The Blessed Woman

 THE BLESSED WOMAN

in the face of protestant attacks

or

Irrefutable answers to protestant objections against the cult of Sma. Virgin Mary

fur

P. Julio MARIA

Missionary of Our Lady of Smo. sacrament

— 1936—

THE FIGHTER Typography

Manhumirim--Minas

To the distinguished and zealous diocesan Bishop His Excellency. Res.

D. José Maria Parreira Lara

I dedicate this work as an expression of veneration and filial love.

THE AUTHOR.

imprimatur

Caratinga, 20 December 1935

t+ Josephus Mary

approving letter

of His Excellency. Res.

D. José Maria Parreira Lara

DD Bishop of Caratinga

Caratinga, January 10, 1936.

My dear Father Julio Maria,

I read with immense satisfaction your new book: Blessed Woman, in the face of Protestant attacks, and I have edified a lot with these beautiful and glowing pages that constitute a true monument in honor of the Sma. Virgin Mary.

The lack of a Marian theology book was felt among us, but of a popular theology, available to all, without however losing the depth and security of the doctrine.

Your Honor produced this desired work.

Your book is admirable, both in terms of its background and form:

The basis is a solid doctrine, clear, well proven and an irrefutable argumentation.

The form is alert, enthusiastic, with a communicative expression and an irresistible vigor.

The two combine to form a work of first value. It is the complete, fulminating refutation of everything Protestants object to the cult of Maria Sma.

The subjects are dealt with by the hand of a master, and I believe that in Brazil nothing comparable has been written about the worship and prerogatives of God.

Your book is one of those who never die, because they rise above the vulgarities, the commonplaces, and draw from their life and their success in the elevation of doctrine, in the sublimity of their ideas and in the living way of presenting truths.

I wholeheartedly impart to you the imprimatur of the new book, which enriches the already large collection of the works of your tireless apostolate, and I pray to God that this beautiful book may penetrate all families, to clarify and extend the Mother's worship everywhere Of Jesus...

I am with all the esteem of Your Reverend.

Humble Servant

+ Jose Maria

Bishop of Caratinga

Introduction

that it is necessary to read

Defending the honor of a dear mother is duty and happiness for a loving child.

It is the raison d'être of this book. I wouldn't need another introduction.

Every day they are attacked by the blasphemies, sometimes ignorant, sometimes malicious, of the Protestant sects, the dignity, the glory, the prerogatives, the power of the Blessed Virgin.

How can a child remain silent in the face of continual attacks directed at his Mother?

It is urgent, therefore, to give them a complete, fulminating answer, without a reply.

There may undoubtedly be among these Protestants people of good faith, owing to the religious ignorance in which they live, seduced also, as they are, by the free interpretation of the Bible; but on the part of your pastors, there is much treachery and bad faith, or else phenomenal ignorance.

Among these pastors there are many traffickers, very sad diggers of life, making their trade not an instrument to make God love, but rather an instrument of hatred, slander against the Catholic Church, selling souls in exchange for the money that goes to them. providing your slanderer life.

It is necessary to unmask these merchants of the souls of others, and refute the errors they spread, not only in the souls of their followers, but in the minds of incautious Catholics.

I. The Source of Protestant Errors

Hidden in the creeping grass of the road, the error's poisonous snake seeks to bite the careless passerby, whoever he may be.

It is necessary to point out the presence of the serpent, to avoid contact with the traveler and to avoid being bitten.

The hatred of these unfortunate sectarians, excited by the serpent that had already seduced our first parents, is particularly concentrated on the Blessed Virgin, because they know that, in the words of the saints, a true devotee of Mary cannot be lost.

Satan, who wants to lose souls, no matter what it costs, seeks to wrest this guarantee of salvation from the hands of Christians and, for this reason, raises bands of explorers that he calls and calls themselves by the name of shepherds, but who are nothing but devouring wolves, as the divine Master says.

These pastors first of all want to make a living, and since you can't be a good Protestant without attacking the Catholic Church, here they are repeating the dozen silly objections they learned from the sect's lecterns, not wanting to understand the Catholic response.

The need to earn a living is followed by fanaticism; fanaticism is followed by gross materialism, and materialism is followed by complete atheism.

At a general meeting of pastors in Germany, newspapers say that out of 1000 pastors present there were 800 who no longer believed in the divinity of Jesus Christ, nor in the inspiration of Holy Scripture.

Under such conditions, one can understand the hatred that such men vote for the Catholic Church, where all are united in faith, morals and worship.

This outburst of hatred focuses on the Immaculate Virgin, under the pretext that her worship is pagan, idolatry, abuse, excess, etc.

Poor blind people! Unhappy slanderers!

II. The special feature of this book

It is therefore absolutely necessary to show the Mother of Jesus, in the halo of her greatness, her power, her love and her mercy, and to show her not only by pious, enthusiastic considerations, but by authentic proofs, drawn directly from the Holy Scripture.

It is the special feature of this book.

It is a book of doctrine.

An evangelical book.

A book of exegesis, showing the foundations of the cult of Maria Sma., the evangelical foundations of her greatness and the fragility of adverse objections.

No thesis, no principle, no conclusion, no title will be admitted in this book that does not have its basis in Holy Scripture.

It must be a revealing book...indicating...illuminating... and all this can only be done by the word of God contained in Sacred Scripture and in the unbroken tradition of apostolic doctrines.

III - The seven-headed dragon

The serpent, the same serpent of the earthly paradise, seeking to bite and lose souls, is reincarnated in Protestant hatred.

It is necessary, in front of this serpent, to show the Blessed Woman, who already for the first time crushed his head, at the foot of the cross, on the top of Calvary, and who continues to crush it wherever the serpent crawls.

The Blessed woman crushed the serpent's head, as God foretold in paradise: It will crush your head (Gen 3:15); but such a serpent has innumerable other heads; it is a seven-headed dragon, as the Seer of Patmos saw. Here is the dragon... having seven heads (Rev11,3).

And not only does it have seven heads, but each one of them has proliferated, producing hundreds of other heads.

When Luther launched into the world his cry of revolt against the Church, it was only a blesser, but soon Calvinism, Anglicanism, Presbyterianism, Methodism, Baptistism, etc... grew around Lutheranism until the number of about 900 sects (ne: in 1936!).

It is the same dragon... but with a multiform head, there is only common among these heads: the hatred of the Catholic Church, the blasphemies against the Holy Virgin and the calumnies against the Priests.

Hatred, blasphemy and slander are the threefold foundation of Protestantism in general, and of each sect in particular.

IV. the blessed woman

In other volumes I have already responded to the sectarian hatred of the Church (1), of priests (2), of Catholic doctrine (3); in the present I want to respond to the blasphemies thrown at the most pure Virgin, the Blessed Woman among all women.

I will invent nothing... I will collect attacks on Protestant books and views, always giving preference to works signed by the sect's top figures.

The reader should not be surprised to see me insist, in a particular way, on the great privilege of the Immaculate Conception of Mary, since it is the preparation for the incomparable dignity of Mother of God and the summation of all her prerogatives.

Once this first privilege is admitted, all the others must be admitted, for they spring from that one, as the fruit springs from a flower.

The divine motherhood of Maria Sma. it is the beginning of all your greatness.

The Immaculate Conception is the preparation for this greatness.

The Assumption into Heaven is its indispensable corollary.

(1) Christ, the Pope and the Church.

(2) Light in darkness, or irrefutable answers to Protestant objections.

(3) Protestant attacks.

V. Who is this book for?

For whom?

For all.

Those who want to know the Mother of Jesus well and love her very much should read this book.

These pages will open up new horizons for you in Marian devotion, and will show you a Mary that you may not know.

As for the unhappy Protestants... these, yes, should read it; and reading it, I am sure they would recognize the error in which they labor... but they are afraid of the light, they will not read it, except for very few exceptions... the pastors will not let it read!... poor and unhappy Protestants! ... pray for them ... they are so unhappy!

Above all, read this legion of Sons and Daughters of Mary, flower and hope of the Catholic Youth, which today constitutes the vanguard of the regeneration of a future Brazil, and this reading will be for them a beacon and a standard.

Sincere Catholics and Protestants read it, and you will see all the nooks and crannies of error and ignorance light up to show you the beautiful and incomparable face of the Mother of Jesus and Mother of men.

Fr. Julio Maria

Ne serivam vanum, Due, pia Virgo, manum.

+

CHAPTER I

The cult of Mary Most Holy

It is well known that Protestantism concentrated its hatred on the Blessed Virgin, Mother of God.

Why this hate?

So that its adherents can protest against the Catholic Church.

It's the big one, and maybe the only reason.

The Catholic Church, in perfect unity and in the granitic firmness of its teaching, attributes to each person the cult that belongs to him.

He only and exclusively worships God, because He alone is the Supreme Lord, He alone is God, and He alone has the right to the supreme cult of worship.

Dominus Deus noster, Dominus unus est. (Dt6,4).

It venerates the Virgin Mary, for being the Mother of Jesus Christ and, as such, clothed with a dignity above all dignities, having the right to a worship above the worship attributed to the saints.

— Super modum, Mater mirabilis (2Mc7,20).

Honor the Saints, for being friends of God and for enjoying, as such, close to God, a power of intercession above all creatures in this world.

Mirabilis Deus in sanctis suis (Ps 67,36).

In this way, we have a triple cult, essentially distinct from each other, in a harmonious and logical gradation.

1. The worship service (latria) due to God.

2. The cult of super veneration (hyper-dulia) due to Maria Sma.

3. The worship of veneration (dulia) due to the saints.

Such is the basis of Catholic worship, and it is enough to understand these notions to understand the injustice and ridicule of Protestant objections, accusing Catholics of Mariolatras, of worshiping the Mother of Jesus.

We will examine these objections in this first chapter, giving them the answer they deserve.

I. Mariolatry

I don't want to make up any objections; Protestant friends are in charge of fabrication and propaganda.

I will literally remove such objections from their writings so that they cannot accuse me of exaggeration or misinterpretation.

Here is the charge of Mariolatry, as I transcribe it from a Protestant newspaper.

The adoration of Maria Sma is called Mariolatry.

Says the columnist:

Arguably, and there is no one who dares deny it, in Catholicism Mary occupies a prominent place, she is the "fact totum" of the heavenly court. All invocations, all adorations are directed only and solely to her. It represents in Catholicism everything, substance and essence. Mary is given sermons and gifts, the faithful are invited to rely almost exclusively on her and on her absolute power.

All this adoration, this idolatry, created what is called Mariolatry, which is nothing more than a late creation, long after the foundations of Catholicism were laid.

Mary began to emerge from the silence in which the New Testament writers had enveloped her in the middle of the fourth century. I was the work of a sect, composed almost entirely of women, which appeared in Thrace and Upper Scisia, which began to spread the divinity of Mary to the four winds, making her worthy of adoration and worship.

These sectarians were called "Colliridians" for offering the Mother of Jesus some torches called Kohhúga in Greek.

In the first centuries we did not find any cult of Mary. All are in unison and agree to preach worthy of worship only God and His only begotten Son Jesus Christ.

Neither Justin Martyr, nor Irenaeus, nor Tertullian, nor Cyprian, nor Laitancio, can be invoked as supporters and propagators of the cult of the great "mother of God", because they, like Saint Peter, Saint Paul and Saint John, do not allude to the other mediation but that of God and Jesus Christ.

Let's go back to the past, that is, to the first centuries and let us go through them with attention.

1st century. Clement Romano, the supposed successor of St. Peter, writes in his Apostolic Constitutions: "It is not permissible to draw near to Almighty God, who through Jesus Christ his son." (Const. Apost. Book 2 and 33)

Second century. Ignatius, disciple of the apostle John, writes from Rome to the Philadelphs:

"In your prayers you must have before your eyes only Jesus Christ and the Father of Jesus Christ."

S éculo III. Origen clearly said: "Let us not have the disguise of calling upon any other, but the one who is God above all things, sufficient for everything through our Lord Jesus Christ.

fourth century. Athanasius preached and wrote: "We are truly God's worshipers, for we invoke neither creatures nor men; we invoke the Son, who by birth proceeds from God, and who is the true God, who was born a man, it is true, but nevertheless is God and Savior."

5th century. João Capistrano opposes those who wanted to introduce mediators other than Christ.

In these first five centuries, no other adoration was conceived, no veneration other than God and Jesus Christ. How, then, can "Catholicism sponge the blackboard of the past, and assert in every point of view the opinion of the sect of Coliridians?

How then?

Leaving Jesus Christ in the background? But why? Do they admit the immaculate conception of Mary?

II. the fact-totum of the heavenly court

Such is the objection in all its brutality, ignorance and nakedness.

In short, they accuse the Catholic Church of playing Maria Sma.:

1. The fact -totum of the heavenly court;

2. An object of worship ;

3. The object of a new cult ;

4. A novelty unknown in the Gospel and in the early days of Christianity.

Let us take all the objections one by one and give them a clear and succinct answer, which dispels all errors and makes the only Catholic truth shine forth.

Holy Mary is not, and cannot be, the "fact totum". It is a heresy, which the meaning of the terms themselves refutes.

The fact totum is God; and for this reason alone all honor and glory are owed in the ages and in the ages, as the Apostle says (1Tm 1, 17).

The term worship expresses the worship of this supreme honor; and this term is exclusively reserved for the worship of God.

The term — super-veneration — expresses the worship we render to the Mother of God; and it has nothing in common with worship, so that in this worship excess is impossible; for there to be an excess, it would be necessary that, surpassing the super-veneration cult, someone slipped into prayer, which no Catholic does or can do.

So what exactly is Maria Sma's place? in the divine hierarchy of religion?

It's simple, it's beautiful. It is St. Paul who will provide us with the description, in his figurative theological language. He writes: Just as in one body we have many members, and not all members have the same function, so, even though many, we are one body in Christ, and each one of us members of one another (Rom 12:4-5 )

Now you are the body of Christ, and members joined to a member (1Ch 12,27).

And he is the head of the body of the Church, and he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; so that He has the primacy in all things, because it was the Father's pleasure, that all fullness should dwell in Him, and that by Him all things should be reconciled to Himself. (Chs 1,18-19).

Here is a splendid figure of the Church.

The Church is the mystical body of Jesus Christ.

A body necessarily has three parts:

The head, the neck, the lower limbs.

It is a figure often employed by the Apostle.

The head is the Christ.

The members are us.

And how are the members of this body connected to the head?

Through the neck.

The neck is therefore the middle part, which is a member of the body, but with this particularity, which is a member that touches the head and limbs at the same time.

And among the different members of this body, which is the creature that touches God and creatures at the same time?

