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Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception | |
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Venerated in | Catholic Church Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church |
Major shrine | Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception |
Feast | December 8 (Latin liturgical rites) December 9 (Byzantine Rite) August 13 (Alexandrian Rite) |
Attributes |
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Patronage | See Patronages of the Immaculate Conception |
Part of a series on the |
Mariology of the Catholic Church |
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Catholicismportal |
The Immaculate Conception is the belief that the Virgin Mary was free of original sin from the moment of her conception. [1] It is one of the four Marian dogmas of the Catholic Church. [2] Debated by medieval theologians, it was not defined as a dogma until 1854, [3] by Pope Pius IX in the papal bull Ineffabilis Deus . [4] While the Immaculate Conception asserts Mary's freedom from original sin, the Council of Trent, held between 1545 and 1563, had previously affirmed her freedom from personal sin. [5]
The Immaculate Conception became a popular subject in literature, [6] but its abstract nature meant it was late in appearing as a subject in works of art. [7] The iconography of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception shows Mary standing, with arms outstretched or hands clasped in prayer. The feast day of the Immaculate Conception is December 8. [8]
Many Protestant churches rejected the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception as unscriptural, [9] though some Anglicans accept it as a pious devotion. [10] Opinions on the Immaculate Conception in Oriental Orthodoxy are divided: Shenouda III, Pope of the Coptic Orthodox Church, [11] and the Patriarch Ignatius Zakka I of the Syriac Orthodox Church [12] opposed the teaching, while the Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church and Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church accept it. [13] [1]
Anne, the mother of Mary, first appears in the 2nd-century apocryphal Gospel of James. The author of the gospel borrowed from Greek tales of the childhood of heroes. For Jesus' grandmother the author drew on the more benign biblical story of Hannah—hence Anna—who conceived Samuel in her old age, thus reprising the miraculous birth of Jesus with a merely remarkable one for his mother. [14] Anne and her husband, Joachim, are infertile, but God hears their prayers and Mary is conceived. [15] According to Stephen J. Shoemaker, within the Gospel of James, the conception occurs without sexual intercourse between Anne and Joachim, which fits well with the Gospel of James' persistent emphasis on Mary's sacred purity, but the story does not advance the idea of an immaculate conception. [16] The author of the Gospel of James may have based this account of Mary's conception on that of John the Baptist as recounted in the Gospel of Luke. [17] The Eastern Orthodox Church holds that "Mary is conceived by her parents as we are all conceived". [18]
According to church historian Frederick Holweck, writing in the Catholic Encyclopedia , Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, and Cyril of Jerusalem developed the idea of Mary as the New Eve, drawing comparison to Eve, while yet immaculate and incorrupt –that is to say, not subject to original sin. Holweck adds that Ephrem the Syrian said she was as innocent as Eve before the Fall. [19] [20]
Ambrose asserted Mary's incorruptibility, attributing her virginity to grace and immunity from sin. Severus, Bishop of Antioch, concurred affirming Mary's purity and immaculateness. [21] John Damascene extended the supernatural influence of God to Mary's parents, suggesting they were purified by the Holy Spirit during her generation. According to Damascene, even the material of Mary's origin was deemed pure and holy. This perspective, which emphasized an immaculate active generation and the sanctity of the conceptio carnis, found resonance among some Western authors. Notably, the Greek Fathers did not explicitly discuss the Immaculate Conception. [19]
By the 4th century the idea that Mary was free from sin was generally more widespread, [22] but original sin raised the question of whether she was also free of the sin passed down from Adam. [23] The question became acute when the feast of her conception began to be celebrated in England in the 11th century, [24] and the opponents of the feast of Mary's conception brought forth the objection that as sexual intercourse is sinful, to celebrate Mary's conception was to celebrate a sinful event. [25] The feast of Mary's conception originated in the Eastern Church in the 7th century, reached England in the 11th, and from there spread to Europe, where it was given official approval in 1477 and extended to the whole church in 1693; the word "immaculate" was not officially added to the name of the feast until 1854. [24]
