THE DOCTRINE
In the Constitution
Ineffabilis Deus of 8 December, 1854,
Pius IX pronounced and defined that the
Blessed Virgin Mary "in the first instance of her conception, by a singular privilege and
grace granted by God, in view of the
merits of
Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the
human race, was preserved exempt from all stain of
original sin."
"The Blessed Virgin Mary . . ." The subject of this immunity from
original sin is the person of Mary at the moment of the creation of her soul and its infusion into her body.
". . .in the first instance of her conception . . ." The term
conception does not mean the
active or
generative conception by her parents. Her body was formed in the womb of the
mother, and the
father had the usual share in its formation. The question does not concern the immaculateness of the generative activity of her parents. Neither does it concern the passive conception absolutely and simply (
conceptio seminis carnis, inchoata), which, according to the order of nature, precedes the infusion of the rational soul. The person is truly conceived when the soul is created and infused into the body. Mary was preserved exempt from all stain of
original sin at the first moment of her animation, and sanctifying grace was given to her before sin could have taken effect in her soul.
". . .was preserved exempt from all stain of original sin. . ." The formal active essence of
original sin was not removed from her soul, as it is
removed from others by baptism; it was
excluded, it never was in her soul. Simultaneously with the exclusion of sin. The state of original sanctity, innocence, and justice, as opposed to
original sin, was conferred upon her, by which gift every stain and fault, all depraved emotions, passions, and debilities, essentially pertaining to
original sin, were excluded. But she was not made exempt from the temporal penalties of Adam -- from sorrow, bodily infirmities, and death.
". . .by a singular privilege and grace granted by God, in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the human race." The immunity from original sin was given to Mary by a singular exemption from a universal law through the same merits of
Christ, by which other men are cleansed from sin by baptism. Mary needed the redeeming Saviour to obtain this exemption, and to be delivered from the universal necessity and debt (
debitum) of being subject to original sin. The person of Mary, in consequence of her origin from Adam, should have been subject to sin, but, being the new Eve who was to be the mother of the new Adam, she was, by the eternal counsel of
God and by the merits of
Christ, withdrawn from the general law of original sin. Her redemption was the very masterpiece of
Christ's redeeming wisdom. He is a greater redeemer who pays the debt that it may not be incurred than he who pays after it has fallen on the debtor. Such is the meaning of the term "Immaculate Conception."
http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07674d.htm
The Perpetual Virginity of Blessed Mary
This tract appeared about A.D. 383, when both Jerome and Helvidius were at Rome, and Damasus was Pope. (The only contemporary notice preserved of Helvidius is that by Jerome in the following pages.)
The question which gave occasion to it was whether the Mother of our Lord remained a Virgin after His birth. Helvidius maintained that the mention in the Gospels of the "sisters" and "brethren" of our Lord was proof that the Blessed Virgin had subsequent issue, and he supported his opinion by the writings of Tertullian and Victorinus. The outcome of his views was that virginity was ranked below matrimony.
Jerome vigorously takes the other side, and maintains against Helvidius three propositions:
- That Joseph was only putatively, not really, the husband of Mary.
- That the "brethren" of the Lord were his cousins, not his own brethren.
- That virginity is better than the married state.
1. The first of these occupies chapters 3-8. It turns upon the record in Matthew 1:18-25, and especially on the words, "Before they came together" (chapter 4), and "knew her not till" (5-8).
2. The second (9-17) turns upon the words "first-born son" (9, 10), which, Jerome argues, are applicable not only to the eldest of several, but also to an only son: and the mention of brothers and sisters, whom Jerome asserts to have been children of Mary the wife of Cleophas or Clopas (11-16); he appeals to many Church writers in support of this view (17). 3. In support of his preference of virginity to marriage, Jerome argues that not only Mary. but Joseph also remained in the virgin state (19); that, though marriage may sometimes be a holy estate, it presents great hindrances to prayer (20), and the teaching of Scripture is that the states of virginity and continency are more accordant with God's will than that of marriage (21, 22).
http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/3007.htm