It's the Virgin Mary.

By its nature it is a simple creature ; by her dignity, she is the Mother of God .

And what more intimate union can exist between two creatures than the union of Mother and child?

This is why Maria Sma. it is called by the saints: the neck of the mystical body of Jesus Christ.

This figure admirably expresses the place that Maria Sma. occupies in the Church and in Catholic worship.

She is not the head; she is a member.

It is not a simple member, but among all the members it enjoys the unique and incommunicable privilege of being directly attached to the head , while all the other members are through the neck.

This is how the first Protestant objection, accusing the Church of making Maria Sma, the fact totum of religion, collapses.

The fac totum and the head is Jesus Christ.

The intermediary , the connecting member between Jesus Christ and men, is Maria Sma.

Now who is capable of confusing the neck with the head?

Who does not see that in no way and never can the neck replace the head, or be placed on top of the head?

The comparison of São Paulo is therefore typical, profound, expressive, and indicates for each part of the mystical body of the Savior its proper place.

Jesus Christ,

Maria Sma.,

Men.

III. an object of worship

Let us quickly pass over such a musty objection.

It is sad to be forced to respond to such nonsense.

Will idolatry still come to the fore in the twentieth century ?

It is to say that all over the world, the vast majority of the population, these thousands and thousands of educated and educated men adore images, like vulgar fetishists, giving life to a stick, begging for favors from a stump, asking for health and life from a block of cement... prostrating his forehead in the dust of the path in front of a cardboard. Does the Protestant not see that all this is exceedingly ridiculous, and that if such a thing could formerly be practiced by a wild Zulu, it can never penetrate the mind of a civilized man,

If we asked any child, if such or such saint is a living saint, who eats, drinks and sleeps, the child would answer no. but that it is just a portrait , a representation.

“ What is the man, even illiterate, who ignores that “it is not the image or the portrait that he venerates or invokes, but the person represented by the image?

Nobody loves images; but the image being the representation of Jesus Christ, one can worship Jesus Christ, represented by the image.

No one worships the Virgin Mary, who is neither God nor God, but a simple creature, elevated, by the grace and favor of God, to the highest dignity that a creature can be clothed in: divine motherhood... and as such it deserves to be honored, venerated: — as the Mother of God — and not worshiped as God.

All of this is so clear that only obsessed blindness can reproduce such accusations.

Worship is not kissing or leaning... Parents kiss their children; the inferiors bow down to their superiors, not worshiping them.

Worship is not just the outward act, but the spirit that intends to bestow divine honors on anyone.

Not wanting someone to love, not love.

And no Catholic has ever had the idea of ​​worshiping anyone other than God.

And they themselves must know better what they intend to do than their detractors.

IV. a new cult

The good Protestant accuses us of having created a new cult, which he calls Mariolatry.

We don't create anything. Only God can create people and things; and Protestant friends may object.

Luther created Bibliolatry and Odiolatry, as he created libertinolatry, worshiping the Bible and despising its content; worshiping hatred, in order to better vilify the Church; worshiping the flesh for dissolute and sacrilegious life.

The columnist says that the cult of Mary began to emerge from the silence in which the New Testament writers had enveloped her, in the middle of the fourth century.

It's a lot of ignorance of the Gospel, my dear friend!... It takes a lot of ingenuity to come up with such an assertion.

The cult of Maria Sma. it is all indicated, outlined and developed in the Gospel itself.

Read the Gospel, dear Protestants... but read it in its entirety , and not simply the passages chosen by you... that more or less seem to favor your wrong opinions by the free interpretation of the texts.

The cult of Maria Sma. it is essentially an evangelical cult , all evangelical... and despite all the homage we pay to the Mother of Jesus, we will never come close to matching the homage paid to her by the Gospel.

Outside the Gospel, the cult of the Mother of Jesus would be an incomplete, stunted, rickety cult...

In the Gospel he takes on a divine expansion, and rises to heights that cause vertigo to those who know how to reflect.

To say that the cult of Mary is a novelty is to affirm the novelty of the Gospel , the novelty of the catacombs of the first centuries, where at every step is found the expression of the veneration and love with which the first faithful surrounded the Immaculate Virgin... it would be to extinguish with a single stroke the loving accents of the Fathers of the first centuries, who exalted the Holy Virgin with an enthusiasm never equaled in later centuries.

No, no! such documents are not destroyed; such accents are not muffled; such cries are not extinguished; and as long as the Gospel is the Gospel, we can and should say that the cult of the Mother of God is a cult instituted by God , transmitted by the Gospel and practiced throughout the centuries.

They will perhaps say that Jesus Christ did not exalt his Mother.

But why exalt with words the one who is exalted above all creatures, for her holiness, for her dignity, for her prerogatives, which make Mary the Blessed woman among all women.

Why continually repeat a palpable, indisputable truth, accepted by everyone in the first centuries?

Mary is the mother of Jesus.

Jesus and God.

Mary is therefore Mother of God .

What more can you say?

Doesn't such a title exhaust all other titles?

Are there still honors higher than these?

It's impossible!

Mary is Mother of God; as such she is necessarily the holiest and most glorious of all creatures.

Did Jesus Christ speak little of his Mother?

Perfectly... and so it should be.

Jesus came, as He claimed, not for the righteous, but for sinners. Non veni vocure just, sed peccatores (Lc5,32).

He came to restore health to the sick and not to those who do not need a doctor—Non egent, qui sani sunt, medico. (Lc5.31).

To whom should you then radiate the tenderness of your heart?

Isn't it for the unfortunate, for the sinners?

From Peter He will make head of his Church.

De Matthew the tax collector will make his Evangelist.

From Saul, the persecutor, he will make the Apostle to the nations.

From Magdalene, the sinner, she will make a static lover.

From a crucified thief he will make the first conquest of his death.

From poor fishermen He will make his apostles.

Have the dear Protestants thought of it?

Could the Heart of Jesus, tender, loving and zealous for his mother's honor associate the Immaculate Virgin with all these converted sinners?

Could He place the same crown of praise upon His Mother's head?

No!... That would be to demean the Holy Virgin instead of exalting her.

To Peter He said: You are blessed (Mt 16,17).

Matthew said; Follow me (Mt 9,9).

To Paul he said: I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting (Acts 9,5).

Magdalena said: Your sins are forgiven (Lc7,48).

To the thief he said: Today you will be with me in paradise (Lk21,43).

To the apostles he said: You are my friends (Jn 15:15).

But to Mary He said: You are my Mother (Mt 2,11).

What could He say more?...

Jesus Christ ran out of this one word.

V. Mary's obscurity

Says the Protestant friend that the Holy Writers enveloped Mary in complete silence.

What a strange assertion!

What a slander!

How ignorant of the Gospel!

If Jesus Christ spoke little of his Blessed Mother, the angels spoke, the evangelists spoke, the people spoke, heaven and earth spoke...

Even Luther spoke...

Will it be necessary to collect everything they said?

It would be writing a book. So let's summarize.

I said above that the cult of Mary is essentially an evangelical cult, and proving this, everything is proven.

What a more evangelical service than the one that begins in the Gospel with this homage from heaven: Ave, gratia plena. Hail Mary, full of grace; the Lord is with you; Blessed are you among women!

What more evangelical worship than the one that shows us Mary cooperating, by the free consent of her faith, her virginity, her humility, to the initial mystery of Christianity, covered by the shadow of the Most High, clothed in the Holy Spirit, and conceiving in her bosom virginal the very Son of God!

What more evangelical worship than the one that represents Mary, Mother of God, breathing with Him the same breath, living with Him of the same blood, carrying Him in her bowels, communicating it, through her voice, to John the Baptist and to Isabel!

What more evangelical worship than that which Elizabeth and John pay her: the former acclaiming her the Mother of her Lord; the second exulting in his mother's womb, receiving the sanctification that Mary's voice transmits to him!

Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, exclaims in a loud voice, repeating and completing the angel's words: Blessed are you among women; and blessed is the fruit of your womb!

And under this impression of the Holy Spirit Elizabeth renders to the Mother of God a service of unparalleled veneration: Whence comes this saying that the Mother of my Lord should come to me? fulfill the things that have been told you from the Lord. (Lc1,43)

What more evangelical worship than that which, on the occasion of these words of Izabel, as if to approve and apply them, God himself makes the inspired soul of Mary exude, saying: From now on all generations will call me well - blessed, because He who is Almighty has done great things in me (Lk 1,48).

What more evangelical worship than that which, after Elizabeth, the inspired one, the shepherds and magicians continue to render to Mary, adoring the child God, in the traits of Mary, his Mother. (Mt1,11)

The holy old Simeon, in his prophecy, associates the Virgin Mother with all the contradictions to which her Son was subject, and in a particular way with that gladio of pain that will have to unite them in the great torment. (Lc2,34)

What more evangelical worship than this filial homage of trust, tenderness, and abandonment that the child God paid to his Mother, making her Virginal womb his throne, his refuge, his food!

What could be more admirable than this homage of submission that Jesus pays to him, living until the age of thirty in the obscurity of Nazareth, in the intimacy of his Mother... showing himself to be submissive to her in everything? (Lc2,51)

What more evangelical worship than the one that shows us the divine attention of the Son of God to his Mother's request, at the Wedding of Cana, where, to satisfy Maria Sma. wine, performing his first miracle and confirming the faith of his apostles! (Jo2,1-11).

What a more evangelical service than the one you render to Maria Sma. that woman of the Gospel, exclaiming at the height of her enthusiasm for the divine word: Blessed are the entrails that brought you and the breast that suckled you! (Lc9,28).

What more evangelical worship than the one solemnly inaugurated at the foot of the cross, when the divine Victim gives to Maria Sma. as mother to all humanity, in the person of the beloved apostle, the one who will best describe the divinity of Jesus Christ and the tenderness of his heart!

Here is the cult of Mary, founded on the Gospel , and flowing from the Gospel as its divine source, throughout the centuries.

Here is the cult of Maria Sma. not hidden in darkness, nor shrouded in silence, but divinely proclaimed in the face of the universe.

The centuries will hear and understand these examples and these evangelical lessons, and it is to respond to them that Christians of all times will prostrate themselves at the feet of Mary, imploring her help and intercession.

Let us limit ourselves to these quotes. They are all direct, literal, addressing the Mother of Jesus directly.

To establish and prove the evangelical cult of Maria Sma. it is not necessary to resort to mystical, metaphorical applications of Sacred Scripture; it is enough to collect the passages that narrate his union with Jesus, his action and the praises that the evangelists address to him.

This alone is a true Marian theology ... just as it is an evangelical theology .

Reflect on this, dear Protestants, and listen to your common sense, your heart and the Gospel, instead of reproducing lying objections, invented by spite and hatred.

Reflect and you will be forced to confess that, in fact, the cult of Maria Sma. it is not an invention of the Catholic Church, but rather a divine institution , expressed at every step in the pages of the Gospel.

SAW. Mary in the early Church

The aforementioned columnist also claims that in the first centuries there was no worship of Mary.

Excuse me, dear Protestant; such an assertion is completely false, as false as the preceding one, invoking the silence of the evangelists about the same worship.

I want to show you the opposite here.

The most solid evidence is, without a doubt, the archaeological monuments and these monuments abound and are of irrefutable expression.

In the first two centuries, the uninterrupted persecutions of the Roman emperors and paganism shaken by the new doctrine forced Christians to take refuge in the heart of the catacombs.

These catacombs were immense underground where there were churches, meeting rooms, cemeteries, etc...

It was there in the bosom of the earth, in the darkness of night and underground, that the life and activity of the first Christians developed.

It was there that the monuments to the dead, the martyrs, the conquerors of the century, the passions and the devil were raised.

It was there that they perpetuated in stone and canvas, with hammer, chisel and brush, their fought but triumphant belief.

And this is why the catacombs are imperishable and expressive monuments of the faith of the first centuries.

They are books, in which you can read what, in the time of the Apostles and their first successors, was believed, venerated and implored.

Let us open this sublime book for a moment and read in it the feelings of the first Christians towards the Mother of Jesus.

Here is what Father Marchi writes in his Monument of Christian Art in Rome. It is about the crypt of Mary of the baby Jesus, in the Santa Inês catacomb.

* * *

Above the small altar of this crypt, he writes, there is a representation of the Virgin in half body; sitting with the baby Jesus on her knees.

The Virgin stretches out her arms in an attitude of prayer.

The child does not make this gesture, as if to indicate the infinite distance between Mother and Son.

This painting belongs to the second century.

It can be seen that it was customary to unite the Virgin Sma. to his divine Son, to represent and invoke them together.

In the same catacomb there were several other paintings of the Virgin, always with her arms outstretched in an attitude of prayer. It is the same physiognomy, the same virginal expression, lacking only the baby Jesus, which made them call them prayers.

Such prayers are true images of Maria Sma., as several of them bear the name written below: Mara, et al. Maria.

What completes the assertion is that, in several places, such a prayer is beside an image of Our Lord, making the symmetrical pair.

Underneath one of them is written: Maria Virgo, Minester of the Cerosale temple.

From the comparison of the different paintings, archaeological science concluded that such prayers, which are numerous in the catacombs, really represent the Mother of Jesus, standing like so many witnesses to the extension of her worship among the first Christians.

Here is what another illustrious sage (Carlos Lenormant) writes after having visited the catacombs of Santa Domitilia:

Visiting the first hall of the catacomb, I found there a painting of the Good Shepherd, which certainly dated from the end of the first century.

It looked like the same layout and coloring as the paintings found in the sepulchral room of the pyramid of Caius Ceslius, which he had visited just before.

Alongside the Good Shepherd there were other figures of Jesus Christ and the Apostles.

All were from the same time.

Mr. de Rossi took me to another room, where there was the Virgin Mary with her Son on her knees, receiving gifts from the Three Wise Men.

O sweet and pious comparison! Rafael must have seen several paintings of the catacombs and took advantage of them.

His Adam and Eve, from the vault of the Sala della Signatura in the Vatican, is found almost identical in the cemetery of Domitilla.

In turn, the Virgin of the same catacomb possesses the chaste grace and slender form of a Madonna of Raphael.

The Catholic's faith is exalted, recognizing with undoubted proof the cult of the Mother of God, established in the most remote times of the primitive Church.

These paintings are venerable and certain guarantees of the apostolic antiquity of the cult of the Virgin Sma.

If we were dealing with unbelievers, we could still cite, as proof of this cult in the early times, the apocryphal Gospels, composed in the first centuries, which are more concerned with Maria Sma. than to the Savior.