The doctrine of the Immaculate Conception caused a virtual civil war between Franciscans and Dominicans during the Middle Ages, with Franciscan 'Scotists' in its favour and Dominican 'Thomists' against it. [26] [27] The English ecclesiastic and scholar Eadmer (c. 1060 – c. 1126) reasoned that it was possible that Mary was conceived without original sin in view of God's omnipotence, and that it was also appropriate in view of her role as Mother of God: Potuit, decuit, fecit, "it was possible, it was fitting, therefore it was done". [23] Others, including Bernard of Clairvaux (1090–1153) and Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274), objected that if Mary were free of original sin at her conception then she would have no need of redemption, making Christ's saving redemption superfluous; they were answered by Duns Scotus (1264–1308), who "developed the idea of preservative redemption as being a more perfect one: to have been preserved free from original sin was a greater grace than to be set free from sin". [28]
In 1439, the Council of Basel, in schism with Pope Eugene IV who resided at the Council of Florence, [29] declared the Immaculate Conception a "pious opinion" consistent with faith and Scripture; the Council of Trent, held in several sessions in the early 1500s, made no explicit declaration on the subject but exempted her from the universality of original sin; and also affirmed that she remained during all her life free from all stain of sin, even the venial one.; [30] by 1571 the revised Roman Breviary set out an elaborate celebration of the Feast of the Immaculate Conception on 8 December. [31]
According to Patrizia Granziera, the creation of the dogma was slow and elaborate and it was more the fruit of popular devotion than scholarly. [32] The Immaculate Conception became a popular subject in literature and art, [6] and some devotees went so far as to hold that Anne had conceived Mary by kissing her husband Joachim, and that Anne's father and grandmother had likewise been conceived without sexual intercourse, although Bridget of Sweden (c. 1303–1373) told how Mary herself had revealed to her that Anne and Joachim conceived their daughter through a sexual union which was sinless because it was pure and free of sexual lust. [33]
In the 16th and especially the 17th centuries there was a proliferation of Immaculatist devotion in Spain, leading the Habsburg monarchs to demand that the papacy elevate the belief to the status of dogma. [34] In France in 1830 Catherine Labouré (May 2, 1806 – December 31, 1876) saw a vision of Mary standing on a globe while a voice commanded her to have a medal made in imitation of what she saw. [35] The medal said "O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee", which was a confirmation of Mary herself that she was conceived without sin, confirming the Immaculate Conception. Her vision marked the beginning of a great 19th-century Marian revival. [36]
In 1849 Pope Pius IX issued the encyclical Ubi primum soliciting the bishops of the church for their views on whether the doctrine should be defined as dogma; ninety percent of those who responded were supportive, although the Archbishop of Paris, Marie-Dominique-Auguste Sibour, warned that the Immaculate Conception "could be proved neither from the Scriptures nor from tradition". [37] In 1854 the Immaculate Conception dogma was proclaimed with the bull Ineffabilis Deus . [38] [4]
We declare, pronounce, and define that the doctrine which holds that the most Blessed Virgin Mary, in the first instance of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege granted by Almighty God, in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the human race, was preserved free from all stain of original sin, is a doctrine revealed by God and therefore to be believed firmly and constantly by all the faithful. [39]
Dom Prosper Guéranger, Abbot of Solesmes Abbey, who had been one of the main promoters of the dogmatic statement, wrote Mémoire sur l'Immaculée Conception, explaining what he saw as its basis:
For the belief to be defined as a dogma of faith [...] it is necessary that the Immaculate Conception form part of Revelation, expressed in Scripture or Tradition, or be implied in beliefs previously defined. Needed, afterward, is that it be proposed to the faith of the faithful through the teaching of the ordinary magisterium. Finally, it is necessary that it be attested by the liturgy, and the Fathers and Doctors of the Church. [40]
