The Immaculate Conception
From the very first instant of her conception in the womb of her mother, Saint Anne, Mary was preserved from original sin, by a singular grace, in view of the merits of Jesus Christ. Defined by Pope Pius IX in 1854.
How We Came to Know This
Four moments, two in Scripture, one in papal definition, one in heaven’s own confirmation, by which the Church came to teach the Immaculate Conception of Mary.
The Protoevangelium
Genesis 3:15
God to the serpent: “I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed.” Total enmity, never any compromise, between the woman and the evil one. The Church reads this as the first prophecy of an Immaculate Mother.
Hail, Full of Grace
Luke 1:28
Gabriel greets Mary: “Hail, full of grace”, Greek kecharitomene. A perfect passive participle: she has been and continues to be filled with grace. There is no room for sin where grace is total.
Pope Pius IX
8 December 1854, Ineffabilis Deus
After centuries of theological development (Saint Anselm, Bl. John Duns Scotus), Pius IX formally defined the Immaculate Conception as a dogma binding on all Catholics. Mary was preserved from original sin from the first instant of her existence.
Lourdes, Heaven Confirms
25 March 1858
Just four years after the dogma, Mary appeared to Saint Bernadette in the grotto at Lourdes. Asked her name, she said: “I am the Immaculate Conception.” An illiterate peasant girl could not have invented the phrase.
A Common Misunderstanding
The Immaculate Conception is not the conception of Jesus. The conception of Jesus is the Incarnation, celebrated at the Annunciation on March 25 and at Christmas on December 25. The Immaculate Conception, celebrated on December 8, is about Mary herself, her own conception, in the womb of her mother Anne, free from original sin.
Nor does the doctrine deny that Mary needed redemption. She did. As Pius IX carefully wrote, she was preserved “in view of the merits of Jesus Christ.” Christ’s grace, which exists outside time, was applied to her at the first moment of her existence, lifting her free of original sin from the start. Mary was redeemed, by being preserved.
Voices on the Immaculate Conception
“Mary, the Immaculate Conception, Visiting Lourdes”, Bishop Robert Barron, Word on Fire
“The Immaculate Conception Explained”, Fr. Mike Schmitz, Ascension Presents
O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee.
, the prayer Saint Catherine Labouré received from Mary herself in 1830, four years before Lourdes