Another proof is found in the various liturgies which, by all experts, are reputed to be of apostolic origin and which devote part of their prayers and glorifications to the worship of the Mother of God.

The witnesses quoted and the catacombs seem to me to be sufficient for a sincere heart, desirous of knowing the truth. The cult of the Mother of God existed during the life of Maria Sma among the Apostles; and it was transmitted by them to their successors and to the churches they founded, to the point that everywhere, where divine worship of the Saviour penetrated, the tender and gentle worship of the Mother of Jesus penetrated with him and beside him,

VII. saints of the first centuries

The columnist ends his attack with quotes from early saints who say absolutely nothing about or contradict what he intends to make them say.

He says, for example, that neither Justin the martyr, nor Irenaeus, nor Tertullian, nor Cyprian, etc. they said nothing about the cult of the Mother of Jesus.

This assertion is absolutely false. The holy Fathers mentioned spoke as we speak today, as I will prove it; but if they hadn't said anything about it, would that prove that such a cult didn't exist?

It writes mainly on subjects discussed and not accepted by everyone.

The columnist, for example, writes nothing about the sun, moon and planets, limiting himself to attacking the ulto of Mary Most Holy. Would this prove that the sun and moon do not exist?

Not all the Saints wrote about the cult of the Mother of Jesus, for the simple reason that many are writers, or have no occasion to write on this subject, because being out of all discussion, it needed no defense, nor refutation of errors. opposites.

To prove the columnist's error, without prolonging the discussion, I will quote here just a few passages from the saints of the early Church.

which I patiently and conscientiously gleaned from their works.

Listen to the friend well, and examine, to see there between the language of the saints of the first centuries and of modern times there is any discrepancy in doctrine or thought!

After the first Christians, tradition is constant.

Since the first century, St. Dionysius the Areopagite declares that he would have taken Mary as a divinity if faith had not taught him that omnipotence could only form such a perfect image of his divinity.

St. Dionysius, a martyr, writes: Mary shows herself more and more in love with those who love her.

In the second century St. Irenaeus proclaimed Maria Sma. our Mediatrix , and says: the ties by which Eve allowed herself to be shackled by her credulity, Mary broke them by her faith.

Tertullian—Eve believed the devil, transformed into a serpent, Mary believed the word of the angel Gabriel; the fault that the first committed by her credulity, the second erased by her faith.

Origen consecrates her pages, the most eloquent of her talent, proclaiming her “our advocate ” and the Immaculate Mary, Immaculate Mother, he says, of him who is holy and without blemish.

And again: one can say to Mary of a perfect Christian: Here is your son!

In the third century, St. Cyprian exalted her as a worthy and glorious Mother of God, deserving of the homage of all creatures.

— Mary, he says, like the others, participated in human nature, but not in original sin.

In the fourth century, St. Basil, in his liturgy, orders the deacon, preceding the Bishop, to say to the people in a loud voice: Let us remember the Most Holy Immaculate Virgin Mary, Mother of God and our Sovereign Lady!

Mary, after God, he writes, is our only hope .

And again: Mary so much surpasses all other creatures, as the sun surpasses the other stars; and beyond: God opened a house of public health for us in Mary.

And again: I followed and invocation of Mary in everything, because God wants her to help us in everything.

Alongside St. Basil there is a legion of apostles of the Virgin Mary, whose word and whose pen spread the love of the Mother of Jesus everywhere. They are the Saints: Cyril, Efrem, Epiphanius, Athanasius, Gregory of Nazianzus, Ambrose, Chrysostom, Augustine etc...etc.

Henceforth, it is no longer possible to enumerate the Apostles of Mary... they are: a legion , and with an ever more sublime eloquence, they all exalt the glorious Mother of Jesus.

Since there can be no discussion of the following centuries, I limit myself to quoting a few short passages from the Holy Fathers of the fourth century; the others can be found in my book: “Because I Love Mary”.

SAINT CIRILO was the soul of the Council of Ephesus, where he admirably exalted the Mother of God.

This is what he said on this occasion before the great assembly of Bishops gathered in Ephesus.

“ We must behave in such a way that we deserve the grace to die well. Above all, it is necessary to know what it takes to have a firm hope of entering heaven.

You all know that it is easy for those whom the queen favors with her protection to enter the court and achieve what is desired.

And we will achieve whatever we want by having the Sma. Virgo for helper , mediator and protector near the king; for we know that she will plead for us..

O you who reign with the blessed in the resplendent abode of light and of every kind of beauty, heed us!

Obtain mercy for those who conjure you, and open the gates of heaven to them!

Et nos retique quodcumque volumus obtinemus, sanctissimam Deiparam inhabentes auriliatricem, mediatricem et patronam apud Regem (Or. in V. dom.)

SAINT EPHREM says:—Mary is the glorious mediator between God and men.

— The Lord will not let the one who, as a tender Mother, dried his tears in her crib, beg for us for long.

— Mary is the wonderful vessel chosen by God.

— Mary is the door to heaven , she is the ladder offered to everyone to go up there,

— Mary is the key to heaven and the kingdom of Jesus Christ.

— Mary is the medicine of souls and a resplendent light that illuminates the world.

SAINT EPIPHANIO says in turn: Mary is like a divine table providing the world with divine life.

— Mary is the mysterious book that gave the law to the world, the divine Word.

— Mary is in Christ and with Christ.

— Blessed Mary, when the child Jesus was playing around this tender Mother!

— Mary is the temple and throne of divinity.

— Mary diligently seeks the salvation of men.

SAINT ATHANASIUS exclaims: — Let us, without ceasing, proclaim the Blessed Virgin Mary in every way.

" Mary is this ladder that Jacob saw rise to heaven."

— Maria, new Eva, is the mother of life .

— Mary, in heaven, stands beside her Son, as Queen and as Sovereign.

SAINT GREGÓRIO says that Mary is the firm support of those who believe and the victory of pious souls.

Mary is the sweetest and most forgiving of all mothers.

SANTO AMBROSIO has sublime pages about the cult of Mary: — Mary, he says, is the mirror and model of all justice.

" Like purity and glory, there is no virtue that does not shine in it."

— Maria was such that her life would serve as the rule for all of us.

— Mary was this miraculous virgin, at once freed from the knot of original sin and the shell of venial sin.

— Mary is the standard bearer of the Virgins, she is the Lady of Virginity.

St. Chrysostom says:— It is a worthy and just thing to exalt Mary, always proclaiming her Most Holy and without blemish.

“ Maria is an anchor and a safe haven for those who are beaten by storms.

SAINT AUGUSTINE is inexhaustible in speaking of the Blessed Virgin: — What will I say in your praise, O blessed Virgin, I endowed with such a mediocre Spirit, for all that I can say about you will be infinitely below your excellence and your merit .

— We cannot exalt Maria enough!

— Let us all implore Mary's protection on earth, so that she may deign to recommend us to her Son in heaven by an assiduous prayer.

— Mary hurries to help the humble.

— Mary is the celestial ladder , by which God descended to us.

— Mary was so holy that the Holy Spirit deigned to descend upon her.

— Mary is the repairer of mankind.

— Mary is the repairer of life and the gateway to paradise.

“ She is the mother of the living… wounded by Eva, we have been healed by Maria.

— God gave the name of sea to all the waters and Mary to the group of graces .

— O Mary, you are full of the grace you found before the Lord, and you deserved to spread it over the entire universe.

Woe to us poor creatures, who can we say to be worthy of it, even if all the limbs of our body turn into tongues, for it is higher than the sky and lowers lower than the depths of the abysses? (Orat. 35 of Sanctia)

Here are just a few short quotes among thousands of others.

Oh! Tell me, dear Protestant, comparing these accents of love and trust towards the Mother of Jesus with the invocations that the Church still addresses to her today, what is the difference that the friend finds.

None!

The acclamations of the faithful today are just a repetition of the acclamations of the saints of the first centuries.

Faith doesn't change.

Trust doesn't change.

The cult doesn't change.

This is why Maria Sma. it is today in the Catholic Church what she has always been and what she will always be: the powerful and loving protector, the mediator, the gate to heaven, the celestial ladder of Jacob.

VIII Conclusion

It seems to me to have clearly and solidly proved the thesis opposed to the Protestant columnist, showing that Catholics do not adore Sma. Virgin, rendering her a worship that befits only and exclusively God, but they honor , praise and invoke her , for being Mother of Jesus Christ, or Mother of God , and as such being in a separate hierarchy, above all holy and under God.

I then showed that the worship of veneration is an essentially evangelical worship , having in Sarada Scripture not simply its basis, but its manifestation, its irradiation in souls and in the world.

All this is clear and unmistakable.

Being an evangelical service, it must have always been practiced in the Church.

And in fact it was...

From the first century until today the cult of Maria Sma. it was always the same , not in intensity and extension, but in substance and even in the way of manifesting it.

Through the centuries one could follow, step by step, a host of saints who wrote or preached, teaching the same doctrine.

Where Jesus Christ reigns, there Sma reigns. Virgin... and where Jesus Christ is disowned, there also his divine Mother is rejected.

The cult of Jesus and Mary are inseparable, just as the little son and the mother are inseparable.

Their essentially distinct cults develop side by side... and when souls ascend to God through adoration, they are as if carried by the love of the Mother of Jesus.

In the passages of the saints of the early Church it can be clearly seen that their expressions are our expressions, and that their doctrine is absolutely the same as that which the Church still professes.

already in the 3rd and 4th century, the Holy Fathers acclaim her as Immaculate, Lawyer, Mediatrix, Intercessor, Gate of Heaven, etc etc... titles that the Church still applies to the Holy Virgin today and that so exasperate the poor and unhappy Protestants .

And because they find such titles novelty, inventions, when right after the apostles such titles are given to Maria Sma. by early Christian preachers and early writers.

And where had they received these titles?

Of course, from the Apostles themselves.

It is the cult of Maria Sma. as if going back in a straight and luminous line to the Apostles..., its first proclamation and manifestation being in the Gospel itself .

Dear Protestants, let your heart and your common sense speak a little, and instead of listening to the hatred your reformers bequeathed to you as a terrible legacy, read the Gospel, listen to your conscience, and you will see that the truth, the only truth is in the teaching of Catholicism,

Be children of Maria Sma. as the Savior wills; respect and love the one whom Jesus Christ loved so much, and who he left us, on the top of Calvary, to be our Mother .

Hate was never a virtue.

Hate towards a mother is a crime.

Hatred towards the Mother of Jesus is heresy, it is blasphemy.

O sweet and affectionate Mother, you who are the beacon that shows us the way of Jesus, light up the poor Protestants, show that you are their Mother, and make the light of goodness and love that so savagely hides from them shine before their eyes. Protestant error, and which so horribly deforms sectarian prejudice.

CHAPTER II

The Immaculate Conception

ACCORDING TO THEOLOGY

Not wanting to admit the cult of Mary Sma., Protestants naturally reject every prerogative that God adorned the soul of the Mother of Jesus.

To admit any prerogative, any special gift, would be to distinguish it from other creatures, and to exalt it above other dignities; and this they cannot accept, for every exaltation in one creature presupposes a right, and every right requires a duty in another creature.

Right and duty are correlative and one does not exist without the other.

Not wanting to accept any duty to the Mother of Jesus, Protestants admit no rights on her part.

The conclusion is logical, although the principle is one of tangible falsehood.

The Catholic Church, based on the Bible , on reason and on the apostolic tradition handed down through the centuries, as a universal belief, declared that the Mother of Jesus was conceived free from original sin, preserved from the stain of this sin by the anticipated merits of the Savior.

Such a truth, glorious for the Mother of Jesus and the basis of her greatness, cannot please Protestant friends, whom the cult of Mary Sma is extremely repugnant to.

Let us examine the contrary reasons cited by them, as well as the evidence in favor adduced by the Catholic Church.

I. The Protestant Objections

What are the great objections of Protestants against the Immaculate Conception of Maria Sma.

The first (negative) is: "the Immaculate Conception does not figure in the Bible ."

The second (positive) is from St. Paul who said: all men have sinned in one (Rom 5:12).

Let us examine the value of these two objections.

The columnist says that such dogma does not figure in the Bible.

I will show later how it is false and that it appears there in several places. not for the name , but for the truth . It matters little that the name is not found there. The name of a thing is made to manifest the existence of that thing; and before it has a name, the thing must already exist.

The name doesn't matter and can be changed.

The word syphilis is newly adopted, and doctors today see syphilis everywhere, although there is no more than in times past.

It is what was once called "blood impurity". In the Bible there are no diseases: ophthalmia, chlorosis, lumbago, meningitis, coryza, epistaxis, etc., etc. though disease existed at this time as it is today; the difference is that in the past such illnesses were called: pain in the eyes, weakness, pain in the kidneys, cerebral fever, cold, nosebleed, etc.

Relying on this principle, Protestants pronounce their own death sentence, since not even the name of their sect appears in Bilia.

Where to find, for example, Lutherans, Calvinists, Anglicans, Methodists, Anabaptists, Baptists, Huguenots, Hussists, Quakers, Adventists etc? stopping here so as not to review the 880 Protestant sects (in 1936!), each claiming to be a representative of the Bible and authentic truth.

It's all in the Bible, they say, and they don't even figure there.

The bottom line is that they themselves are forced to confess that there are real things that do not figure in the Bible.

Not admitting this, they are forced to admit that they themselves are not a real thing, but simply imagined.

Who knows if they wouldn't be right?

In any case, the negative argument loses all its value and proves nothing.

As for the positive argument, let's take a closer look.

St. Paul says that all men have sinned in one (Rom. 5:12).

We are in full agreement: It is original sin.

Notice well the Protestant friend that it is a transmission sin . It is only one who sinned: Adam; and this sin was transmitted to everyone.

But sinning and receiving the transmission of sin are two different things.

Maria Sma. sinned in Adam.

But Adam's sin, which was to be transmitted to him according to the law, was not, by divine preservation .

Maria Sma. it is from the blood of Adam and Eve: As such sin in Adam, but as such sin in Adam is transmitted by the blood, it is perfectly possible for God to prevent this transmission.

Such preservation is made by virtue of anticipating the Saviour's merits.

In this way, Mary is the first rescued and the Redeemer's most sublime trophy of victory.

It's the miracle that God did.

The sinful blood of Adam and Eve had to reach Maria Sma., but before participating in her being, in this almost imperceptible moment, in which the soul created by God had to unite with the blood formed by the parents, to form the person of Mary Sma., God removed sin and the Virgin was born from the regenerated blood, purified from Adam and Eve, and she, Mary, preserved from all contact with sin.

Such is the privilege of the Immaculate Conception.

