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COLL. 

S.     MICHAELIS. 
SKIPTON. 


S.J. 


THE 

IMMACULATE  CONCEPTION 

OF 

THE  MOTHEE  OF  GOD. 


THE 


IMMACULATE  CONCEPTION 


OF 


THE  MOTHER  OF 


AN  EXPOSITION. 


BY 


THE  EIGHT  EEV,  EISHOP  ULLATHOENE. 


1  Tota  pulchra  es,  et  macula  non  est  in  te." 

Cantic.  iv.  7. 


LONDON: 
RICHARDSON  AND  SON,  172,  FLEET  STREET: 

9,  CAPEL  STREET,  DUBLIN  ;   AND  DEBBf. 
MDCCCLV. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAP.  PAGE 

I.  The  Office  and  Dignity  of  the  Mother  of  God i 

n.  How  the  Fathers  speak  of  the  Dignity  of  the  Mother  of  God,  14 

m.  The  Law  of  Preparation, 27 

IV.  The  Principle  of  Exception  from  Law, 37 

V.  The  Law  of  Gradation  in  Perfection ;  and  the  Law  of  the 

Accumulation  of  Excellence, 45 

VI.  In  what  sense  are  we  to  understand  the  Mystery  of  the  Im- 
maculate Conception 58 

!  VII.  The  Eternal  Counsel  of  God ,        ..63 

Vin.  The  Fall  of  the  Angels,       69 

IX.  Original  Sin  and  its  effects,           83 

X.  The  Fall  of  Man 94 

XI.  Joachim  and  Anna.            105 

XII.  The  Moment  of  the  Immaculate  Conception,             ..        ..  in 

XIII.  The  Voice  of  the  Fathers,             116 

XIV.  Mahomet  and  Martin  Luther  on  the  Immaculate  Conception,  133 
XV.  The  Voice  of  the  Divines,             ..        ..          141 

XVI.  The  Voice  of  the  Liturgy  and  the  Voice  of  the  Faithful,       . .  164 

XVII.  The  Voice  of  the  Episcopacy, 179 

XVIII.  The  Voice  of  the  Holy  See,  188 

XIX.  Conclusion,..  200 


THE  IMMACULATE  CONCEPTION 

OF 

THE  MOTHER  OF  GOD, 

CHAPTER  I. 

THE  OFFICE  AND  DIGNITY  OF  THE    MOTHER  OF  GOD. 

THE  multitude  that  saw  Jesus  nailed  to  His 
Cross  could  have  no  doubts  respecting  His 
human  nature.  They  saw  His  Mother  standing 
by  in  sore  distress,  and  had  no  doubts  but 
that  Jesus  was  her  Son.  Of  what  then  were 
men  ignorant?  Alas!  of  everything.  For 
they  knew  not  that  Jesus  was  God,  and  that 
Mary  was  the  Mother  of  God.  What  the 
Apostles  then  had  to  prove,  before  they  could 
make  a  Christian,  was,  that  Jesus,  whom  Pontius 
Pilate  crucified,  was  both  the  Son  of  Mary  and 
the  Son  of  God.  And  thus,  when  they  began 
to  preach,  they  had  to  tell  how  Mary  was 
always  a  virgin,  and  how,  in  her  state  of  virgin- 
ity, an  angel  came  and  greeted  her  from  heaven. 
They  had  to  tell  the  whole  history  about  her 
at  full  length,  which  is  recorded  briefly  in  the 
Sacred  Scriptures.  They  told  how,  in  her  re- 


