas Aquinas. Other theologians defended the expression Immaculate Conception, pointing out that sanctication could be conferred at the rst moment of conception in view of the foreseen merits of Christ, a view held
especially by Franciscans.[25]
On 28 February 1476, Pope Sixtus IV, a Franciscan after whom the Sistine Chapel is named, authorized those
dioceses that wished to introduce the feast to do so, and
introduced it to his own diocese of Rome in 1477,[23] with
a specially composed Mass and Oce of the feast.[28]
With his bull Cum praeexcelsa of 28 February 1477, in
which he referred to the feast as that of the Conception of Mary, without using the word Immaculate, he
granted indulgences to those who would participate in the
specially composed Mass or Oce on the feast itself or
during its octave, and he used the word immaculate of
2.1
by her son Jesus Christ through his passion, death, and Pius IX. Bernard would seem to have been speaking of
resurrection and was not due to her own merits.[42][43]
conception in the active sense of the mothers cooperation, for in his argument he says: How can there be absence of sin where there is concupiscence (libido)?" and
2.2 Later developments
stronger expressions follow, showing that he is speaking
of the mother and not of the child.[7]
For the Roman Catholic Church the dogma of the Immaculate Conception gained additional signicance from Saint Thomas Aquinas, the greatest of the medieval
the reputed apparitions of Our Lady of Lourdes in 1858. scholastics, refused to admit the Immaculate Conception,
At Lourdes a 14-year-old girl, Bernadette Soubirous, on the ground that, unless the Blessed Virgin had at one
not justly
claimed that a beautiful woman appeared to her and said, time or other been one of the sinful, she could
[52]
be
said
to
have
been
redeemed
by
Christ.
I am the Immaculate Conception. Many believe the
woman to have been the Blessed Virgin Mary and pray to Saint Bonaventure (d. 1274), second only to Saint
her as such.[44][45]
Thomas in his inuence on the Christian schools of his
[7]
Pope Pius IX dened the dogma of the Immaculate Con- age, hesitated to accept it for a similar reason. He
ception not so much because of proofs in Scripture or believed that Mary was completely free from sin, but
not given this grace at the instant of her
ancient tradition, but due to a profound sensus delium that she was
[53]
conception.
[46]
and the Magisterium.
Speaking of the witness of the Church Fathers in claiming The celebrated John Duns Scotus (d. 1308), a Friar Mifor Mary titles such as Free from all contagion of sin, nor like Saint Bonaventure, argued, on the contrary, that
from a rational point of view it was certainly as little
Pope Pius XII wrote:
derogatory to the merits of Christ to assert that Mary
was by him preserved from all taint of sin, as to say that
If the popular praises of the Blessed Virgin
she rst contracted it and then was delivered.[7] ProposMary be given the careful consideration they
ing a solution to the theological problem of reconciling
deserve, who will dare to doubt that she, who
the doctrine with that of universal redemption in Christ,
was purer than the angels and at all times pure,
he argued that Marys immaculate conception did not rewas at any moment, even for the briefest inmove her from redemption by Christ; rather it was the
stant, not free from every stain of sin?[47]
result of a more perfect redemption granted her because
of her special role in salvation history.[54]
The Roman Catholic tradition has a well-established phiThe arguments of Scotus, combined with a better aclosophy for the study of the Immaculate Conception and
quaintance with the language of the early Fathers, gradthe veneration of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the eld of
ually prevailed in the schools of the Western Church. In
Mariology, with Pontical schools such as the Marianum
1387 the university of Paris strongly condemned the op[48][49][50]
specically devoted to this.
posite view.[7]
According to Bernard Ullathorne, a 19th-century English
Scotuss arguments remained controversial, however,
Roman Catholic prelate, the expressions - The Immacuparticularly among the Dominicans, who were willing
late Conception - The Immaculate Preservation - The Imenough to celebrate Marys sancticatio (being made free
munity - and Exception from original sin, are all phrases
from sin) but, following the Dominican Thomas Aquinas
which bear the same signication, and are used equally to
arguments, continued to insist that her sanctication
[51]
express one and the same mystery.
could not have occurred until after her conception.[24]
Church Fathers
OTHER CHURCHES
ocial doctrines of the Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Anglican and Protestant churches.
6.1
Anglicanism
6.4
Protestantism
Islam
10
GALLERY
Conception, and the problem was not fully solved for 150
years. The Italian Renaissance artist Piero di Cosimo was
among those artists who tried new solutions, but none of
these became generally adopted so that the subject matter
Other prayers honouring Marys immaculate concep- would be immediately recognisable to the faithful.
tion are in use outside the formal liturgy.