My dear Protestant sees that the general law, drawn up by St. Paul, was not violated in any way, but it is enough to know how to interpret it.

We can, therefore, repeat with the Apostle.

All sinned in Adam.

But: all did not receive the sinful blood of Adam.

Jesus Christ could not receive him, because He was God .

Maria Sma. I could not receive it, for being the Mother of God .

Christ was exempt from original sin by nature.

Maria Sma. it was by preservation, St. John the Baptist was it by purification.

This is how the positive argument against the Immaculate Conception fits.

Of these two arguments, none can be sustained without falling into the most flagrant contradiction.

Therefore, the two Protestant arguments, against the Immaculate Conception, are of no value, and prove nothing against the doctrine taught by the Catholic Church.

II. what is original sin

For a clear understanding of the Immaculate Conception, it is necessary to have an exact notion of original sin.

Having a wrong notion of evil, wrong must also be the notion of reparation as that of preserving this evil.

It is the unhappiness of our Protestant contradictors, who cling to the text of the Bible, limiting themselves to words, without penetrating the core of the truths that words signify.

Original sin is the sin committed by give and Eve, disobeying God.

This sin, in Adam, was actual , and God removed it as a supernatural end.

In us it is a race sin . Mankind forms a single body, whose natural head is moral is Adam, so that the head sinning, all members participate in this sin.

When God created our first parents, He established them in the state of innocence, original justice, and holiness, bestowing on them gifts of three qualities: natural, supernatural, and preternatural.

The natural gifts are the properties of body and soul, required by his human nature, to reach its natural end.

The supernatural gifts are: sanctifying grace that made them adoptive children of God and predestination to the beatific vision.

The preternatural gifts consist of suffering immunity death, lust and ignorance.

Thus filled with all sorts of benefits, without any right to such goods, Adam and Eve disobeyed God, committed a mortal sin, eating the fruit of the tree of good and evil. (Gen 2,17)

Sin, as St. Paul says, entered the world by one man. (Rm 5.12)

The consequences of this sin were disastrous.

Soon, Adam and Eve lost all gifts that exceeded the requirements of human nature.

As we saw above, they had received three kinds of gifts: they soon lost the supernatural and preternatural gifts, retaining only, and still very weakened, the natural gifts, proper to their condition of rational creatures.

Deprived of free gifts, says S Bede, the venerable, sinful Adam, was vulnerable in his own nature.

Gratuitis spoliatus, vulneratus in naturalibus.

As said above, Adam's sin was a personal sin in him, but also a sin of race , or of nature, while he was the head of mankind, so that all those who share this nature, or belong to the human race, they had to share in this sin, causing in all humanity: The loss of supernatural and preternatural gifts and the weakening of natural gifts.

The supernatural gifts were recovered through the Savior's Incarnation and Redemption, which require our cooperation; but we are deprived of the preternatural gifts, which are the permanent effect of the fall of our first parents.

Man is subject to suffering, death, lust and ignorance.

Against suffering and death there is no other remedy than conformity to the divine will; against concupiscence and ignorance there is a struggle to master them and free themselves from their yoke.

As for the natural gifts, they are not withdrawn in their intrinsic constitution, but in their exercise, in their use, because passions bewilder the judgment and weaken the will.

Such is original sin in its source and in its consequences; once these truths are understood, it will be easy for us to understand the exceptions to this general law.

III. The conception of Maria Sma.

The fundamental error of Protestants is the idea that we attribute to Maria Sma. a divine conception, as not having been born like other creatures.

It is a mistake to attribute to Catholic doctrine what it does not teach. The Church doesn't teach that.

The conception of Maria Sma. it is human , completely human, and has nothing divine about it. It was conceived by the ordinary ways of nature; only the conception of Jesus Christ is divine , operated by the power of the Holy Spirit, without the participation of man.

Maria Sma. had father and mother: São Joaquim and Sant'Anna. There was nothing extraordinary, nor miraculous in the act of her conception, nor in her birth: She is a daughter of the human race... participating in the blood of this race, and as such, despite not having original sin. as I will explain below, she sinned in Adam, according to the general law already mentioned by St. Paul: All men sinned in one (Rm5,12)

So far everything is natural, here the supernatural is presented: the miracle.

If the conception of Maria Sma. it is not divine, it is however miraculous in fact .

It is the Gospel itself that attests to the miracle.

As proof of the miracle that was going to be performed in Maria Sma., the Archangel cites a miracle already performed in Santa Isabel:

Behold, Elizabeth, your kinswoman, also conceived a son in her old age. (Lc1,36)

And not only did he conceive in his old age, which is already a miracle, but he conceived, being barren, which constitutes a second miracle: "They had no children, because Elizabeth was barren and both were in an advanced age." (Lc1.7)

Sant'Anna conceived, despite her sterility and her old age, and after having conceived the holiest of children, she fell back into her sterility.

The conception of Mary is thus miraculous , in fact, but it is not divine.

If it were divine, Maria Sma. would not need redemption; being human, though miraculous, she needed to be rescued, like any other descendant of Adam.

Redemption supposes a fall, at least in Adam.

In order to be redeemed, one must be, in any case, a slave to sin.

Maria Sma. she was not a slave to sin, as a person , but as a member of the human race.

Jesus Christ is the Savior of the entire human race, according to the doctrine so emphasized by Paul; and nothing authorizes an exception, not even in favor of the Mother of Jesus.

Such an exception would be useless in his glory; for not only is the Virgin Mother not belittled or humiliated, for being indebted of her glory to the Saviour's merits, but more exalted, as the Redeemer himself is more exalted, in counting his own Mother as the first trophy of his death.

To prove this redemption, Suarez uses the following argument:

St. Paul says that if only one died for all, it is because all were dead. (2Co5.14)

Now, Jesus Christ also died for Mary, so she was dead in Adam.

It is understood by: dead in Adam, the fact that Mary, by virtue of her conception, was subject to original sin, by right, which she would have contracted without divine intervention, but was not subject to sin, in fact because a singular grace of the Redeemer preserved it, driving away the hard need for the original stain.

IV. Mary's preservation

Redemption is twofold: liberating and preserving.

Liberating redemption repairs the ruins made by sin, restoring to man what took away his sin, making him pass from a state of sin to a state of grace.

It is the redemption common to all men.

Preservative redemption consists, not in repairing the ruins, but in preventing those ruins. It does not lift fallen nature, but prevents it from falling. She did not cleanse the Mother of Jesus, but prevented her from contracting the original stain.

In summary, we must say that: Jesus Christ, dying on the cross and saving mankind, therefore also saved the Blessed Virgin, as part of humanity.

The quality of Redeemer is therefore perfectly suited to Jesus Christ, with regard to his own Mother.

It is in this way that Mary participated in the merits of her divine Son, not like us, but in a way that is unique to her, preserving her from a stain that she had to contract and did not contract.

St. Francis de Sales expresses this truth so simply, how graciously! "The torrent of original iniquity (1) came to cast its impure waves upon the conception of the Holy Virgin, with the same impetuosity as upon the conception of the other sons of Adam; but arriving there, they passed no further, but stopped, as before Jordan in Joshua's time.

(1) Treatise on the love of God.

The torrent stopped its waters, out of respect for the ark of the covenant, and original sin withdrew its waves, out of respect for the Tabernacle of the true covenant, which is the Virgin Mary."

I cannot fail to quote a passage from the illustrious Bossuet which speaks so admirably of the great mysteries, and above all of the Immaculate Conception.

This conception, he says, has this in common with all the faithful, that Jesus gives him his blood ; but she has this in particular, that she first received this blood from Mary .

She has this in common with us, that this blood falls on her, to sanctify her; but in this in particular, that Mary is its source.

In such a way that we can say that the conception of Mary is like the first origin of the blood of Jesus.

It is from there that this beautiful stream begins to spread these waves of graces that circulate through our veins through the sacraments, and that carry the Spirit of life to the whole body of the Church.

So do not look for the name of Mary in the sentence of death, which was pronounced against all men.

It's not there anymore! It's been deleted!

It is like ?

Because of this blood that has been drawn from her chaste bosom, she must use in her favor all that it contains, against this disastrous law that kills us from the beginning. (1)

(1) Bossuet: 2 Bermon pour la Conception—1 point.

V. The transmission of sin

before this Catholic doctrine, sure and clear, Protestant objections dissipate, like darkness before the morning sun.

His great argument is to want to oppose the dogma of the Immaculate Conception the text of St. Paul: all men have sinned in one.

Such a law is certain, and as I have just proved it, it does not find the slightest contradiction in the fact of the Immaculate Conception.

Protestant friends must understand the essential difference between sinning in Adam and sinning personally, as between belonging to a sinful race and being a sinner.

And this distinction is enough to understand the possibility of the Immaculate Conception.

It remains for us to elucidate yet a point that will show how the Virgin Sma. was preserved from this sin.

How do we contract original sin?

Such transmission cannot be done through the Creation of the soul, otherwise God would be the author of sin, which is impossible.

It is not transmitted by the parents either, since the children's soul does not take the origin of the parents' soul, but is created by God.

It is made for the generation .

The soul is created by God in perfect innocence, but it contracts the blemish, uniting itself with a body formed from a corrupted germ, just as the soul would suffer if united with a wounded body.

It is the opinion of St. Thomas.

St. Augustine says apropos: "Children, born of baptized parents, are born with original sin, as from immunized wheat is born an ear, in which the grain is mixed with the chaff."

To fully understand this doctrine, it is necessary to distinguish, as St Bonaventure and Pope Benedict XV do, a double concept:

The active , which is nothing other than the procreation of the body.

The passive , which takes place when God unites a soul to the body that has just been generated.

The active conception of Mary in no way differs from the conception of other children, as she was generated by S. Joaquim and Sant'Anna, according to the laws of nature.

The passive conception, on the contrary, is completely different.

Our soul, at the moment of uniting itself with the body that it must revive, as soon as it comes into contact with this body, to form a human person , is contaminated by original sin.

Sin does not reside in the soul, nor in the body, but in the substantial union of soul and body to constitute man.

It is man who is defiled by sin — man as such, so that in death, the soul separating from the body, would regain, as it were, the privileges of innocence and original justice, if, though separated, he did not retain the fitness. and the disposition of one day being reunited with this body, so that, even separated from the body, the soul always remains human soul

It was at this almost imperceptible moment that God preserved the person of Maria Sma. of original sin.

He created his soul, as he creates our souls.

Maria Sma's parents. they formed his body, as our parents formed ours. So far everything is natural; the miracle of preservation is limited to the moment when he joined the soul to the body.

This union was to result in the transmission of sin. God stopped the course of this transmission; so that the union was made, as it had been done in the person of Adam, when God, after having made his body, breathed the Spirit into him, forming a man in the perfection of innocence and original justice.

Mary is a second Eve... but Eve before her fall.

Such is the sublime doctrine of the Church.

SAW. The exception to this law

And is it possible to object that God cannot derogate from general laws, constituted by Himself?

It would be to deny the divine omnipotence, to set limits to the One who has no limits.

It is a general law that all have sinned in one. Such a law, in fact, is universal, and does not hold any exception among creatures.

It is another general law, that sin is passed on to all of Adam's children.

This second law, however, is less rigorous than the first, for the simple reason that the first fact is antecedent while the second is consequent.

And original sin was committed at the beginning of the world, at the origin of the human race; while the transmission was not made, but only decreed, in the beginning; and it takes place at the time of the union of the soul with the body.

Therefore, nothing prevents God from intervening before this union takes place and suspending one of the effects of this union, which is precisely original sin.

The Bible is full of these waivers.

The movement of the sun and moon is mathematically fixed by the law of nature; however Joshua did not hesitate to make him stop: Sun stops thee in Gibeon, and thou moon in the valley of Hadjalon. And the sun stopped and the moon stopped (Jos10, 13).

— It is a law that waters follow the current of their course; however Moses stretched out his hand... and the sea became dry, and the waters were divided... like a wall on his right and on his left (Ex 14,21-22).

It is a law that a dead man remains dead until the general resurrection, however Christ-God himself, before the rotting corpse of Lazarus, exclaimed: Lazarus, come out... And immediately the one who was dead came out alive (Jn11,41.43) .

What is this proof, my dear Protestant? This proves that: Nothing is impossible with God (Lk18,27).

All men sinned in Adam and Eve, and are born with original sin: It is the general law.

God can derogate this law, as He can derogate many others, when He deems it necessary or convenient.

* * *

Now it was absolutely necessary for Him to derogate from this law in favor of His own Son. The God of all purity could not come into contact with sin. These two terms are mutually exclusive. If Jesus was contaminated by sin, he would no longer be infinite purity... and no longer, he would cease to be God, because in God everything is infinite.

Listen up, dear protestant...

Now, the Christ, infinitely pure, would no longer be so, if he took a body formed by flesh and blood tainted with sin.

The child receives his body from his mother's body and blood—the child is a continuation of his parents.

The body of Jesus Christ is a body formed by the flesh and blood of the Blessed Virgin. He is the son of Mary: He who is to be born of you will be called the son of God, says St. Luke (1,35)

Since the body of Jesus is formed from the blood of Mary, and this body must be of infinite purity — for it is the body of God — it is absolutely required that the flesh and blood of Mary be of absolute purity, that is, without sin original.

* * *

There were two ways to achieve this purity: purification or exemption from original sin.

Which of these two modes is most convenient?

Discussion is useless.

If Maria Sma. had she only been cleansed from sin, she would have been a slave, at least for a moment, to the devil, and later the devil would have been able to hurl this insult in the face of the Savior: "Your mother! She was mine before she was yours! I have tainted!"

Such an assumption is horrible!

Go, Satan, away from here!

Never... never... not for an instant... you will dominate the Blessed woman among all women! The Lord will be with her from the beginning, and where the Lord is, there cannot be Satan.

It will be full of grace... And if it were dominated by evil, if it were just an instant, it would no longer be full of grace; this plenitude would lack something... the initial grace would be lacking.

This is why the Mother of Jesus could not simply be cleansed from sin...she had to be preserved .

VII. Conclusion

It is because they have not understood this doctrine that Protestant friends make a thousand objections against this dogma, proclaiming it in contradiction with the general law, impossible in its realization.

Dear Protestants, you are mistaken!

Study the Catholic doctrine better, and you will see how in everything it harmonizes with the Bible, and finds in this Bible its foundation and its proclamation.

Let us now see exactly what this privilege consists of: it will be the conclusion of this chapter.

Original sin is essentially a deprivation .

It is the deprivation of primordial grace bestowed on human nature in the person of Adam.

A comparison, however imperfect, will make us understand this deprivation.