Guéranger maintained that these conditions were met and that the definition was therefore possible. Ineffabilis Deus found the Immaculate Conception in the Ark of Salvation (Noah's Ark), Jacob's Ladder, the Burning Bush at Sinai, the Enclosed Garden from the Song of Songs, and many more passages. [42] From this wealth of support the pope's advisors singled out 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,'" [43] a prophecy which reached fulfilment in the figure of the Woman in the Revelation of John, crowned with stars and trampling the Dragon underfoot. [44] Luke 1:28, and specifically the phrase "full of grace" by which Gabriel greeted Mary, was another reference to her Immaculate Conception: "she was never subject to the curse and was, together with her Son, the only partaker of perpetual benediction". [45]
Ineffabilis Deus was one of the pivotal events of the papacy of Pius, pope from 16 June 1846 to his death on 7 February 1878. [46] Four years after the proclamation of the dogma, in 1858, the young Bernadette Soubirous said that Mary appeared to her at Lourdes in southern France, to announce that she was the Immaculate Conception; the Catholic Church later endorsed the apparition as authentic. [47] There are other (approved) Marian apparitions in which Mary identified herself as the Immaculate Conception, for example Our Lady of Gietrzwald in 1877, Poland. [48]
The feast day of the Immaculate Conception is December 8. [8] The Roman Missal and the Roman Rite Liturgy of the Hours include references to Mary's immaculate conception in the feast of the Immaculate Conception. Its celebration seems to have begun in the Eastern church in the 7th century and may have spread to Ireland by the 8th, although the earliest well-attested record in the Western church is from England early in the 11th. [49] It was suppressed there after the Norman Conquest (1066), and the first thorough exposition of the doctrine was a response to this suppression. [49] It continued to spread through the 15th century despite accusations of heresy from the Thomists and strong objections from several prominent theologians. [50]
Beginning around 1140 Bernard of Clairvaux, a Cistercian monk, wrote to Lyons Cathedral to express his surprise and dissatisfaction that it had recently begun to be observed there, [25] but in 1477 Pope Sixtus IV, a Franciscan Scotist and devoted Immaculist, placed it on the Roman calendar (i.e., list of church festivals and observances) via the bull Cum praexcelsa. [51] Thereafter in 1481 and 1483, in response to the polemic writings of the prominent Thomist, Vincenzo Bandello, Pope Sixtus IV published two more bulls which forbade anybody to preach or teach against the Immaculate Conception, or for either side to accuse the other of heresy, on pains of excommunication.
Pope Pius V kept the feast on the tridentine calendar but suppressed the word "immaculate". [52] Gregory XV in 1622 prohibited any public or private assertion that Mary was conceived in sin. Urban VIII in 1624 allowed the Franciscans to establish a military order dedicated to the Virgin of the Immaculate Conception. [52] Following the promulgation of Ineffabilis Deus the typically Franciscan phrase "immaculate conception" reasserted itself in the title and euchology (prayer formulae) of the feast. Pius IX solemnly promulgated a mass formulary drawn chiefly from one composed 400 years by a papal chamberlain at the behest of Sixtus IV, beginning "O God who by the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin". [53]
The Roman Rite liturgical books, including the Roman Missal and the Liturgy of the Hours, included offices venerating Mary's immaculate conception on the feast of the Immaculate Conception. An example is the antiphon that begins: "Tota pulchra es, Maria, et macula originalis non est in te" ("You are all beautiful, Mary, and the original stain [of sin] is not in you". It continues: "Your clothing is white as snow, and your face is like the sun. You are all beautiful, Mary, and the original stain [of sin] is not in you. You are the glory of Jerusalem, you are the joy of Israel, you give honour to our people. You are all beautiful, Mary".) [54] On the basis of the original Gregorian chant music, [55] polyphonic settings have been composed by Anton Bruckner, [56] Pablo Casals, Maurice Duruflé, [57] Grzegorz Gerwazy Gorczycki, [58] Ola Gjeilo, [59] José Maurício Nunes Garcia, [60] and Nikolaus Schapfl . [61]