2  THE  OFFICE  AND  DIGNITY 

tirement,  the  Archangel  Gabriel  came  to  her, 
and  said  :  Hail,  full  of  grace,  the  Lord  is  ivith 
thee,  blessed  art  'thou  amongst  women."  And 
how  Mary  was  troubled,  and  thought  within 
herself  about  the  meaning  of  this  salutation. 
And  how  the  angel  said :  "  Fear  not,  Mary,  for 
thou  hast  found  grace  with  God  :  behold  thou 
shalt  conceive  in  thy  womb,  and  shalt  bring 
forth  a  Son,  and  thou  shalt  call  His  name 
Jesus.  He  shall  be  great,  and  shall  be  called 
the  Son  of  the  Most  High,  and  the  Lord  God 
shall  give  unto  Him  the  throne  of  David,  His 
Father;  and  He  shall  reign  in  the  house  of 
Jacob  for  ever.  And  of  His  kingdom  there 
shall  be  no  end"  But  Mary,  pure  as  the 
Angel,  and  solicitous  for  that  virginity  which 
she  had  vowed  and  given  unto  God,  asks  of  the 
heavenly  messenger  :  "  How  shall  this  be  done, 
for  I  know  not  man  ?  "  And  Gabriel  answered 
her  :  "  The  Holy  Ghost  shall  come  upon  thee, 
and  the  power  of  the  Most  High  shall  over- 
shadow thee.  And  therefore,  also,  the  Holy, 
which  shall  be  born  of  thee,  shall  be  called  the 
Son  of  God."  And  Mary  bowed  herself  clown 
most  meekly  to  the  will  of  God,  and  said : 
te Behold  the  handmaid  of  the  Lord,  be  it  done 
to  me  according  to  thy  word." 

Such  was  the  wonderful  beginning  of  the 
Gospel  of  truth.  And  as  Mary  introduced 
Jesus  into  the  world,  so  the  preaching  of  Mary 
introduced  the  preaching  of  Jesus. 

Then  the  Apostles  went  onto  tell  the  wonders 
of  His  nativity.  How,  whilst  Mary  was  in  the 
stable,  the  angels  came  out  from  heaven,  and 
sang  of  the  birth  of  the  Saviour  of  the  world  ; 


OF  THE  MOTHER  OF  GOD.  3 

they  sang  "  glory  to  God,  and  peace  to  men  of 
good  will."  And  wherever  the  Apostles  came  to 
plant  the  Church,  they  had  to  begin  this  history 
again.  And  thus  Jesus  and  Mary  came  together 
into  the  hearts  of  the  faithful.  Thus  the  love 
of  Jesus  and  of  Mary  grew  together  in  the 
Church.  Indeed,  it  was  impossible  to  separate 
them,  without  destroying  faith  in  Jesus  Himself. 
For  if  you  separate  Mary  from  Jesus,  you  deny 
that  He  is  man,  and  so  you  deny  that  He  is  the 
Man-God.  And  if  you  deny  that  Mary  is  the 
Mother  of  God,  you  separate  Jesus  from  Him- 
self ;  you  separate  His  divinity  from  His 
humanity,  and  thus  you  deny  that  He  is  the 
God-man. 

But  whilst  the  Apostles  were  preaching  Jesus 
and  Mary,  Mary  herself  abode  with  John,  that 
virgin  disciple  of  divine  love  to  whom  Jesus  had 
confided  her  as  a  mother  to  a  son.  With  him 
she  dwelt  in  the  body ;  but  with  her  soiil,  she 
was  ever  ascending  unto  Heaven,  where  her 
Son  and  God  abode.  No  mother  besides  her 
had  ever  loved  her  child  and  her  God  in  one 
person.  And  in  the  order  of  nature,  as  well  as 
in  the  order  of  grace,  this  world  was  a  blank  to 
her  without  Him.  In  this  state  of  trial,  she 
perfected  her  graces  to  the  last  degree  of  divine 
desire,  breathed  out  her  earthly  life  in  one  last 
act  of  divinest  union  with  her  beloved  one, 
and  was  assumed  by  Him  into  the  everlasting 
vision  of  His  glory. 

Scarcely  had  the  other  Apostles  gone  to  their 
reward,  and  St.  John  was  still  remaining  on 
earth,  when  there  grew  a  sect  into  power,  that 
aimed  a  deadly  stroke  at  the  union  of  Jesus  with 