In the intellectual and moral order, the difference between fallen man and man created in the state of pure nature is analogous to the difference that exists in the physical order between a civilized man stripped of the clothes he usually wears, and the savage who never wore clothes.

Our soul is deprived , at its origin, of the sanctifying grace which, in the decrees of Providence, it should have at the time of its creation.

In the purposes of God this grace was to adorn every man entering life and make his soul beautiful and pleasing to God.

That doesn't happen anymore.

God creates the pure and holy soul, in his own image, but when this soul is united with the body, which has just been formed by the parents, the human person , who results from this substantial union, is deprived of this sanctifying grace that he did. in Adam its beauty and its glory.

Instead of the magnificent treasures that this human soul should possess, it is poor, naked, miserable, when it comes into existence.

This nakedness is for her a stain, as is a stain for a sumptuous building the destruction of the marble, the silver, the gold, with which it was coated, leaving only the rough stones and walls to appear.

Applying these analogies to the Blessed Virgin, we will have the exact notion of her Immaculate Conception.

By saying that Mary is Immaculate, the Church means that she did not know this deprivation , but that her soul preserved the innocence, the justice that God adorned Adam and Eve at the time of Creation.

Mary is Eve restored to her former beauty, she is the ideal, perfect creature, just as she came out of the Creator's Hands, without sin casting its shadow over her.

And the preservation of this deprivation was made by an anticipated application of the Saviour's merits,

Freed from the mysterious solidarity by which we are all born sinners and children of perdition, Mary came out of the Creator's hands, so perfect, and so rich, so pure and so beautiful, that the Archangel's words on the day of the Incarnation were fulfilled ever since: Ave , full gratia: Hail, O Mary, full of grace!

Dear Protestants, reflect for a moment on this doctrine of the Church!

She is divinely beautiful and harmonious!

She is sovereignly worthy of God!

She is gloriously honorable to Mary!

She is humanly gentle to us!

It is a rational, logical doctrine, and if there were no proof in Sacred Scripture, no text that supported the Immaculate Conception of Mary, it would still be necessary to admit it, as it is the only doctrine that matches the dignity of God and Mary Sma ., as is consistent with common sense and the universal aspiration of the Christian world.

I say: if there were no proofs in the Bible; but such proofs exist, clear and positive, as I want to show you in the next chapter.

CHAPTER III

To the Immaculate Conception

ACCORDING TO SACRED SCRIPTURE

To the theological proofs, in accordance with common sense, reasoning and the tradition of the Christian world, it is necessary to add biblical proofs.

Protestants only believe in the Bible.

Without refuting what is irrational in this assertion, it can be said that, according to the testimony of the Bible itself, all truths are not contained in the Bible.

It is to refute the future Protestants in advance that St. John ends his Gospel with these words: There are many other things that Jesus did, which, if they were written one by one, I believe that not the whole world could fit the books that would be needed. write. (St. John 21.23)

It is just hyperbole used by the evangelist to show that, in addition to what is written, Jesus did and taught many things.

And these unwritten things were collected and transmitted by the Apostles to their successors, and were later written by the first Doctors of the Church, in an uninspired character, by private initiative.

This is what São Paulo calls tradition .

Preserve the traditions you learned either by our words or our letter (2Tl.2,14).

Such a tradition is unanimous in affirming the Immaculate Conception, as I will show below, limiting myself here to seeking its basis in Sacred Scripture, which Protestant friends will accept more easily than theological proofs.

XI. Biblical proofs

A truth can be revealed in the Bible in two ways: explicitly and implicitly.

A truth is explicitly in Sacred Scripture, when, without reasoning, such truth clearly presents to the Spirit, for example: Mary from whom Jesus was born: — is the explicit revelation of the divine motherhood of the Holy Virgin.

At first glance, anyone understands that such an expression means that Mary is the mother of God.

A truth can also be revealed implicitly , when it is contained in another clearly revealed truth, and one can, by reasoning, deduce it from this truth.

For example: Mary is the Mother of Jesus.

Now a Mother is a born Mediatrix close to the Son.

Therefore, Mary is a Mediatrix between Jesus Christ and men.

The universal mediation of the Immaculate Virgin is thus a truth implicitly contained in the quoted text of the Gospel.

The Immaculate Conception is not revealed explicitly, but it is implicitly , as a consequence of explicitly revealed truths.

It is these truths that we must study here, then complete them by the explicit testimony of the tradition of the first centuries.

Let us look for solid proof of the Immaculate Conception in the work of the Incarnation itself.

The work of the Incarnation, in the divine plan, includes Mary and includes her soul, her person and therefore her Conception.

Maria Sma. she is the Mother of Jesus Christ; and is Virgin Mother .

The angel Gabriel was sent... to a Virgin (Lk1,26)

Behold, I do not know a man (Ibid.34).

The Holy Spirit will descend on you (ib.35).

The virtue of the highest will cover you with its shadow.

Mary's virginal motherhood is an explicitly revealed truth.

Now, the same reason that gave birth to Jesus of a Virgin Mother , must cause him to be born of an Immaculate Mother . The Immaculate Conception is thus a truth implicitly revealed in the explicit revelation of her Virgin Motherhood.

Let us examine this argument closely.

Why did God want to be born of a Virgin Mother?

So that the holiness that should adorn his person would come from an equally pure source, from the part of the body as from the part of the soul.

The soul of Jesus Christ was created by God and inseparably united with divinity.

It was a most holy soul, a masterpiece of the infinite God.

The body of Jesus Christ was supplied to him from the blood of Mary, and this body was inseparably united with the divinity, as was his soul.

This body was therefore to be most holy, at the height of the most holy soul, to which it had to be substantially united , in order to constitute the divine person of Christ.

The body must be worthy of the soul and both must be worthy of the divinity .

This body must, therefore, be formed of a most pure blood, of a blood immaculate in its origin, as in its present state.

Therefore, v irgindade Mary was like the condition of your maternity .

We see from the Gospel that God reserved this virginity, which Mary had consecrated to him, even in the bonds of marriage, as the habitation of the Holy of Holies.

The angel Gabriel was sent... to a Virgin... betrothed, not knowing a man... And for this very reason the Holy One, who must be born of her, will be called the Son of God (Lc1,35).

From that time, Mary was full of grace, she was Blessed among women... and the Lord was with her (Lk 1,28).

This virginity, this fullness of grace, this blessing were the prior and preparatory condition of the Motherhood of Mary.

Now, such precedence must necessarily go back to her conception, so that, from a sinless Virgin, the one who came to erase sin would be born without sin, as St. Bernard admirably says. (1)

(1) Voluit itaque esse Virginem de qua immaculatus proceedet, omnium maculas purgaturus (S. Missus est, Hom. 2).

In fact, what reason would God have had in demanding in Mary this virginal holiness before the Conception of Jesus Christ, which was not strong enough, to trace it back to the very conception of Mary?

The holiness of the Son, being the reason for the previous holiness of Mary, could not be satisfied completely, but possessing Mary whole from her origin.

What Mary was when she conceived Jesus Christ, she must have been from the time she was conceived.

The personality of the Sma. Virgo is identified with her virginity, with her Immaculate purity.

She is clothed in this purity like a sun; and the prodigy, which enabled him to preserve this virginity at the conception and birth of his Son, guarantees us the purity of his own conception.

As can be seen, the explicit revelation of the Holy Virgin's divine motherhood includes the implicit revelation of her Immaculate Conception.

It is a first Biblical test and that would be enough to convince a man without prejudice and desirous of knowing the truth, instead of wanting to defend his erroneous ideas.

Let's go ahead; we will find many other passages of the same evidential value.

III. The divine Tabernacle

A text from São Paulo casts a soft and strong light on the preceding argument.

The Apostle writes: Christ, coming as Pontiff of future goods, (passed through) a more excellent and perfect Tabernacle, not made by men's hands, that is, not by this creation. (Hb9,11)

Let us analyze this passage and find in it, beautiful and resplendent, the implicit revelation of the Immaculate Conception.

The Apostle here compares the Pontiff of the old law with that of the new law, showing that the former entered the Tabernacle, in the holy of holies once a year, to offer the blood of the burnt offerings, while Jesus Christ, the Pontiff of the new law, passes through a first Tabernacle, not made by men's hands, to present itself in the second, by the effusion of its own blood (per proprium sanguinem, intravit semel in sancto).

Such is the opposition that the Apostle established between the two Pontiffs.

The Pontiff of the ancient law was a man like anyone else; sinner as he was, he entered the first Tabernacle, where everyone entered (the saint) and only entered the second Tabernacle once a year (sancta sanctorum).

The passage of St. Paul can be translated in this way: Christ passed through a more excellent and perfect Tabernacle, not made by the hand of men and not of this creation.

And this Tabernacle, adorned with such qualities, can only be the immaculate bosom of Mary .

This argument refers directly to the Saviour's holy humanity and indirectly to Mary's original holiness.

If there was any stain in the formation of Mary, there would be in the formation of Jesus as well, for the child is formed by the blood of the mother.

But St. Paul points out that this Tabernacle, through which the Christ passed, was not made by the hand of men; Jesus Christ formed it with his own hand. God formed his own mother.

By this title, Mary is doubly immaculate, as a work done immediately by God, as her mother, from whom he himself must receive his humanity.

To Protestants who consider this privilege of the Immaculate Conception to be excessive exaggerated, one can reply that he who does the greater must do the lesser, since the whole includes the parts.

God raised her, by divine motherhood, to an infinite honor, (1) far above angels, while by the Immaculate Conception he raised her only above sinful men.

(1) Beata Virgo ex hoc, quad est Mater Dei, habet quamdam infiniatem, ex bono infinity quod est Deus (Tom. 7p. q. 25 to 6).

What is, in fact, the angel that can say to God: You are my Son?

And thus elevating Mary above all angels, how could God not elevate her above fallen human nature?

If he didn't, it would be a contradiction in God's works. Would he make the greatest and refuse the least... would he elevate a creature above the angels and cast it at the same time among the sinful race of men?

It would be as if a mighty monarch were to rise to the throne and choose as queen a poor daughter of the people, and at the same time take her as a slave, to serve at his table.

It would be ridiculous... unworthy of a king; how much more unworthy of God!

No, no... it's impossible!

If God can preserve Mary from original sin, and wanted to preserve her... he did!

Now, to deny that he can do this would be as absurd as it is blasphemous against his power.

To say that he did not want to do this would be to hurt his kindness and his filial love.

Finally, to say that he neither could nor wanted to do it, when he could and wanted to do infinitely more, making her his mother, would be to exclude from the notion of God all wisdom, all reason, as well as all goodness and all power.

The word of São Paulo is therefore an implicit revelation of the great dogma of the Immaculate Conception!

Jesus Christ himself made his Tabernacle, and made it, more excellent and perfect, not being of this creation, but of a separate creation, the only one being that of a Tabernacle destined for the very Son of God.

Now such a Tabernacle, made immediately by the hand of God and for God, must have all the beauty, all the purity that God Himself could bestow on a creature.

And this perfect, ideal purity is called the Immaculate Conception!

IV. the oldest dogma

Protestant friends call the dogma of the Immaculate Conception new.

It's lack of reflection.

It is the oldest of the dogmas revealed to the world.

He is older than the Church; older than the Gospel. He was with Jesus Christ before Abraham was: It is from him that the Holy Scriptures begin.

The Immaculate Conception of Mary is implicitly revealed again in this oracle of God which brings chapter III of Genesis, and which He addressed to the devil after the fall of our first parents:

Inimicitias ponam inter te et mulierem, et semen tuum et semen illius: ipsa containet caput tuum (Gn3,15).

The literal translation is: I will put enmity between you and the woman, between your seed and her seed: she will crush your head.

I ask intelligent Protestants: is it possible to limit this text to Eve?

It's impossible! If such a text was limited to Eve, God should have said: I will put enmities between you and Eve; she will crush your head.

Saying that it is the woman who must crush Satan's head, and enlarging this word saying that she is his seed, it is immediately seen that Eve is here only the representation of a woman.

And what is this woman?

It is the same person whom the Savior always calls in the Gospel "Woman" instead of: my mother.

— Woman, here is your son (Jn19,26)

" Woman, what do we care?" (Jo2,4)

Such is the woman predicted in Paradise and fulfilling the prophecy by her Immaculate Conception, crushing the serpent's head.

To crush the serpent's head is to escape its domination, it is to be exempt from its bite and to dominate it for holiness.

Now, all this is clearly what constitutes the privilege of the Immaculate Conception.

This prophecy is not limited to Eve, Protestants must find any other woman who has this privilege, as she must exist in any creature, otherwise it would be a prophecy without an object, which cannot be admitted.

And what is this woman crushing the serpent's head? Will it be Rachel, Rebekah, Sarah, Deborah, Judith, Abigail the Shulamith, Esther, Naomi, Resfa, the mother of the Maccabees, a few figures of the Hand of God?

Or, in the New Testament, will it be Marie Magdalene, or any other of the holy women?

Dear Protestants, reflect for a moment and you will understand that the only woman , full of grace, Blessed among all women, is Mary, the Holy Virgin, the Mother of God.

She being the chosen one, the prophesied woman, for she who, being of the seed of the first woman Eve, escaped the devil's domination, being exempt from his bite, crushing the serpent's head, in a word; she is Immaculate in her Conception.

Like it or not, by the text of the Bible as by common sense, it has to reach Maria Sma. and recognize that she is what was prophesied in the quoted text.

In this way it is again an implicit revelation of the Immaculate Conception.

V. The race of women

Let us not stop here, but let us study every sentence in this prophetic passage of Mary's glory.

Having proved that this text applies to the Mother of Jesus, let us analyze its various aspects to better highlight its central object: the Virgin Mary .

I will put enmity between you and the woman.

Let us note well that it is not simply between Eve and the serpent, but between the blessed woman and the serpent's seed.

Nothing could be more formal!

Because of original sin, Eve, Adam and all their posterity are subject to the devil.

There is not simply warfare, but Satan's dominion over the human race.

And behold, God, announcing the woman—the Virgin Mary, whose seed is the Christ, says: I will put enmity between thee and the woman.

What does that mean?

It is a forceful way of saying that Satan will not extend his dominion over this woman... that between them there will be a radical opposition, a race enmity.

It is the reason why God completes the idea, saying: between your posterity and her posterity (Gen 3:15).

It necessarily follows from this addition that the enmities which must exist between the serpent and the woman, Mary, are the same as those which will exist between the serpent and the woman's posterity.

This seed is Jesus Christ.

There must be, therefore, between the serpent and Mary, the same enmity that exists between the same serpent and Jesus Christ.