The The denitive iconography for the Immaculate Concephymn Immaculate Mary, addressed to Mary as the Im- tion, drawing on the emblem tradition, seems to have
maculately Conceived One, is closely associated with been nally established by the master and then fatherLourdes.[101] The Immaculata prayer, composed by Saint in-law of Diego Velzquez, the painter and theorist
Maximillian Kolbe, is a prayer of entrustment to Mary as Francisco Pacheco. Pachecos iconography inuenced
the Immaculata.[102] A novena of prayers, with a specic other Spanish artists such as Bartolom Murillo, Diego
prayer for each of the nine days has been composed under Velzquez, and Francisco Zurbarn, who each produced a
the title of the Immaculate Conception Novena.[103]
number of artistic masterpieces based on the use of these
same symbols.[105][106]
The popularity of this particular representation of The
Immaculate Conception spread across the rest of Europe,
9 Artistic representations
and has since remained the best known artistic depiction of the concept: in a heavenly realm, moments after
Main article: Roman Catholic Marian art
her creation, the spirit of Mary (in the form of a young
The 1476 extension of the feast of the Immaculate Conwoman) looks up in awe at (or bows her head to) God.
The moon is under her feet and a halo of twelve stars surround her head, possibly a reference to a woman clothed
with the sun from Revelation 12:1-2. Additional imagery may include clouds, a golden light, and cherubs. In
some paintings the cherubim are holding lilies and roses,
owers often associated with Mary.[107]
10 Gallery
di Cosimo Immaculate Conception, 1505
Rubens Immaculate Conception 1628-1629
Zurbarn Immaculate Conception, 1630
Murillo Immaculate Conception, 1650
Murillo Immaculate Conception, 1660
Murillo Immaculate Conception, 1678
Carlo Maratta, 1689
Juan Antonio Escalante 17th century
Santa Maria degli Angeli, Rome
Baroque altar in Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception Church, Portugal
Caxias do Sul museum, Brazil
Swiss emblem 16th century
11
See also
12
Bibliography
13
References
10
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REFERENCES
America
http://
11
[73] See
https://www.academia.edu/4375213/The_
Immaculate_Conception_Why_Thomas_Aquinas_
Denied_While_John_Duns_Scotus_Gregory_Palamas_
and_Mark_Eugenicus_Professed_the_Absolute_
Immaculate_Existence_of_Mary , pp. 69-81
[74] Christiaan Kappes, The Immaculate Conception: Why
Thomas Aquinas Denied, While John Duns Scotus, Gregory Palamas, and Mark Eugenicus Professed the Absolute Immaculate Existence of Mary (Bedford, MA:
Academy of the Immaculate, 2014), 69-92; 157-169
[75] Mark of Ephesus, On the Distinction between Essence
and Energy: First Antirrhetic against Manuel Kalekas.
Editio princeps, ed. M. Pilavakis (Unpublished doctoral
dissertation), London 1987: But He did so with her, after he prepuried () her through a most
profuse grace by means of the protecting Holy Spirit and
divine power [...]"
[76] Kebra Nagast, Chapter 96:Concerning the Prophecy about
christ
[77] Old Roman Catholic Church of North America - What
IS Catholic?". Orccna.org. Retrieved 2009-05-05.
[78] Luthers Works, American edition, vol. 43, p. 40, ed. H.
Lehmann, Fortress, 1968
[79] Gregory Lee Jackson Catholic, Lutheran, Protestant: A
Doctrinal Comparison ( 1993 ISBN 978-0-615-16635-3),
p. 249
[80] The Protestant faith by George Wolfgang Forell 1962
ISBN 0-8006-1095-4 page 23
[81] Jesus in history, thought, and culture: an encyclopedia,
Volume 1 by James Leslie Houlden 2003 ISBN 1-57607856-6 page
[82] George Sale, Koran, commonly called the Alcoran of Mohammed, chapter 3, p. 39
[83] Edward Gibbon, The History of the Decline and Fall of the
Roman Empire, vol. V, chapter 50
[84] The Evangelical Repository and United Presbyterian Review (Philadelphia 1865), vol. XLII, p. 433
[85] Thomas Patrick Hughes, A Dictionary of Islam. First
published London 1885; reprinted by Asian Educational Services 2001. ISBN 8120606728, ISBN
9788120606722. Entry IMMACULATE CONCEPTION. (Google Books) Quote: This doctrine was asserted by Muhammad (Mishkt, book i., ch. iii., pt. 1).
[86] William Bernard Ullathorne. The Immaculate Conception
of the Mother of God: An Exposition. First published
1855; ISBN 1-110-89977-7. Chapter XIV, Mahomet
and Martin Luther. (Google Books)
[87] Giancarlo Finazzo. The Virgin Mary in the Koran.
L'Osservatore Romano Weekly Edition in English, 13
April 1978, page 4. Quote: The dogma of the Immaculate Conception ... is univocally recognized by the Islamic
religion.
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EXTERNAL LINKS
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External links
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15.1
15.2
Images
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File:Gloriole_blur.svg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/48/Gloriole_blur.svg License: Public domain Contributors: Own work Original artist: Eubulides
File:ImmaculateEmblem.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/b/b5/ImmaculateEmblem.jpg License: Public domain
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File:Kirchenfenster_Bckweiler.jpg Source:
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15.3
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