4  THE    OFFICE  AND  DIGNITY 

Mary.  The  Ebionites  denied  that  Mary  had 
conceived  Jesus  of  the  Holy  Ghost  in  the  glory 
of  her  virginity,  and  made  him  but  the  son  of 
Joseph.  Therefore  it  was  that  St.  John  was 
induced  to  write  his  Gospel,  that  he  might  prove 
more  fully  than  the  other  Evangelists,  that  it 
was  the  Eternal  Word  Himself  who  was  made 
flesh  of  Mary.  And  the  traditions  of  St.  John 
were  still  further  recorded  by  His  disciples. 
Thus  St.  IrenaBus,  the  disciple  of  one  of  those 
apostolic  men  whom  St.  John  himself  had  train- 
ed, shews,  in  what  he  has  written  against  the 
same  impious  sect,  that  Jesus  was  descended 
from  Adam  through  Mary,  and  that,  as  through 
the  disobedience  of  that  one  man,  sin  had  come, 
and  death  had  prevailed  over  all  men,  so 
through  the  obedience  of  one,  justice  was  intro- 
duced, and  brought  the  fruits  of  life  to  all  men. 
And,  continues  St.  IrenaBus,  "  as  the  first-formed 
Adam  had  his  substance  from  the  uncultivated 
earth,  whilst  it  was  yet  virgin  ;  for  it  had  not 
rained  on  the  earth  as  yet,  and  mankind  had 
not  tilled  it ;  and  as  he  was  formed  by  the  hand 
of  God,  that  is  by  the  Word,  for  all  things  ivere 
made  by  Him;  so  the  same  Word  was  born  of 
Mary,  still  a  virgin,  and  re-established  Adam 
in  Himself.  If  indeed,  the  first  Adam,  had 
had  a  man  for  his  father,  and  had  been 
born  of  the  generation  of  man,  then  these 
heretics  might  say,  that  Jesus  was  the  Son 
of  Joseph.  But  if  the  first  man  was  taken 
from  the  earth,  and  formed  by  the  Word  of 
God,  it  was  necessary  for  that  very  Word, 
when  He  re-established  Adam  in  Himself,  to 
have  His  generation  in  the  likeness  of  that  of 


OF  THE  MOTHER  OF  GOD.  5 

Adam.  Why,  then,  instead  of  taking  earth 
;iLr;iin,  did  God  form  His  body  from  Mary? 
It  was  that  the  new  formation  might  not  bo 
different  from  that  which  was  to  be  saved,  but 
the  very  same  re-established,  with  a  due  keep- 
ing of  its  likeness."* 

Thus,  this  disciple  of  St.  John's  disciple  shews 
that  the  Son  of  God,  who  made  Adam,  would 
not  be  born  into  this  world  in  a  worse  condition 
than  Adam.  That  as  Adam  was  made  of  virgin 
earth,  so  Christ  would  be  made  of  a  Virgin. 
And  that,  if  He  was  born  of  the  Virgin  Mary, 
instead  of  being  made  of  new  earth,  as  Adam 
was  ;  He  did  so,  that  He  might  redeem  the  race 
of  Adam  in  the  flesh  of  Adam.  Thus  Mary, 
and  Mary  in  her  virginity,  as  the  TMother  of 
Jesus,  was  shewn  to  be  an  essential  element  in 
the  mystery  of  redemption. 

But  soon  there  rose  up  another  heresy,  and 
widely  it  spread  itself,  and,  like  the  former,  it 
sought  to  separate  Jesus  from  Mary,  and  so  to 
destroy  Jesus,  but  in  another  way.  The  Gnos- 
tics taught  that  Christ  took  not  real  flesh  from 
Mary,  but  that  He  had  only  received  an  appear- 
ance of  flesh.  And  St.  Ignatius,  the  disciple  of 
St.  Peter,  tells  us  that  "  they  abstain  from  the 
Eucharist,  and  the  public  offices  of  the  Church, 
because  they  confess  not  the  Eucharist  to  be 
the  flesh  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ."f  Thus, 
they  denied  that  the  body  of  Our  Lord  was  in 
the  Eucharist,  because  they  did  not  believe  that 
He  had  ever  taken  a  body  from  Mary.  And 

*  St  Tren.  Adv.  Hceres.  L.  3.  c.  21. 
t  St.  Ignat.  Ep.  ad  Smyrn. 