Now, such fundamental enmity between the serpent and Jesus Christ is the complete absence in Jesus of any and all sin, sin being the figure and representation of Satan.

Therefore, this same total absence of any and all sin must exist in Maria Sma.

She will have to be conceived in the same state in which she will conceive : in the enmity of evil, or in the Immaculate Conception.

We can and must apply to both: to woman and her posterity, to Mary and to Jesus, the end of the prophecy: she will crush your head, and you will set betrayals at her heel (Gen 3:15).

Mary crushed the serpent's head for her Immaculate Conception, as has already been said, although the devil was setting up betrayals at her heel.

Such betrayals are physical and moral sufferings, persecutions, barbarities, crimes, the annihilation of Jesus during his Passion and death, which would be for anyone other than Mary temptations to despair, distrust, or at least fear , of doubt as they were for the Apostles.

In this way, the devil sought to weaken courage, diminish confidence, cool the Virgin Mary's love, without achieving anything, since Mary's faith, her hope and her love were far above human hesitations.

The devil ignored the secret of the Immaculate Conception; that's why he tried, tortured her, under the weight of his persecutions, but in vain: he could only reach the heel, that is, the body of the Holy Virgin, continuing his elevated soul in the region of pure faith and divine love .

He set up betrayals, but was crushed under the weight of this virginal heel, which had the weight of the holiness of his divine Son.

Here is the clear meaning of this beautiful prophecy.

It is not necessary to bend or adapt the sacred text to the thesis defended here; is its obvious meaning, always accepted in the Church and defended for all centuries.

Beautiful and sublime Implicit revelation of the Immaculate Conception.

SAW. the big discussion

The beautiful prophecy, which we have just analyzed, due to its glorious extension in honor of the Mother of Jesus, must necessarily be contested and discussed by Protestants, giving it a meaning different from the Catholic Interpretation.

And what happened.

In the different versions of the Bible they found a variant.

The Vulgate text and three Greek versions say:

The woman will crush your head ( Ipsa ) auté

The Hebrew versions say:

The seed of the woman will crush your head ( Ipsum ).

Other Greek versions say:

The Son (Christ) will crush your head. ( ipse ) records

An Egyptian version says:

They (Jesus and Mary) will crush your head ( ipsI ).

Here is a precious find for Protestants to be able to protest...

Let there be discussion! no objections! to exclude the Blessed Virgin from this first Biblical page.

And in the midst of the uproar the Protestant friends did not notice that such a change of pronoun ipsa, ipse, ipsum, ipst, has only a secondary value, which does not change the probative value of the text or the extent of its meaning at all.

Whichever version is adopted, the text always proves the triumph of the woman, who is the Immaculate Virgin.

What is essential is that there is an eternal enmity between the woman and the devil. I will put enmity between you and the woman.

The contested text is as follows:

It should read:

Ipsa, ipsum, ipse conteret caput tuum.

or: Ipsi conteent caput tuum.

Ipsa, it is clearly the Blessed Virgin.

Ipse, it's Jesus Christ.

Ipsum, is the seed, or Jesus Christ.

Ipsi, it's Jesus and Mary.

The Church never intended to directly grant the Virgin the privilege of crushing the serpent's head, exclusively by herself, but united with her Son, through the action of her Son, as Mother of God.

One can therefore adopt any of these versions: ipsa, ipse, ipsum, ipsi, saying that it is Maria Sma., or Jesus Christ, or both, or the seed of the woman who crushes the serpent's head.

Who crushes it is God-Man , because Jesus Christ is both God and man.

As such, He is necessarily united with His Mother; and the latter, together with Him, crushes the serpent's head.

Jesus Christ does it directly in any case.

Maria Sma. it does so indirectly, becoming inseparably associated with this work of crushing.

Adopting with the Vulgate the ipsa version, saying it's Maria Sma. who crushed the serpent's head, it is not she alone, but united to the Son, by the Son, as the Mother of God, who does it.

And Jesus, by his Incarnation and redemption that destroyed the kingdom of Satan, crushing him and his head by the virginal foot of his Mother.

This is so logical and so simple. that, in the Egyptian versions, the woman and the child are united in a single pronoun: ipsi: they will crush your head.

And this expression is still the clearest and the most logical, expressive, thus indicating in a single term, the principle and the instrument , the son and the mother. (1)

(1) The version: ipsa is older than St. Jerome, and it was the Seventy who, the first, adopted this pronoun, instead of the neuter: ipsum. The old italics, a verbal translation from the Greek, says ipse-autos.

In Hebrew, the pronoun refers to race and not to woman, and the verb conteret is in the masculine, having as subject the masculine word zéra (race) in the same way that the complement ejus de insidiaberis is in the masculine, in Hebrew; he will crush you, not she—yes: you will crush him, not him.

Examining the text grammatically, the pronoun ipse seems to be preferable; it is because of the great value of the seventy and the erudition of St. Jerome, adopting ipsa

that the authentic text of the Church, which kept this name, prevailed.

Even admitting that it was a copyist's error, what is certain is that such a version is in accordance with the spirit of the text.

Mary, crushing the infernal dragon under her feet, can be represented precisely because she does it as the Mother of God, through the power of her son.

Here is the tremendous discussion raised by Protestants, with the intention of excluding from this text the cooperative action of the Virgin Sma. and to diminish a quotation that implicitly expresses and reveals his Immaculate Conception.

Such discussion, as we can see, in no way harms the glory of Maria Sma., so that, through human discussions, the divine word continues resplendent, fulminating, showing us, from the dawn of humanity, the luminous, symbolic figure, of hope and mercy of the Immaculate Virgin.

Such is, in fact, the opinion of St. Jerome himself, who chose among the four versions that of the Seventy, reproduced in the other Hebrews that bring ipsa, which is clearer if not for the grammatical accuracy, but for the spiritual sense, he himself gives the reason of this preference:

"The seed of the woman cannot be any other, he writes, than that which the Apostle says was made of the woman, that is, Jesus Christ (factum ex muliere) (Gl4,4). The Christ is truly the seed of the woman, having been born without the cooperation of man".

VII. Conclusion

As we have just seen, the sublime dogma of the Immaculate Conception is not explicitly revealed in the Old Testament, and there is no reason for God to openly and publicly manifest a truth far beyond the understanding of the Jews.

God acted in the same way with the revelation of the mystery of the SS. Trinity. It revealed it implicitly, in terms and veiled comparisons, which do not allow the mystery to appear immediately, but allow the centuries to come, at the right time, to deduce these truths, as a conclusion, from other truths, explicitly revealed.

This is how he acted with the Immaculate Conception. There are indications, there are indications, but in such a confused way that only after other truths are well understood, it is possible to deduce the Immaculate Conception from them.

What dominates in the Old Testament is the Virginity of Mary. This is clear and positive: The Lord will give you a sign, Isaiah said to Ahaz, Behold, the Virgin will conceive and bear a son, and they will call his name Immanuel, that is, God with us (Is7,14).

The Savior must be born of a Virgin: It is a basic truth, which must serve as a principle for the other truths.

But God reserved the time and manner for the proclamation of other truths, included in this first one.

A sublime though still hidden thought dominates the first man's fall: it is reparation—it is the promised Savior and this Savior's restorative action.

It is a parallel that God timidly draws between Adam and Christ, and at the same time between Eve and Mary.

São Paulo provides the basis for this parallel, saying:

The first man, coming from the earth, was earthly. The second, coming from heaven, is heavenly (1 Cor 15:47).

Beside the first Adam is the woman, whom Adam named Eve , because she was supposed to be the Mother of the living (Gen.3,20).

Beside the second Adam, of Jesus Christ, is another woman, Mary, whose figure Eve was, who was to be the Mother of the living, in Christ, by grace.

Eva Evae contradicts, says St. John Chrysostom.

Let us end this chapter by comparing Eve and Mary, because from this parallelism the Immaculate Conception of Mary stands out admirably.

Eve is a figure of Mary, and Mary must have at least all the gifts and privileges of the first mother of the living.

Eve was directly created by God, in the state of perfect, pure innocence, and adorned with the gifts of nature and grace, in other suits, straight out of the hands of God, she was immaculate .

Mary, the restorer of order disturbed by Eve, must therefore also be immaculate .

It is the only point of equality; at all other points Mary is contrary to Eve.

Eve brought us death: Mary brings us life.

The fruit of Eve was deadly: the fruit of Mary is life-giving .

Eva was a cause of tears: Mary is a cause of joy .

Eve separated God from man: Mary unites them .

Eve attracted us to the curse: Mary obtains for us the divine blessing .

Eve imposed the yoke of evil on us: Mary leads us to good .

Eva aroused the hatred: Mary makes peace reign .

Eva launched us into the bonds of death: Mary in the bosom of life .

Eve was the cause of the fall: Mary is the cause of the uprising .

And so on.

The holy fathers made innumerable approximations of Eve and Mary, to emphasize their regenerating role, and to show that by her we are elevated higher than the lack of Eve lowered us.

Innocent Eve was the symbol of Mary.

Fallen Eve is Mary's opposition.

Formed by the hands of God, Eve was immaculate before the fall.

Mary, having to repair this fall, must be in the same state as Eve before this fall, must be Immaculate . (1)

(1) Eve contradicts Eve: Eva enim facit Indian Indian son Dei; Maria us pacificavit Deo. Ilia mater cunctorium viventium, spiritualis interfectrix; hac cunciorum Mater, spirituals vivificatri ilia maledicta multiplicatur a Deo: aec benedicta in Matris utero (S. Antoninus in sum. parte. 4 t. 51 c. 13).

As we saw the divine word in the prophetic text, of course. showing us the Blessed Woman crushing the serpent's gourd, as associated with the Redeemer. whose victory over evil was to be shared by his own Mother.

Maris is Immaculate because this prerogative satisfies the demands of the role that Mary must play as mother of God.

Everything requires it. everything imposes it, and God himself, to prepare the minds of men, allows us to glimpse, through the sacred pages, the existence of this privilege, which we shall see shining out clearly and positively, although still veiled, in the New Testament.

CHAPTER IV

The Immaculate Conception

ACCORDING TO THE ARCHANGEL'S WORDS

We have already understood the convenience and necessity of the Immaculate Conception of Mary, proved by reason and common sense, and we have seen this mystery outlined, announced in the Old Testament, such a dawn that precedes the appearance of the shining sun.

God manifests the great truths according to the needs of souls.

Such truths exist; but, there is a providential hour when they must be manifested to the world.

Christianity differs from religions or human conceptions in terms of its promulgation:

Human systems immediately manifest all that they are and that they possess, in invariable formulas, incapable of development and expansion.

The Christian doctrine, since its revelation, forms a set perfectly connected in all its parts, but in such a coordinated way that the Holy Spirit, through the Church, can manifest to the world the points that it is necessary to highlight, to respond to the attacks of enemies and preserve the integrity of the divine deposit.

This is what we are going to study here, and what we will find admirably in the basis, development and manifestation of the Immaculate Conception.

Let us first seek, in the Gospel, the revelation of this dogma, this time explicit , as a whole, although still veiled, as if to leave to the Church the initiative of discovering in these texts, in the light of tradition, the luminous and certain truth.

Let us highlight the following almost explicit revelations in this regard:

1. The fullness of grace in Mary.

2. Mary's predestination.

3. Mary's union with God.

4. Bodily and spiritual integrity.

5. Precedence over all women.

6. Grace lost and found.

1. The Virgin Mary

The most explicit, most luminous and most decisive proof of the Immaculate Conception are the words, with which, in the name of God, the Archangel came to communicate to Maria Sma. the ineffable mystery of the Incarnation, asking her to consent to be the Mother of Jesus.

Everything there is divinely beautiful and divinely profound, showing what the Holy Virgin was already at this time, and revealing what was to be in the future.

Let us briefly retrace this sublime scene, highlighting only what refers to her Immaculate Conception and what proves the existence of this privilege in the humble Virgin of Nazareth.

The angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man, whose name was Joseph, of the House of David, and the Virgin's name was Mary.

And the angel entering where she was, said to her, Hail, full of grace; the Lord is with you, blessed are you among women.

Fear not, Mary, for you have found favor with God. (Lc1,26-31)

The Archangel Gabriel was sent by God: we therefore have a true divine mission, in such a way that the words of the Archangel, as a messenger, specially sent by God, are divine words. It is not he who speaks, it is God who speaks through his lips.

It is sent to a Virgin. It can be seen from the context that it is not a simple virginity here, but a higher purity, as the words of the Angel will show.

God points out that this Virgin was married, as if to better emphasize her virginity, since virginity under the veil of matrimony denotes more virtue and more heroism than that of a simple young woman, still a virgin due to her unmarried condition.

And this Virgin was called Mary. The very name of the Virgin must have a divine meaning, as it is a well-founded tradition that such a name was revealed by God to Mary's parents.

Maria, in Aramaic: Mariam; in Hebrew: Miriam, means:

Starfish (meirjam)

Beloved of God (mritjam)

Lady—Princess (marjam)

Three meanings that are like three titles expressing, in a metaphorical way, the great prerogatives of the Holy Virgin.

She is a luminous star for her consummate holiness, for her sublime virtues, which illuminates all who sail on the waves of the tumultuous sea, which is the world.

She is the beloved of God , through her Immaculate Conception, which places her above all creatures, and makes her enter into the intimacy of God, like our first parents before the original fall.

She is the Lady , or princess, by her divine Maternity, which associates her forever with her Son, united with her royalty, reigning by grace and privilege, wherever her Son reigns, by justice.

The world calls Jesus: Our Lord.

We must call Mary: Our Lady.

Jesus is the King of heaven and earth.

Mary is the Queen of heaven and earth.

All this is expressed in the name that the Most High gave to the Virgin of Nazareth, Mary .

The Gospel notes that the Virgin was betrothed.

So it must be, in fact, because the miraculous birth of J. Christ being an unknown mystery, which neither the world nor the devil should know, before the appointed time, it was necessary to give this birth all the appearances of a natural birth. , and to chaste spouses, the appearances of a married life.

The reasons for this marriage can be reduced to five:

1. So that neither Jesus nor Mary would be exposed to dishonor.

2. That Mary would have an unsuspected witness of her virginity.

3. So that Jesus would be sustained and nurtured in his childhood, like other children.

4. That Mary would honor marriage, that the state of most men, and could serve as a model for virgins, wives, and widows.

These solemn and significant preliminaries already give a glimpse of the glorious scene that we are about to witness.

II. the angel's greeting

And the angel entering where she was, said to her: Hail, full of grace (Lc 1,28).