Other prayers honouring Mary's immaculate conception are in use outside the formal liturgy. The Immaculata prayer, composed by Maximillian Kolbe, is a prayer of entrustment to Mary as the Immaculata. [62] A novena of prayers, with a specific prayer for each of the nine days has been composed under the title of the Immaculate Conception Novena. [63]
Ave Maris Stella is the vesper hymn of the feast of the Immaculate Conception. [64] The hymn Immaculate Mary , addressed to Mary as the Immaculately Conceived One, is closely associated with Lourdes. [65]
The Loreto Litanies included the official Latin Marian title of Regina sine labe originali concepta (Queen conceived without original sin), which had been granted by Pope Gregory XVI (1831-1846) from 1839 onwards to some dioceses, thus several years before the proclamation of the dogma. [66]
The Immaculate Conception became a popular subject in literature, [6] but its abstract nature meant it was late in appearing as a subject in art. [7] During the Medieval period it was depicted as "Joachim and Anne Meeting at the Golden Gate", meaning Mary's conception through the chaste kiss of her parents at the Golden Gate in Jerusalem; [67] the 14th and 15th centuries were the heyday for this scene, after which it was gradually replaced by more allegorical depictions featuring an adult Mary. [68]
The definitive iconography for the depiction of "Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception" seems to have been finally established by the painter and theorist Francisco Pacheco in his "El arte de la pintura" of 1649: a beautiful young girl of 12 or 13, wearing a white tunic and blue mantle, rays of light emanating from her head ringed by twelve stars and crowned by an imperial crown, the Sun behind her and the Moon beneath her feet. [69] Pacheco's iconography influenced other Spanish artists or artists active in Spain such as El Greco, Bartolomé Murillo, Diego Velázquez, and Francisco Zurbarán, who each produced a number of artistic masterpieces based on the use of these same symbols. [70] The popularity of this particular representation of The Immaculate Conception spread across the rest of Europe, and has since remained the best known artistic depiction of the concept: in a heavenly realm, moments after her creation, the spirit of Mary (in the form of a young woman) looks up in awe at (or bows her head to) God. The Moon is under her feet and a halo of twelve stars surround her head, possibly a reference to "a woman clothed with the sun" from Revelation 12:1–2. Additional imagery may include clouds, a golden light, and putti. In some paintings the putti are holding lilies and roses, flowers often associated with Mary. [71]
Eastern Orthodoxy never accepted Augustine's specific ideas on original sin, and in consequence did not become involved in the later developments that took place in the Catholic Church, including the Immaculate Conception, [72] [73] although Eastern Orthodoxy affirms Mary's purity and preservation from sin.
In 1894, when Pope Leo XIII addressed the Eastern church in his encyclical Praeclara gratulationis, Ecumenical Patriarch Anthimos, in 1895, replied with an encyclical approved by the Constantinopolitan Synod in which he stigmatised the dogmas of the Immaculate Conception and papal infallibility as "Roman novelties" and called on the Roman church to return to the faith of the early centuries. [74] Eastern Orthodox Bishop Kallistos Ware comments that "the Latin dogma seems to us not so much erroneous as superfluous". [75]
The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo and Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Churches believe in the Immaculate Conception of the Theotokos. The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church celebrates the Feast of the Immaculate Conception on Nehasie 7 (August 13). [13] [76]
In the mid-19th century, some Catholics who were unable to accept the doctrine of papal infallibility left the Roman Church and formed the Old Catholic Church. This movement rejects the Immaculate Conception. [77] [78]
Protestants overwhelmingly condemned the promulgation of Ineffabilis Deus as an exercise in papal power, and the doctrine itself as unscriptural, [9] for it denied that all had sinned and rested on the Latin translation of Luke 1:28 (the "full of grace" passage) that the original Greek did not support. [79] Protestants, therefore, teach that Mary was a sinner saved through grace, like all believers. [45]
The Catholic–Lutheran dialogue's statement The One Mediator, the Saints, and Mary, issued in 1990 after seven years of study and discussion, conceded that Lutherans and Catholics remained separated "by differing views on matters such as the invocation of saints, the Immaculate Conception and the Assumption of Mary"; [80] the final report of the Anglican–Roman Catholic International Commission (ARCIC), created in 1969 to further ecumenical progress between the Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion, similarly recorded the disagreement of the Anglicans with the doctrine, although Anglo-Catholics may hold the Immaculate Conception as an optional pious belief. [81]
