What is the feast of the Immaculate Conception?
- By Collin Vogt
- Photography: IStock photo by Jorisvo
While most consistently church-going Catholics will know this, it is a common misconception (pun intended) that the Feast of the Immaculate Conception—the Holy Day of Obligation taking place December 8—refers to the conception of Jesus.
It’s easy to understand why. Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Virgin Mary. That is certainly immaculate. However, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception actually refers to the conception of Mary—that she was preserved as a perfect vessel for God to enter the world, free from original sin.
The Catholic doctrine of Mary’s sinless birth is an important distinguisher of the Catholic Church from the Eastern Orthodox churches and offers the most complete, theologically sound interpretation of Scripture from the very beginning.
Two key verses set the stage for the doctrine. The first comes early in Genesis: “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel” (Genesis 3:15). This verse is often referred to as the “protoevangelium,” the first prophecy referring to Jesus’ redemption of humanity after our fall. The Catholic Church identifies Mary as the woman, the “new Eve,” a belief posited by the earliest Church fathers, such as Saint Irenaeus, the bishop of Lyon in the second century. He wrote in his work Against Heresies that Mary reverses the fall caused by Eve’s disobedience because Mary “was obedient and became the cause of salvation for herself and the whole human race.” Saint Irenaeus’ teaching was rooted in Saint Paul’s doctrine of Christ as the “Last Adam,” thus implying Mary as the “New Eve.”
The second verse forming the basis of Mary’s Immaculate Conception comes from the Gospel of Luke, with the angel Gabriel’s greeting to Mary: “Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you” (Luke, 1:28). The phrase “full of grace,” which is now part of the Hail Mary prayer, is translated from the Greek phrase kecharitōmenē, which is a perfect passive participle that conveys a permanent and enduring state of grace for Mary, implying that she had always been in a state of grace and was not touched by Original Sin. Additionally, the word was used in place of a name or title for Mary, further strengthening the belief that her role in Salvation was specially ordained by God from the beginning.
Thus, the idea that Mary was born without sin was a part of Catholic teaching from the first century and onward. However, an important debate took place in the Middle Ages—how could Mary be free from original sin while still needing redemption through Christ? This was important because, unlike Jesus, Mary was not divine and therefore was in need of salvation. Yet, if she was born without sin, why would she need salvation? This deadlock prevented the doctrine from being formally adopted by the Church for many years.
The resolution came from Franciscan Friar John Duns Scotus (Scotus coming from the Latin Scotia, referring to his native Scotland) in the early 13th Century. Scotus defended the Immaculate Conception by arguing that Mary was essentially preemptively redeemed by Christ. He referred to this as a “preservative” redemption and articulated that this was indeed a “more perfect form” of redemption, because it was better to preserve one from sin than to save them after it has occurred. Furthermore, this “preservative” redemption only serves to further exalt Christ as Redeemer, while rightfully acknowledging Mary’s reliance on His salvation.
Scotus’ elegant solution properly exalted Jesus as Savior and proved Mary as Immaculately Conceived, while maintaining centuries of Catholic canon. Scotus was so persuasive in his defense of the Immaculate Conception that the University of Paris, where he taught, officially adopted his argument.
Understanding the implications of the Immaculate Conception is not only important for comprehending the Catholic Church’s Mariology, but also to properly conceiving something of the nature of God—as much as we are able to do so.
In other words, it is important to distinguish that God is not “bound” by some force or circumstance outside of His control, in the sense that He could not enter the world except through a perfect vessel. Rather, the Immaculate Conception was a “fitting” gift made for the Second Eve—whom God knew would be faithful, because of His perfectly just nature—as an adornment of the even more gracious gift of the Incarnation. Put simply, the Immaculate Conception occurred because God is perfect and just—not because it was a constraint.
While his argument still generated dissent among certain groups of the clergy for centuries, Scotus’ interpretation became the most prevalent and popularly accepted reasoning for the Immaculate Conception. It was not, however, definitively declared as a dogmatic teaching of the Church until Pope Pius IX’s decree in the papal bull Ineffabilis Deus, issued in 1854.
Just four years later, in the Marian apparition at Lourdes, Bernadette Soubirous reported that the Blessed Mother announced herself as “The Immaculate Conception,” seemingly offering confirmation from heaven that the dogma was appropriate.
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