How simple everything is in this sentence... No foreplay, no emphasis... no superfluous words.

Tradition shows us the luminous Archangel, In human form, suddenly entering the humble hermitage of Nazareth, where the humble Virgin was engrossed in contemplation and bowing respectfully to the greeting used in Palestine: Hail ( Klairé — rejoice, save, peace be with you — God save you! Ave means all this.

Such a greeting in use among ancient people, clothed with dignity, had never fit from the lips of an angel to salute a creature.

When, in the Old Testament, an angel appeared to someone, he stood on foot, grave and majestic, while the privileged one of the apparition prostrated with his forehead to the ground.

In fact, as St. Thomas points out, man must bow down to the angel, because he is inferior to him in three things: in dignity, in union with God and in grace.

But here the roles are intervened. The Virgin Mary is superior to the angel in these three points.

Angels are God's messengers; Mary was chosen to be your mother .

Angels surround the throne of God; Mary would soon carry her own God.

Angels receive graces according to their hierarchy and mission; Mary is full of grace for the dignity that the Most High comes to reveal to her.

It is therefore necessary for the Virgin to remain on her knees, and for the Archangel to bow down to her.

Ave, full of grace (Kekharitômené) which has the double meaning of full of grace and pulchérrima in grace.

Let's immediately notice the way of greeting, at first glance it seems that the angel should have said: Ave Maria, full of grace.

It shouldn't be; the meaning would have been different and greatly diminished.

What the angel salutes is not simply the person of Maria Sma., as he would have done, saying: Ave Maria; no, he replaces the person with the prerogative that gives rise to this greeting.

What he welcomes is: the full of grace!

It is in this sense that the Scripture calls Solomon: Sapiens, as it calls Jesus Christ: The Just, as it calls St. Paul: the Apostle.

Mary is: the full of grace — the fullness of grace in a creature.

It's your own qualifier.

It's your unique name.

She is the Virgin Mary before men. Before God, she is: full of grace!

Hail, full of grace!

Such is its divine name.

And this name is identical to what she herself proclaimed at the apparition of Lourdes: I am the Immaculate Conception!

Full of grace and Immaculate Conception, “two parallel names, identical, and expressing the same truth.

Let's look at this expression.

To say that a container is full is to declare that it can contain nothing more than what is already inside.

I ask Protestant friends to say whether the Immaculate Conception is or is not a prerogative, a gift, a perfection.

If so, and assuming that Maria Sma. does not have it, it must be said that there is a quality that it could have that it does not have; therefore, she is no longer full of grace, and the Holy Spirit lied, giving her this title.

One thing or another:

Either Saint Gabriel told the truth or he lied!

If you have told the truth, since Mary is full of grace, you must admit the Immaculate Conception.

If S. Gabriel lied, ah! so Protestants are right against the angels themselves.

And it's not just that!,... there's more to it.

III. all beautiful

Protestants dislike the Catholic translation of: Full of Grace—Gratia plena.

Prefer to translate the Greek text: Kekharitômené for all beautiful in grace, or equivalent.

Such a translation is not wrong, because although the Latin version: gratia plena, is not suitable for this translation except from a distance, the Hebrew text allows it without difficulty.

In fact, the meaning is the same. It's just another way of looking at the same truth.

What is sanctifying grace?

It is a divine gift that makes us holy and righteous, children of God and heirs to heaven.

It can be said simply that grace is what makes us pleasing to God.

Being nice is a quality.

Every quality belongs to a substance.

Being pleasant is a quality of the soul.

To say that Mary was all beautiful is therefore to express that she pleased God as much as a creature can please, in other words, that "she was full of pleasure" or "full of grace", because pleasure or grace can be taken as synonyms.

Full of delight, or beauty, it means that the measure of pleasing God has run out.

Well, if there was a quality, that Maria Sma would do it. to please God more, she would not be filled with this pleasure; something would be missing, and again the Archangel's word would be a lie.

Mary's soul was thus adorned with all the qualities it could possess at this time, and among these qualities is the Immaculate Conception.

Soon, Maria Sma. it was Immaculate!... it had to be stamped, for its state to correspond to the divine greeting of St. Gabriel.

This does not mean that Maria Sma. ran out of grace; no, she always grew, from day to day, until the last hour of her life.

She was full at her Immaculate Conception—full at the Annunciation, full at the Saviour's birth, full at her death; but these diverse fullnesses, though different, form a single fullness; in the sense that as the Virgin's soul was expanded by grace, she became capable of increasing its fullness.

A full stream is different from a full river, as the latter is different from a full sea.

They are fullnesses, but different fullnesses, depending on the size of the container.

The Holy Virgin was always full of grace, full, from her Conception until her death, although her soul was always expanded more by virtue, the contact of Jesus, the Sacraments and the love of God.

This sense is obvious, natural and logical.

At the time the Archangel spoke these words, Maria Ssma. she was simply the Virgin of Nazareth, not yet the mother of God.

The latter was to incarnate in her immaculate womb, after she had given her consent, saying: Let it be done to me according to your word (Lk1,88)

The Archangel calls her; full of grace, not because of her divine motherhood, which had not yet been realized; but because of her Immaculate Conception, which made her, from the beginning, the Blessed woman among all women... the only woman, chosen, having preserved, for preservation, her innocence and original justice.

What a clearer, more positive and more explicit manifestation of the Immaculate Conception could one wish.

It is an explicit revelation , although still veiled, that will receive its last expansion, its last irradiation of the luminous dogma, in the affirmations of the universal Church, as being a truth transmitted from apostolic times until today, by the unanimous tradition of the Christian centuries.

IV. new protestant objection

As can be seen, the step in question is one of the most decisive and explicit in the Gospel, which most clearly reveals the Immaculate Conception of the Mother of Jesus.

It is the reason why Protestant friends sought to misrepresent it, divert it from its true meaning, and even oppose similar texts to it, to prove that the term — full of — does not have such an extensive meaning.

In proof of this objection, they quote, for example: Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit (Lk1,41) Zechariah... was filled with the Holy Spirit (1,67) And he will be filled with the Holy Spirit (Lk1,15)

From these texts, Protestants conclude: If Mary is Immaculate because she is full of grace, then Elizabeth, Zechariah, and John the Baptist are also immaculate because they are filled with the Holy Spirit?

Nice argument... of a child.

If dear believers read the entire text, they would immediately see the radical difference between these two expressions.

To be filled with the Holy Spirit, in biblical language, means to have the gift of prophecy , so that it is not such a person who speaks, but it is good God who speaks through his lips — Sicut locutus est per os sanctorum, et prophetarum ejus (Lc1.70).

Therefore, after each of these expressions, it is found that this fullness of the Holy Spirit consisted in prophesying.

Of St. Elizabeth the Gospel then says: Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, and exclaimed in a loud voice: Blessed are you among women! (Lc1,42)

Of Zechariah, he says: He was filled with the Holy Spirit and prophesied, saying: Blessed be the God of Israel (Lk1,67)

Of St. John the Baptist he says: And he will be filled with the Holy Spirit... to prepare a perfect people for the Lord (Lk 1:17).

Of Mary Smº, the Archangel says: Ave, gratia plena — Ave, full of grace, or; all beautiful in grace.

This term does not simply mean a transitory gift, as prophecy is, but rather a permanent gift, adherent to the soul, which can only be taken away by sin.

As shown above, the Greek Keharétômené, past participle of Kharitoo, and charis is used in the Bible to express a complete and permanent plenitude, in the theological sense of being a divine gift adherent to the soul.

The second interpretation: — all beautiful in grace, or even: all gracious through grace — omnino graciosa reddila, has even meaning Fully gracious, or beautiful through grace is, in fact, the same thing as full of grace.

Omnino plena celesti gratia, as the interpreters say.

Such an objection not only does not weaken, but on the contrary, it strengthens the Catholic interpretation, limiting such expression to the Immaculate Conception which is the fullness of the beauty of a virginal soul, which was only granted, by privilege, to the mother of Jesus, and which Jesus possessed , by right and as being the perfect and supreme fullness , the source of divine grace.

* * *

Theologians cite yet another argument in proof of the Immaculate Conception. (1)

(1) Lepecier: Tract. of BV M, C. 1.n. 11.

Ita gratia tuit in BV vtillam simpliciter invenerit apud Deum. Hitherto gratam simplic tor apud Deum invenissa, est ila nunquam caruisse.

The grace was in the Ssma. Virgo, just as she is in God.

Now, the characteristic of grace in God is that he never lacked.

Therefore, it can never have been lacking in the Holy Virgin.

Let us note the strength of this theological argument.

To understand it well, it is necessary to remember that the works of God are eternal, and he only performs, in time, what he decreed from eternity.

From eternity God had decided to make Maria Ssma. the mother of her incarnate Son. He prepared her for that purpose.

The Virgin was associated with God, since her Conception, for the realization of the sublime mystery of the Incarnation.

He must, therefore, by virtue of this choice, preserve her from original sin and make her be born immaculate from the first moment of her existence.

If this were not so, the Holy Virgin, infested by sin, as a sinner, being virtually united with God, would enter the decrees of the Eternal, as a sinner, would be associated, being a sinner, with the divine mystery of the Incarnation, which already existed, from eternity , in God, before receiving his execution, in time.

Now this is impossible! It is unworthy of God! It is contrary to common sense, contrary to all logic, as it is contrary to the Gospel texts.

Mary is therefore Immaculate, because she is full of grace, and she is full of.grace, because the Mother must be the Son of God .

The fullness of grace and divine motherhood are two mutually complementary and mutually demanding prerogatives!

V. God with Mary

One more proof of the Immaculate Conception.

The Archangel completes the greeting with an expression that is like the corollary, the explanation of the first sentence, which sums it all up: Hail, full of action, the Lord is with you.

This expression has, in its voice, an extension that is not quite understood, which we must look into here.

The term: "The Lord is with you" is used in Sacred Scripture in a double sense: imprecative and affirmative.

We find this imprecative term in several places.

God be with you. (Jd6.18)

The Lord is with you. (Jz6.12)

The Lord be with you (Rt2,4)

It was the way of greeting among the Jews, of showing kindness and benevolence, as we say today: Praise be to Jesus Christ!

The affirmative mode has another meaning: And here, the lips of the Archangel, is the affirmation of a reality.

God is with Maria Sma. and there it is in a unique, very special way.

God is everywhere, filling everything with His immensity, without being circumscribed anywhere.

It is in heaven , where He manifests His glory.

It is on earth , where it manifests its Providence.

It is in hell , where it manifests its Justice.

It is in our tabernacles , where he manifests his love.

It is in our souls , by grace, where he manifests his mercy.

But there is a soul, a true temple prepared by God to receive it, to host it, a soul that surpasses all that is most beautiful in this world.

This soul is God's heaven on earth.

This heaven is the heart of the Holy Virgin .

"Sanctificavit tabernaculum suum Altissimus. (Ps 45:5) Let us note the Angel's way of saying. It does not say: Dominus sit tecum—May the Lord be with you! nor: Dominus est tecum—The Lord is with you!, but it says in an absolute way! : Dominus tecum— The Lord with you , as if he wanted to unite in a single term: God and Mary, unite them inseparably, from eternity to the end.

And such is the meaning of his words!

It does not join the term: with you, as a simple qualifier is joined to a noun, but it links the two terms, as if they are an integral part of the other. The Lord is not without Mary, Mary is never without the Lord: "The Lord is with you".

In this way, the Immaculate Conception once again appears luminous and resplendent.

In fact, where sin is, there is not the Lord.

If the Holy Virgin had had, for just an instant, the original sin, during this instant the Lord would not have been with her.

Having always been with her from the beginning is a proof that sin was never with Mary, in other words it is a proof that she is Immaculate.

Such, incidentally, is the interpretation of the Holy Fathers. Sto. Augustine says very well: "Dominus tecum!" The Lord is with you; with you in my heart, with you in my bosom, with you to sustain you. (1)

Elsewhere he completes this thought: "The Lord is with you," more than with me; it is in your Heart, it is in your bowels, it fills your soul, it fills your bosom. (two)

" St. Cyprian has an almost bold expression in this regard: "Among all distinguished, he says, by the perfect integrity of her flesh and soul, she deserved to possess Christ fully, in her flesh and in her soul, and to enjoy his presence outside”. (3)

(1) Ave gratia plena, Dominus tecum: tecum Dominus in corde, tecum in utere, tecum in auxillo. (S. Aug. Serm. of Ann.)

(2) Inse enim in tuo est corde, in tuo est utero; adimplet maniem, adimplet ventrem. (S.Aug. of Nat.)

(3) Quae carnis et mentis integritate insignis spirituali, et corpoi intus, et extra Christi.

St. Cyprian draws this admirable conclusion and shows the belief in the Immaculate Conception in the first centuries: he asserts that God does not simply honor Mary's flesh , for her divine presence, but also her soul, from which he concludes that the integrity of "her soul it must perfectly equal the integrity of her virgin flesh."

"The Virgin's flesh was all pure; there was nothing in her that resembled the corruption that sows original sin in her; likewise there could be nothing in her soul that resembled sin."

"It was necessary for Mary to be full of grace, free from all faults and imperfections".

This sublime and profound argument has not been sufficiently stressed by theologians who look to the Gospel for the explicit revelation of the Immaculate Conception; however, he seems irrefutable.

God performed a miracle, unique of its kind, to preserve the virginal purity of Mary's body.

It would behoove him to perform a similar miracle to preserve the purity of his soul.

The first is the miracle of the Conception and the Virgin Birth: The virtue of the Most High will cover you with its shadow (Lc1,35).

The second is the miracle of preservation from original sin.

Here is how we logically arrive at the Immaculate Conception, revealed in this second sentence of the angel's greeting: "The Lord with you—Dominus tecum.

Yes, exclaims St Bonaventure, the Lord is with you, O Mary; he was already with you; He stays with you; he will always be with you!

The Immaculate Conception was the basis of this union, motherhood is its consecration , the Assumption will be its coronation .

St. Gregory of Nyssa confirms this doctrine by the following reasoning: "In other creatures the perfectly pure soul is only worthy of the presence of the Holy Spirit, while here the flesh itself becomes the receptacle of the Holy Spirit."

If, then, in the words of St. Gregory, Mary's own flesh at this point surpasses even our souls, what are we to think of her soul, whose holiness must necessarily be proportionate to the holiness of her body?

If such was the purity of your body, what would be the purity of your soul?

If the gaze of God found no stain on this virgin flesh, how could the soul be tainted and dishonored by the stain of sin.

Let us not forget that it is from the soul that the body receives its purity; the holiness of the Spirit redounds on the body.