6  THE  OFFICE  AND  DIGNITY 

thus,  they  could  not  separate  Jesus  from  Mary 
without  destroying  the  Most  Holy  Sacrament  as 
well  as  the  whole  mystery  of  redemption. 
Hence  St.  Ignatius  in  his  Epistles,  which  in 
the  early  Church  were  read  along  with  the 
Scriptures,  has  continually  to  defend  Mary  as 
the  true  Mother  of  Our  Lord  and  Saviour.  He 
puts  Mary  forward  as  the  defence  of  the  mys- 
tery of  Jesus.  And  he  says,  that  the  virginity 
and  maternity  of  Mary  was  one  of  the  mysteries 
which  was  the  most  spoken  of  throughout  the 
world.  And  St.  Irenseus,  in  repelling  the  same 
impiety,  goes  yet  more  deeply  into  the  subject 
of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  and  shews  how,  as  Jesus 
was  the  counterpart  of  Adam,  so  Mary  was  the 
counterpart  of  Eve.  And  that,  as  the  mother 
of  the  true  Adam,  she  had  become  truly  the 
Mother  of  all  the  living.  Thus  did  the  disci- 
ples of  the  Apostles  hold  up  the  sound  doctrine 
respecting  Mary,  as  a  shield  against  each  suc- 
cessive heresy  that  assailed  either  the  mystery 
of  Jesus,  or  the  mystery  of  human  redemption 
through  Jesus.  Can  we  fail  then  to  see,  how 
the  love  of  Mary  grew  and  deepened  through- 
out the  Church  along  with  the  love  of  Jesus  ? 

It  is  impossible  to  think  rightly  concerning 
Mary  without  thinking  rightly  of  all  divine 
mysteries.  Thus  if  we  confess  that  Mary  had 
God  for  her  Son,  we  overthrow  the  great  and 
impious  sect  of  the  Arians.  And  if  we  confess 
that  the  divinity  descended  upon  her  and  over- 
shadowed her,  we  overthrow  the  heresy  of  the 
Macedonians.  But  after  them  rose  up  Nesto- 
rius.  And  he  denied  that  when  Jesus  was  con- 
ceived of  Mary,  the  nature  of  man  was  united 


OF  THE  MOTHER  OF  GOD,  7 

in  one  person  with  the  nature  gf  God.  And  it 
was  found  that  this  blasphemy  against  Jesus 
could  only  be  effectually  repelled  by  solemnly 
proclaiming  the  Blessed  Virgin  to  be  the  Mother 
of  God.  It  was  in  that  city  of  Ephesus,  where 
he  had  dwelt  with  John,  in  that  favoured  city 
still  breathing  its  remembrances  of  Mary,  that 
the  great  Council  assembled  which  by  its  pro- 
claiming her  dignity  as  the  Mother  of  God, 
gave  the  death-stroke  at  once  both  to  the 
Nestorians  and  the ,  Arians.  And  when  the 
faithful  people  of  Mary's  own  city  had  heard 
but  the  first  sounds  which  informed  them  of 
that  decree,  they  broke  out  into  a  joy  so  raptur- 
ous and  unbounded,  and  gave  expressions  to  it 
in  so  many  public  acts  of  gratitude  as  but  few 
scenes  in  history  can  equal.  It  was  in  the 
preordained  order  of  providence  that  first  the 
mysteries  of  God  should  be  established  in  the 
Creed,  and  then  the  prerogatives  of  Mary. 
Thus  the  first  great  Council  established  the 
divinity  of  Jesus ;  the  second  affirmed  the 
divinity  of  the  Holy  Ghost ;  the  third  pro- 
claimed Mary  to  be  the  Mother  of  God.  And 
in  the  fifth,  sixth,  seventh,  and  all  henceforward, 
her  privileges  are  ever  more  arid  more  exalted 
together  with  the  glories  of  her  Blessed  Son. 

But  now  a  sect  began  to  appear  in  Arabia, 
which  took  an  opposite  direction,  whilst  it 
separated  Mary  from  Jesus.  The  Collyridians 
taught  that  Mary  herself  was  born  of  a  virgin, 
and  thus  they  took  from  her  her  own  most 
singular  privilege.  They  made  her  a  divinity, 
and  offered  her  sacrifice,  and  thus  sought  to 
give  to  her  the  rights  which  belonged  to  her 