Mary was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother of Jesus. She is an important figure of Christianity, venerated under various titles such as virgin or queen, many of them mentioned in the Litany of Loreto. The Eastern and Oriental Orthodox, Catholic, Anglican, Methodist, and Lutheran churches believe that Mary, as mother of Jesus, is the Mother of God. The Church of the East historically regarded her as Christotokos, a term still used in Assyrian Church of the East liturgy. Other Protestant views on Mary vary, with some holding her to have lesser status. She has the highest position in Islam among all women and is mentioned numerous times in the Quran, including in a chapter named after her. She is also revered in the Baháʼí Faith and the Druze Faith.
The Assumption of Mary is one of the four Marian dogmas of the Catholic Church. Pope Pius XII defined it on 1 November 1950 in his apostolic constitution Munificentissimus Deus as follows:
We pronounce, declare, and define it to be a divinely revealed dogma: that the Immaculate Mother of God, the ever-Virgin Mary, having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory.
The Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception celebrates the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary on 8 December, nine months before the feast of the Nativity of Mary on 8 September. It is one of the most important Marian feasts in the liturgical calendar of the Latin Church.
Catholic Mariology is the systematic study of the person of Mary, mother of Jesus, and of her place in the Economy of Salvation in Catholic theology. According to the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception taught by the Catholic Church, Mary was conceived and born without sin, hence she is seen as having a singular dignity above the saints, receiving a higher level of veneration than all angelic spirits and blessed souls in heaven. Catholic Mariology thus studies not only her life but also the veneration of her in daily life, prayer, hymns, art, music, and architecture in modern and ancient Christianity throughout the ages.
Munificentissimus Deus is an apostolic constitution published in 1950 by Pope Pius XII. It defines ex cathedra the dogma of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It was the first ex-cathedra infallible statement since the official ruling on papal infallibility was made at the First Vatican Council (1869–1870). In 1854 Pope Pius IX made an infallible statement with Ineffabilis Deus on the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary, which was a basis for this dogma.
Ineffabilis Deus is an apostolic constitution by Pope Pius IX. It defines the dogma of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The document was promulgated on December 8, 1854, the date of the annual Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, and followed from a positive response to the encyclical Ubi primum.
Anglican Marian theology is the summation of the doctrines and beliefs of Anglicanism concerning Mary, mother of Jesus. As Anglicans believe that Jesus was both human and God the Son, the second Person of the Trinity, within the Anglican Communion and Continuing Anglican movement, Mary is accorded honour as the theotokos, a Koiné Greek term that means "God-bearer" or "one who gives birth to God".
Mary, the mother of Jesus in Christianity, is known by many different titles, epithets, invocations, and several names associated with places.
Fulgens corona is an encyclical by Pope Pius XII, given at St. Peter's, Rome, on 8 September 1953, the Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, in the fifteenth year of his Pontificate. The encyclical proclaims a Marian year for 1954, to commemorate the centenary of the definition of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary.
Mariology is the Christian theological study of Mary, mother of Jesus. Mariology seeks to relate doctrine or dogma about Mary to other doctrines of the faith, such as those concerning Jesus and notions about redemption, intercession and grace. Christian Mariology aims to place the role of the historic Mary in the context of scripture, tradition and the teachings of the Church on Mary. In terms of social history, Mariology may be broadly defined as the study of devotion to and thinking about Mary throughout the history of Christianity.
