Definition of the Doctrine of the Immaculate Conception
Excerpt from the book The Immaculate Conception of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God
Last Saturday we began our study of the doctrine of the Immaculate Heart of Mary by looking at Chapter 1 of the book The Immaculate Conception of the Most Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God (1855) by J.D. Bryant M.D.
This week we are going through Chapter 2 (pages 46-53) which goes on to look more fully at the definition of this doctrine as well as why it is reasonable doctrine as well as answering some objections to the doctrine.
Our Blessed Mother holds a special place of reverence in our Catholic faith so we should understand as much as we can about this most Holy of Mothers.
Yours in Jesus and Mary.
CHAPTER II - DEFINITION OF THE DOCTRINE — ITS REASONABLENESS OBJECTIONS ANSWERED.
Conception is both active and passive. Active conception is that by which the body, with all its members, is constituted. Passive conception is that in which the rational soul unites with, or is infused into, the physical organization. It is the latter — passive conception — which is understood when we speak of the Immaculate Conception of the Most Blessed Virgin. By the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception, therefore, is meant that, —
The soul of the Most Blessed Virgin, in being united to her body, was, by virtue of sanctifying grace, in which it was created, preserved from all stain of original sin.
If nothing concerning this exalted privilege of the Blessed Mother of our Lord had ever been uttered by the inspired penmen in the sacred Scriptures; if the Liturgies had made no intimation of it; if the illustrious Doctors and writers of the Catholic Church had not (as in every age they have) affirmed it; and, in fine, if the Church itself had not, time and again, expressed its favorable opinion of it, still must its reasonableness have recommended itself to, and forced itself upon, the conviction of Christian men. For:
1. In the mysterious plan proposed for the redemption of man, it pleased its divine Author to take upon himself our human nature. Would it be reasonable, or what might be supposed fitting, in a holy God, in whose. sight the heavens are not clean, nor the angels pure (Job 15:14), to clothe his immaculate Godhead in flesh, sullied with the faintest trace of sin —of that mortal enemy of infinite Purity and infinite Holiness, which hurled. myriads of angels from heaven, and which drove our first parents from Paradise? To have united Himself to that which had been thus polluted would have been a violation of his infinite sanctity: it would have been a union of Himself with that which he abhors—a body contaminated with sin; and it would have been an abnegation of Himself.
2. The Blessed Virgin, in the quality of Mother of God, is exalted above the angels and all the hosts of heaven. God, the Redeemer, sits at the right hand of the Almighty Father, clothed in her sacred flesh. That she, therefore, should not be the highest of all created intelligences, Queen of Angels and Saints, is totally repugnant to all our ideas of the relation between mother and son. But had the Blessed Virgin ever been contaminated with the least stain of sin, she must of necessity be inferior to the angels, who never have sinned. Therefore, she ever has been free from such a stain.
3. Mary was predestined, in the councils of God, to be the second Eve, through whom life and immortality was a second time to be proffered to men. God had created the first Eve a sinless soul. Seeing that it was impossible that the Savior should unite His Godhead to sinful flesh, and seeing that it must be by His becoming man that man could alone be redeemed, could He do less than create the second Eve as He created the first—sinless? His power to do this is not denied. If, therefore, His was the power, and it comported with His infinite purity and dignity, where is the difficulty of admitting that He has made the second Eve equal to the first; and that, applying by anticipation to the holy Virgin the merits of the passion and death of her blessed Son, He has exempted her from the necessity of being, even for an instant, the slave of sin. It is objected that by the fall of Adam the blight of original sin has included all our race—"in Adam all die." This does not weaken or impair the exemption from original sin in regard to the Blessed Virgin. The Immaculate Conception need not be maintained as an exception to the common rule; Mary being, as it is expressed in the Liturgy of the Apostle St. James, "Most holy, most glorious, Immaculate, and without the range of sinful men in every respect." (Bergier, lib. iv.) But how, then, it may be asked, extend to her the benefits of Redemption? As already stated, —by anticipation. Christ died for her, and for her chiefly; applying His merits to her by anticipation, as whose preservation was necessary to supply that life which he was to lay down for all.
But if Mary was Immaculate, why subjected to the common sufferings of life? Was she, because Immaculate, to be deprived of the common privilege of the just? But are not the sufferings of this life the consequences of original sin? True; but, under the decree of reparation, they become heaven's choicest favors. Was Mary, then, to be deprived of them; and, because Immaculate, therefore above all others worthy of them? The sword that pierced her heart was the brightest jewel in her crown. That in Adam all die is the common rule; still, it does not follow that Mary was included under it. On the contrary, it therefore follows that she was not included under it. Besides, a common rule does not necessarily comprise every individual of the class specified.
1. By the common rule, our species increase and multiply only in the commerce of the sexes; yet the Blessed Virgin was exempt from this law, since she conceived, not by man, but by the operation of the Holy Spirit. "And the Angel said to her: The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee. And therefore, also the Holy which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God." (Luke 1:35) "Fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost." (Matthew 1:20)
2. By the common rule, women, in becoming mothers, cease to be virgins. And yet, that there might not be even this taint upon the purity of the vessel which God had chosen, the Virgin Mother had not her virginal integrity impaired in bearing the Son of God. For "Behold a virgin shall be with child, and bring forth a Son, and they shall call his name Immanuel." (Matthew 1:23)
3. The Blessed Virgin is, so to speak, an order in herself. She stands alone in the entire range of intelligent beings. Though infinitely below the Deity, yet is she, as the Spouse of the Holy Ghost, and Mother of God, exalted infinitely above all created beings. And, since she has been exempted in so many respects from the common rule in virtue of her dignity, where is the difficulty in admitting that, by special privilege, she was exempt from original sin? "The contrary opinion," says Cardinal Lambruschini, "appears to me so repugnant to the sublime dignity of the Mother of God, that I think we ought to regard it as theologically absurd." The objection which alleges that the Blessed Virgin, being a child of Adam, is necessarily subjected to the Adamitic taint, loses all its force in view of these considerations. And even though there had never been a solitary exception in the administration of those general laws to which Divine Providence subjects our race, still the exemption of Mary from original sin must subsist, whether regarded as to its reasonableness or its necessity. But when we reflect that the Sacred Scriptures abound in instances where, to affect His own divine purposes, the laws of nature and of grace are set aside, every objection founded upon such a basis must fall to the ground. The waters of the Dead Sea parted and stood as a wall upon the right hand and upon the left; and the children of Israel passed through dry-shod. At the command of Joshua, the' sun stood still and moved not toward Gabon, nor the moon toward the valley of Ayalon. The fire burned not the three children, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. And in the kingdom of grace the dead have been brought to life again after having once paid the debt of nature. These, together with the prodigies already mentioned, especially those experienced in the person of the Blessed Virgin herself, are a sufficient answer to whatever may be alleged in support of the contrary opinion. Why is it that so many privileges have been accorded to the Holy Virgin, dispensing her from the common laws to which our race is subjected? Is it not because her incomparable dignity of Mother of God rendered it proper, and even necessary, that she should be thus exempted; and could anything be imagined more necessary or more proper to this dignity than the most perfect innocence?
The conclusion is unavoidable, that, if there be any law from which the dignity of Mother of God demanded exemption, it is that of original sin, with which all the other children of Adam are tainted.