It was therefore necessary that the purity of Mary's soul was very great, to give her body such a perfect holiness, that it would attract God Himself, to make her abode in this blessed Tabernacle.

SAW. the blessed woman

The third sentence of the Salutation is another manifestation of the great privilege of the Immaculate Conception.

It is like the conclusion of the two preceding greetings.

Mary is full of grace : It is her great privilege.

Grace, being a communication of the divine nature: divine consorts nature (2Pd1,4), whoever possesses grace, possesses God with him.

A person is the more closely united with God the more his grace increases.

Maria Sma. having the fullness of the square, it has in fact the fullness of the presence of God.

God is with her fully as much as he can be with a creature; because Mary contains all the grace that a creature can contain.

As a result of these two privileges, she is the Blessed woman among all women.

It's the logical consequence.

It's more than a consequence; it is a new beginning of greatness, a new proof of his Immaculate Conception.

Let us note well that at the moment that St. Gabriel addresses these words to Mary, she is not yet Mother of God, she is still in the preludes of negotiation.

She is not, therefore, Blessed for being the Mother of God.

Why is it then?

It can only be because it has been preserved from original sin.

It is the only title that elevates her above all women.

I say: above all, and in this set is included Eve herself, the first woman, the woman who came out of the Creator's hands, in innocence and original justice, Immaculate, adorned, from the gifts of grace and intimacy with God.

Eva was beautiful at this time... the most beautiful, the most powerful of women.

However, even in her innocence, even in the runaway days of her royalty, she was only a figure of Mary.

Eva is not the Blessed woman....

The only one to whom God directs this exaltation is the Holy Virgin. She alone is the blessed woman among all women, for not only is she Immaculate in her conception, as Eve was in her creation, but she has preserved and will forever preserve this Immaculate purity.

Unfaithful to the original blessing, Eve was subjected to the curse.

Maria Sma., not having participated in the absence of our first parents, was not subject to the weight of the miseries with which this lack is punished.

"The human race, says St. Thomas, was aggravated by a triple curse: Mary, innocent and pure, will receive as a counterweight a triple blessing".

She, the Immaculate One, will give birth, without pain and as if wrapped in the enchantment of her virginity.

She will live only for God, and will not know. the putrefaction of the grave.

The only remembrance, and not punishment, that Mary will retain from original sin is that of being able to suffer .

Eva was not subject to pain; Mary wants to preserve, and must preserve the faculty of suffering, in order to be better united with her Son and associated with redemption, as co-redeemer of the human race.

In this way, Mary replaces Eve, to be the Queen and Mother of humanity. Therefore, it was fitting that the proclamation, as it were, of Mary, was the counterpart of the proclamation of Eve.

An angel of light had to announce the Word Mary, as an angel of darkness had announced false knowledge and disobedience to Eve.

On both sides there are:

1) The proposition of an angel to the woman.

2) A colloquium.

3) A consent.

4) A fruit received and transmitted to mankind.

Mary is the Blessed woman , as the fruit of her womb is blessed .

Benedicta-tu in mulieribus, et benedictus fructus ventris tui: Jesus (Lc1,24)

VII. Lost and found!

Let us continue to meditate on the expressive words of the angelic greeting.

As divine words, each of them has a meaning that a simple reading does not discover at first sight.

The word of God is an unfathomable abyss... and the more it is meditated upon, the more luminous the truths it conveys appear.

The entire greeting refers to the two fundamental truths of Mary's greatness: to her Immaculate Conception, and to her divine motherhood .

It is the subject of this entire divine colloquy.

The first part, as shown above, is the Immaculate Conception. Each expression is an implied revelation, taken separately; but explicit on the whole.

There are six revelations, each one more luminous than the other, and we need to meditate on the sixth, no less profound than the preceding ones.

And the Gospel continues, after quoting words from the greeting itself:

"And she, having heard these things, was troubled by their words, and thoughtfully discussed what this greeting would be. And the angel said to her, Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found favor with God ."

Here ends the revelation of the Immaculate Conception, to begin that of divine motherhood.

"Behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Jesus." (Lc1,28).

By simply reading, one can feel the close connection of these two truths: "Mary will be the Mother of Jesus, because she found grace before God".

It is a sine qua non, indispensable condition.

Without this condition the fact would not take place.

Such a condition is therefore of paramount importance in the plans of God.

Maria Sma. she can only receive Jesus into her bosom, because she found favor with the Lord.

So far we are all in agreement: Catholics and Protestants.

But what does it mean: amusing?

This is what dear Protestants did not understand. One can only find what is lost. In order for someone to find an object, that object must be lost.

Mary therefore found something that was lost . And what was this thing?

The fun; but what grace?

It cannot be sanctifying grace, nor present grace, for it existed in many righteous souls.

A single lost grace that had never existed since the fall of Adam and Eve in paradise, the original grace ; this was completely and irretrievably lost.

Saying then that: Mary found grace, is to say that she found the original grace.

Now the original grace is the Immaculate Conception . It is one and the same thing.

The angel telling Mary that she found grace, says: Mary, you are Immaculate, and for this you will be the Mother of Jesus Christ.

Indeed, if God was to be born in this world; he must be born of an Immaculate Virgin.

And if an Immaculate Virgin was to give birth to a child, that child must be God Himself!

This word is, therefore, a new revelation of the Immaculate Conception. and an even more expressive revelation than the preceding ones.

This is how the Holy Fathers understood it and what the Apostolic tradition transmitted to us.

This is what a writer of the first centuries says, who hides under the pseudonym "The Idiot".

"You have found heavenly grace, O Mary, because the preservation of the original stain, the greeting of the Angel, the coming of the Holy Spirit and the Conception of the Son of God, were your sharing.

But, O most happy Virgin, how did you receive such graces?

Oh! Virgin a thousand times blessed! Eve had lost grace because of her pride... you found her, and you never lost her, because you ought to be the most humble."

It is seen that the pious author speaks here of the original grace that was lost by Eve, which Mary found and never lost, which is to say that she was Immaculate in her conception and was immaculate to the end. (1)

1) Invenisti, Maria, gratia celestem: quia fuerunt in te ab originali labe conservatio, angelica salutatio, Spiritus Sancti superventio, et Filii Def Conceptio. (Idiotus)

Saint Andrew, Bishop of Jerusalem, expresses himself in almost identical terms: "Fear not Mary, for you have found before the Lord the grace that Eve had lost, a grace that no one has ever been able to find before" (1)

1) Ne timeas, Mary: nacta es enim gratiam apud Deum, quam Eve perdiderat... gratiam qualem non nactus est quiquam ab eternal, sicut te.

Here are clear and positive texts from the Holy Fathers, which it would be possible to multiply almost without end, proving that the grace that Maria Sma. found was the original grace, lost by Eve.

She found it... and didn't lose it... she has it, then, and that grace is the original innocence, or Immaculate Conception.

You are therefore all pure, O Mary, and there is no original stain in you: Tota pulchra es, et macula originalis non est in te, the Catholic Church rightly sings.

VII. Conclusion

In addition to the six proofs mentioned above, many others could be adduced, perhaps of less explicit value, but expressing, at least in a metaphorical sense, the great mystery of the Immaculate Conception.

Every phrase of the Archangel's divine colloquy with the Holy Virgin, the words of St. Elizabeth, the Magnificat, the woman's exclamation proclaiming blessed the entrails that contained the Saviour, the woman clothed with the sun and the head crowned with stars, of the Revelation, all those passages refer more or less directly to the Immaculate Conception.

Let us limit ourselves to the most expressive ones explained above.

They are still implicit revelations, taken separately, but which become explicit as a whole, interpreted and illuminated by the voice of the unanimous tradition of the Church.

Let's go over the six arguments studied separately for a moment, in order to better highlight the probative force that emanates from their union.

Each term used by the Angel is an implicit revelation, but in synthesis and interpreted by the tradition of the centuries, these terms form the great explicit revelation , on which the Church relied to proclaim the Immaculate Conception of Mary's dogma of faith.

first argument

Ave, full of grace, said S. Gabriel.

Mary is full, she is full of grace.

What is full can't fit any more.

Well, if Mary were not Immaculate, she could be; she would not be full of grace, lacking the grace of the Immaculate Conception.

Logo: Holy Mary is Immaculate!

This argument is irrefutable, for we must necessarily admit that the Holy Spirit, who dictated these words, knows the meaning and extent of the terms used and speaks as clearly as possible in order to be understood.

This text would suffice, but lest there be any doubt about the obvious meaning, The Holy Spirit continues to repeat the same truth, in other words, corroborating one text for another.

The second translation of this term gives the same result:

Hail, all beautiful by grace.

Grace is what makes God pleasing.

Mary is, therefore, all pleasing to God.

Now, if she were not immaculate, she would become more pleasing to God, being so; and it would no longer be all beautiful.

Logo: Holy Mary is Immaculate!

second argument

From eternity Maria Sma. she was chosen to be the Mother of Jesus and as such associated with the work of the Incarnation, so that the grace of the Incarnation should be in God and in the Sma in the same way. Virgin.

Now, the characteristic of original grace in God is that it never lacked.

Therefore, he could never have spoken to Sma. Virgin, which constitutes her Immaculate Conception.

third argument

The Archangel continues: The Lord is with you.

It is a positive affirmation indicating the perpetuity of this union, and so it says: The Lord is with you. It's absolute.

Of other creatures it can be said: God is with you.

From Mary Sma. is: God with you.

God has always been with Mary, since her choice in eternity, to be the Mother of Jesus Christ.

Now where God is, sin cannot be.

Soon, Maria Sma. never been subject to the dominion of any sin; she is therefore Immaculate.

fourth argument

Another argument from an irreducible force.

It is the person of Maria Sma who is the Mother of God.

This person results from the union of soul and body.

God performed an unprecedented miracle to preserve the unblemished purity of Mary's body.

Should he not perform a similar miracle to preserve his soul in the unblemished purity of primordial innocence?

The first miracle is the conception of Jesus and the virgin birth of Mary.

The second must be the preservation of original sin for your soul.

In summary, it can be said:

The integrity of Mary's soul must equal the integrity of her virgin flesh.

Now such integrity of his soul is the absence of original sin.

Therefore, Mary did not have this sin: — she is Immaculate.

fifth argument

The Archangel St. Gabriel completes and summarizes his revelations, saying: Blessed are you among women. — It's a new proof of the Immaculate Conception.

In fact, in this term - women - all women in the world, past, present and future are included together, and therefore Eve herself, the first, woman.

Eve came out Immaculate from the hands of the Creator.

If Maria Sma. were it not Immaculate, she would be inferior to Eve herself and would no longer be Blessed among all women.

We can say: Maria Sma. Blessed above all women, Why, Eve was Immaculate in her creation.

Soon, Marta Sma. he owed a seal, at least equal if not superior to Eve: she is therefore Immaculate.

sixth argument

To reassure the Holy Virgin, disturbed by the sublime greeting, the Archangel says to her: Fear not, Mary, for you have found favor with God (Lk 1,30).

But like Maria Sma. could you find the grace?

What is lost is found...

Grace was not lost, for St. John the Baptist, St. Joseph, St. Elizabeth, and so many other holy souls lived in the grace of God.

It is not, therefore, a question of sanctifying grace, which exists in many souls.

What is the grace that Maria Sma, found... that was lost, and that no one had found?

This grace is the original grace, lost since Eve's sin, and never found by anyone else.

We can summarize this argument by saying:

The only grace lost since Eve and never found by creatures is the original grace.

Well, Maria Sma. he found this grace lost, being clothed with it.

Therefore, she is Immaculate.

* * *

Here are six implicit arguments, when taken separately, but made explicit by the connection and explanation that one argument gives to the other. Bringing them together, and projecting on them the luminous reflection of the Christian tradition, these arguments form the solid, irrefutable, infallible basis of the Catholic dogma of the Immaculate Conception.

I ask sincere Protestants, desirous of knowing the whole truth, the biblical truth, to meditate on these arguments, and say, if it is possible for God to speak clearly, and to propose a truth more accurately than when he does, speaking of his Mother's Immaculate Conception ?

It's impossible; and under the weight of these arguments they must recognize that the Catholic Church did not invent the dogma of the Immaculate Conception but found it, whole, perfect and luminous in the pages of the inspired word of God.

Let us say, therefore, convinced and sincere, with the Catholic Church, exalting the Mother of God, through the words of the Song of Songs:

— You are all beautiful, O Mary, and the original stain is not found in you!

— You are tota pulchra, Maria!...

CHAPTER V

The Immaculate Conception

ACCORDING TO TRADITION

The dogma of the Immaculate Conception seems to be quite proven. Theology with its irreducible reasoning, the Old Testament with its expressive figures, the Gospel with its clear and positive teaching, irrefutably showed the necessity, existence and glory of the ineffable privilege which is the Immaculate Conception of the Mother of God .

It seems, however, opportune to go to the end, and show that this truth has always been accepted in the Catholic world, professed by everyone, from the apostles to our days.

Going for a moment through the 19 centuries that separate us from the mystery of the Incarnation, will be one more proof, or rather, it will be like the synthesis of all the proofs of the Immaculate Conception and, at the same time, the refutation of this other protestant objection that affirms than the cult of Maria Sma. was introduced into the Church in 660.

We will finish by quoting the above doctrine from the Holy Fathers and Doctors of the Church, and we will refute the objection of novelty to the cult of Mary Sma., although this has already been done in the first chapter.

For complete clarity, let us first see what tradition is, how it was formed, preserved, and handed down to the centuries to come.

I. The divine tradition

Protestants admit the divine word, as written in the Bible, by divine inspiration.

The Catholic Church is in agreement on this point, and equally admits the Bible as the divine written word.

Where the Church disagrees with Protestant error is that it, in addition to the Bible, admits certain truths, not written in the Bible, or written not literally but spiritually or figuratively.

And Protestants admit only the Bible, saying that all the truths revealed by God are in the Bible.

Now this is in contradiction with the Bible itself.

St. John, at the end of his Gospel, expressly says: Many other things did Jesus, which if they were written, one by one, I believe that not in the whole world could the books that would have to be written could fit (Jn 21,25)

It is therefore certain that Jesus said things that are not written; and what he said and was not written has the same value and the same authority as what is written in the Bible.

No sincere Protestant can deny this.

And what is this divine, unwritten word called?

It is St. Paul who reveals the name of these truths to us, writing to the Thessalonians: Remain steadfast, brethren, and keep the traditions which you have learned, either by our words or by our letter. (2Thes 2,14)

Here before us is the tradition , so attacked by the poor Protestants... and so misunderstood.