The history of Catholic Mariology traces theological developments and views regarding Mary from the early Church to the 21st century. Mariology is a mainly Catholic ecclesiological study within theology, which centers on the relation of Mary, the Mother of God, and the Church. Theologically, it not only deals with her life but with her veneration in life and prayer, in art, music, and architecture, from ancient Christianity to modern times.
Throughout history, Catholic Mariology has been influenced by a number of saints who have attested to the central role of Mary in God's plan of salvation. The analysis of Early Church Fathers continues to be reflected in modern encyclicals. Irenaeus vigorously defended the title of "Theotokos" or Mother of God. The views of Anthony of Padua, Robert Bellarmine and others supported the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary, which was declared a dogma in 1850.
The Mariology of the popes is the theological study of the influence that the popes have had on the development, formulation and transformation of the Roman Catholic Church's doctrines and devotions relating to the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Lutheran Mariology or Lutheran Marian theology is derived from Martin Luther's views of Mary, the mother of Jesus and these positions have influenced those taught by the Lutheran Churches. Lutheran Mariology developed out of the deep Christian Marian devotion on which Luther was reared, and it was subsequently clarified as part of his mature Christocentric theology and piety. Lutherans hold Mary in high esteem, universally teaching the dogmas of the Theotokos and the Virgin Birth. Luther dogmatically asserted what he considered firmly established biblical doctrines such as the divine motherhood of Mary while adhering to pious opinions of the Immaculate Conception and the perpetual virginity of Mary, along with the caveat that all doctrine and piety should exalt and not diminish the person and work of Jesus Christ. By the end of Luther's theological development, his emphasis was always placed on Mary as merely a receiver of God's love and favour. His opposition to regarding Mary as a mediatrix of intercession or redemption was part of his greater and more extensive opposition to the belief that the merits of the saints could be added to those of Jesus Christ to save humanity. Lutheran denominations may differ in their teaching with respect to various Marian doctrines and have contributed to producing ecumenical meetings and documents on Mary.
Mary has been one of the major subjects of Western art for centuries. There is an enormous quantity of Marian art in the Catholic Church, covering both devotional subjects such as the Virgin and Child and a range of narrative subjects from the Life of the Virgin, often arranged in cycles. Most medieval painters, and from the Reformation to about 1800 most from Catholic countries, have produced works, including old masters such as Michelangelo and Botticelli.
Mariological papal documents have been a major force that has shaped Roman Catholic Mariology over the centuries. Mariology is developed by theologians on the basis not only of Scripture and Tradition but also of the sensus fidei of the faithful as a whole, "from the bishops to the last of the faithful", and papal documents have recorded those developments, defining Marian dogmas, spreading doctrines and encouraging devotions within the Catholic Church.
Ubi primum is an encyclical of Pope Pius IX to the bishops of the Catholic Church asking them for opinion on the definition of a dogma on the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary. It was issued on February 2, 1849.
The Feast of the Conception of the Virgin Mary is a liturgical holiday celebrated on December 9 by the Orthodox Church and a number of Eastern Catholic Churches. It is also the name given in the Catholic Tridentine calendar for 8 December. In the present General Roman Calendar, the feast is called the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. In the Eastern Orthodox Church, the holy day was once called the Feast of Conception of Saint Anne.
The Latin Church is the largest autonomous particular church within the Catholic Church, whose members constitute the vast majority of the 1.3 billion Catholics. The Latin Church is one of 24 churches sui iuris in full communion with the pope; the other 23 are collectively referred to as the Eastern Catholic Churches, and have approximately 18 million members combined.
The sinlessness of Mary refers to the doctrine in which Mary, mother of Jesus chose not to sin. It is upheld by the Catholic Church, Oriental Orthodox Churches, Eastern Orthodox Churches, as well as by high church Lutherans.
You and your mother are the only ones who are immune from all stain; for there is no spot in Thee, O Lord, not any taint in your mother.