never lacked the splendor of Sanctity. And this doctrine has so occupied the minds and souls of our forefathers that a singular and altogether wonderful manner of speech became customary with them by which they very often called the Mother of God Immaculate and Immaculate in all respects, innocent and most innocent, uninjured and uninjured from every source whatsoever, holy and most remote from every stain of sin, wholly pure, wholly un¬
defiled and almost the very form of purity and innocence, more beautiful than beauty, fairer than fairness, more holy than holiness, and alone holy and most pure in soul and body, who surpassed all integrity and all virginity,
and alone was entirely made the dwelling place of all virginity, and alone was entirely made the dwelling place
of all the graces of the most Holy Spirit, and who, with the sole exception of God, became superior to all, and more beautiful and fairer and holier by nature than the very Cherubim and Seraphim, and the whole army of angels—she whom all the tongues of heaven and earth do not suffice to extol.
(Litterae Apost. de dogmati. defin. Imm. Cone. B. V.
M. Pii IX A. D. 1854.) (Summa Aurea: J. J. Bourasse.
1868. Tom. VII p. 628-639.)
The preceding paragraphs translated literally from the Dogmatic Bull give us the mind of the Church concerning the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception. This doctrine as explained in the Bull will best help us to understand the proper and genuine meaning of the definition. After setting forth in the Bull the sense and doctrine of the Church concerning the Immaculate Conception, the Pope states that he had been repeatedly urged to declare the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception of Mary an article of faith. He then relates that he gave this question to a
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commission of Cardinals and Theologians to be once more thoroughly discussed and examined; that he wrote to all
the Bishops to report to him their own opinion and the belief of their faithful people and that to his great joy
“they not only confirmed their own singular piety and that of their clergy and faithful people towards the Im¬
maculate Conception of the Most Blessed Virgin, but they even entreated us that the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin should be defined by our supreme judgment and authority.” Yielding to the wishes of the entire Church, Pope Pius IX on the feast of the Immaculate Conception December 8, 1854, made this solemn declaration in the aforesaid Bull—“We declare, pronounce and define that the doctrine which holds that the Most Blessed Virgin Mary in the first instant of her Conception, by a singular grace and privilege of Almighty God, in view of the merits of Christ Jesus, the Savior of the human race, had been preserved free from every stain of original sin, has been revealed by God and must, therefore, be firmly and constantly believed by all the faithful.”
THE MEANING OF THE DEFINITION
1. The Definition speaks only of the Conception of Mary; it may be rightly applied to her entire actual con¬
ception (conceptionis suae).
2. The Definition speaks of the first instant of her con¬
ception, therefore there was no instant in her Conception in which she was not preserved (in primo instanti).
3. The Definition implies that her preservation had been fully completed in the first instant of her Conception
(fuisse praeservatam).
4. The Definition states that Mary had been preserved from every stain of original sin, therefore not simply from
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original sin strictly so called, but from every stain coming from or connected with original sin (ab omni labe).
5. The Definition states that this preservation was done by a singular grace and privilege of Almighty God. Mary received then from Almighty God a singular grace and a special privilege which preserved her from every stain.
6. The Definition states that Almighty God gave Mary this special grace and privilege in view of the merits of Christ Jesus, the Savior of the human race. It was there¬
fore the foresight of the merits of Christ that moved God to grant Mary this grace and privilege, in other words, it
was Christ who merited this grace and privilege for Mary.
7. The Definition calls Jesus “the Savior of the human race.” Jesus Can be called the Savior of Mary only in this sense that Almighty God in view of the merits of Christ preserved Mary from every stain of sin, or saved
Mary from contracting the least stain of sin.
N. B.—The Definition does not use the word “Redeemer*’ hut Savior, for redemption and salvation, to redeem and to serve, though closely allied in meaning and often used promiscuously, do not mean exactly the same. Strictly speaking, to redeem means (as St. Thomas himself explains the term) to buy back from the slavery of satan, and by offering atonement and satisfaction to
God for sin to obtain God’s pardon and the remission of sin. It therefore implies the idea that the person has really fallen into sin, has really contracted sin. In this strict sense it would be
wrong to say: “Christ is the Redeemer of Mary, Christ has re¬
deemed Mary.” But it is perfectly true to say: “Christ is the Savior of Mary,” because Christ by his merits saved Mary from the fall or preserved her from original sin. In this same sense St. Bernard says in his first sermon on the Circumcision of Christ,
“The same (Jesus) is indeed the Savior, both of the Angel and of man, but of man from the Incarnation, of the Angel from the be¬
ginning of the creature.”33 Christ can be called the Savior of the Angel by preserving him from the fall, but Christ did not redeem
any Angel after his fall, as He redeemed man after his fall.
33 Idem quippe et Angeli Salvator et hominis; sed hominis ab incamatione, Angeli ab initio credturae.
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8. The Definition does not say “redeemed from sin”
but “preserved from every stain.” In the first moment of her Conception, Mary was kept free from every stain of sin by the singular grace of God preventing the con¬
traction of any stain.
9. The Definition does not say, “after the Conception of Mary was completed,” and it does not say, “after the person of Mary was constituted,” but it does say, “in the
first instant of her Conception.”
10. The Definition does not say, “by a personal sancti¬
fication nor by a personal Redemption,” but, “by a singular grace and privilege.”
This then seems to be the obvious meaning of the words of the Definition of the Church. A careful study of the wording of this Dogmatic Bull will reveal to us what is the mind of the Church regarding the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception and what is therefore the real meaning of the Definition.
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CHAPTER VI