FEAST OF THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION 8th DECEMBER

FEAST OF THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION

8th DECEMBER

Today is a Holy Day of Obligation, where we commemorate the conception of the Blessed Virgin, free from the stain of original sin.

The dogma of the Immaculate Conception was proclaimed by Pope Pius IX in Ineffabilis Deus in 1854 after consultation with the bishops; “Mary, through God’s grace was conceived free of original sin by a singular grace and privilege granted by Almighty God in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the human race”. As a doctrine revealed by God the dogma of the Immaculate Conception is “therefore to be believed firmly and constantly by all the faithful.”

The idea that Our Lady had been conceived without original sin dated from the early Church, alluded, but not directly attributed to, in scripture. It was celebrated in the early Church, in Ireland in the 8th century and England in the 11th century. Following the Norman Conquest, however, dispute arose regarding the doctrine and the medieval period saw its suppression for a period owing to theological disputation arising between the Dominicans and the Franciscans.

Pope Pius IX, in Ineffabilis Deus, drew upon imagery from scripture, including the Song of Songs, as well as passages such as Genesis 3:15:

“The most glorious Virgin…. .was foretold by God when He said to the serpent: I will put enmity between you and the woman, a prophecy which reached fulfillment in the figure of the woman in the Revelation of John, crowned with the stars and trampling the dragon underfoot.”

Bernadette Soubirous had visions of Our Lady at Lourdes in February and July 1858, in which Our Lady announced herself as the Immaculate Conception. Before that time, Catherine Laboure had been blessed with visions of the Blessed Mother in 1830, in which she announced herself as the Immaculate Conception; “O Mary conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee.”

St Louis de Montfort described the Blessed Virgin as ‘the great and exclusive mould of God”. She is the image, the archetype, in respect of whom it is proper to make a living image. By this, one is drawn closer to God “at small cost and in a little time”. A soul which has found that mould, and has lost itself in it, is led to Jesus Christ, just as Mary always points us to her Son. (1)

The First Vespers of the Feast Day provides:

Tota pulchra es, Maria, et macula originalis non est in te

Thou art all fair, O Mary; and the original stain is not in thee.

Thy vesture is white as snow; and thy face is as the sun.

Thou art the glory of Jerusalem; thou art the joy of Israel; thou art the honour of our people.

Blessed art thou, O Virgin Mary, by the Lord, the Most High God, above all women upon the earth.

The cult of the Blessed Virgin was directly responsible for the elevation of women in Western culture. The cult of Our Lady has resulted in some of the most beautiful art and music of our history. Carrie Gress, in her book, The Marian Option,(2), referred to an exhibition of 68 pieces on loan from the Vatican Museum, the Louvre and Uffizi, including works by Caravaggio, Botticelli, Michelangelo, all of the Blessed Virgin. She said:

“It is hard to imagine a deeper divide in the understanding of womanhood than the cut-throat culture of Washington as compared to the type of woman depicted in all those paintings. And yet, nestled in the centre of a five story building in the very heart of Washington DC was a hidden sanctuary offering visions of a woman who, in her silence, drowns out the shrill individualism toward which the rest of the city is lunging. Only Mary could find a way to penetrate what seems impenetrable.

...Mary’s admittance to the women’s museum was not because she was meek, humble or a fitting model of the twenty-first century woman - far from it - but because these sixty eight works of art represented the heights of culture to which even the most secular among us still give homage.

So how is it that a young woman from Nazareth- so contrary to modern manners- has influenced and is still influencing culture? (3)

Dr Gress quoted from Johan Roten, in saying that Mary is the physical embodiment of “God’s covenant with humanity. In her existence, the original concept of human being is reinstated…[She marks] the humble beginning of the Christian era and its utter dependence on the Spirit’s fire and light at Pentecost.’

It is in this new order of the Holy Spirit that her impressions and her influence are easiest to see: ‘As masterpiece, Mary is a direct reference to the Divine artifex: she is part of the creative manifestation of God’s marvelous deeds.’

Mary’s beauty is a beauty of promise and hope; ’Marian culture, then, as an extension of Mary’s virtues, isn’t art for art’s sake, or beauty for beauty’s sake. Like Mary, it points to something-or, in this case, someone - beyond itself.'”(4)

St Bonventura described it as;

“The Creator of all things rests in the tabernacle of the virginal womb, because He has prepared His bridal chamber in order to become our brother; here He sets up a royal throne to become our prince; here he puts on priestly vestments to become our high priest. Because of this marital union, she is the Mother of God; because of the royal throne, she is the Queen of Heaven; because of the priestly vestments, she is the advocate of the human race.” As Bonaventure makes clear, every grace from the Son first came through the Virgin’s womb.”

St Thomas Aquinas said that “[t]he Blessed Virgin Mary must be shown every honour, preached and praised and invoked by us for our every need’. Showing a more pastoral side, St Thomas suggested, ‘For in every danger you can obtain salvation from this glorious Virgin,’ and in every difficulty or ‘work of virtue you can have Mary as your helper for she truly says of herself ‘I am the mother of fair love and of fear, and of knowledge, and of holy hope, in me is all grace of the way; in me is all hope of life and of virtue.’” (Eccles 24: 24025). (5)

(1) St Louis de Montfort, “True Devotion to Mary”, TAN Classics, 2010, Charlotte, North Carolina, at para 260, p. 137.

(2) TAN, 2017, North Carolina.

(3) ibid., at p. 29.

(4) ibid., at p. 30.

(5) ibid., at p. 32.

The image, “Child Mary” is by Kristyn Brown photo, The Saint’s Project.