8  THE  OFFICE  AND  TIGNITY 

divine  Son.  St.  Epiphanius  replied  to  the  new 
heresy.  And  whilst  he  showed  that  she  was  to 
be  honoured,  though  not  adored  like  her  Son, 
he  exalted  her  true  dignity  in  the  most  elevated 
language.  "  God,"  he  says,."  prepared  for  His 
Only-begotten  Son,  the  heavenly  bride,  a 
Virgin,  whom  the  Father  loved,  whom  the  Son 
inhabited,  whom  the  Holy  Ghost  searched 
thoroughly."* 

It  is  this  divine  maternity  of  Mary  which 
explains  both  her  perfect  excellence  and  her 
perfect  holiness.  It  is  the  key  to  all  her 
gifts  and  privileges.  For  the  excellence  of 
each  creature  is  to  be  found  in  the  degree  in 
which  it  resembles  its  Creator.  And  as  the 
Son  of  God  was  the  "  figure  of  the  Father's 
substance,"!  as  He  was  God,  and  as  that  God- 
head filled  His  soul,  and  divelt  in  Him  bodily, 
so  that  as  far  as  the  most  perfect  of  human 
natures  could  do,  His  own  bore  the  image  and 
expression  of  His  divinity,  so  Mary  was  made 
as  like  to  Him,  as  being  a  mere  creature,  she 
could  be  made.  For,  having  no  earthly  father, 
Our  Lord  bore  the  human  likeness  of  His 
mother  in  all  His  features.  Or  rather,  she 
bore  His  likeness.  And  as,  for  thirty  years  of 
His  life,  her  mind  was  the  law  which  directed 
His  obedience,  and  her  will  the  guide,  which 
regulated  His  actions,  her  soul  was  the  perfect 
reflection  of  His  conduct.  And  as  all  created 
holiness  is  derived  from  Jesus,  and  from  the  de- 
gree of  our  union  with  Jesus,  of  which  union  His 

*  St.  Epiph.  De  Laudibus  B.  V.  Maria, 
f  Hebr.  i.  3. 


OF  THE  MOTHER   OF  GOD.  9 

sacred  and  life-giving  flesh  is  the  great  instru- 
ment ;  we  may  understand  something  of  the  per- 
fect holiness  of  the  Mother  of  God,  from  the  per- 
fection of  her  union  with  her  Son.  For  He  was 
formed  by  the  Holy  Ghost  of  her  flesh.  And 
His  blood,  that  saving  blood  which  redeemed 
the  world,  was  taken  from  her  heart.  And 
whilst  the  Godhead  dwelt  bodily  in  Him,  He, 
for  nine  months,  dwelt  bodily  in  her.  And  all 
that  time  He  breathed  of  her  breath,  and  lived 
of  her  life.  All  that  time,  the  stream  which 
nourished  the  growth  of  life  in  Jesus  flowed 
from  the  heart  of  Mary,  and,  at  each  pulsation, 
flowed  back  again,  and  re-entered  His  Mother's 
heart,  enriching  her  with  His  divinest  spirit, 
How  pregnant  is  that  blood  of  His  with  sanctify- 
ing grace,  one  drop  of  which  might  have  re- 
deemed the  world.  And  from  the  moment  of 
His  conception  He  had  already  made  His  obla- 
tion, for  as  St.  Paul  says :  "  Coming  into  the 
world  He  said :  A  body  Thou  hast  fitted  to  me. 
Holocausts  for  sin  did  not  please  Thee.  Behold 
I  come.  In  the  head  of  the  book  it  is  written 
of  me:  that  I  should  do  Thy  will,  0  God." 
And  Mary  was  that  most  pure  Temple  in  which 
the  great  High  Priest  made  His  offering.  There 
He  first  offered  up  that  blood,  there  He  first 
offered  up  that  flesh,  of  which  He  said  at  a 
later  time  :  "  If  you  eat  my  flesh  and  drink 
my  blood,  you  shall  have  life.  As  the  Father 
lives  in  me  and  I  live  by  the  Father,  so  he  tuho 
eats  me,  the  same  shall  live  by  me."  But  now, 
it  is  in  a  far  more  intimate  and  constant  way 
that  Jesus  lives  by  Mary,  and  Mary  lives  by 
Jesus.  Oh,  who  can  tell  that  mystery  of  life  ? 


10  THE  OFFICE  AND  DIGNITY 

Who  can  comprehend  that  union  between  the 
two  hearts  of  Jesus  and  of  Mary  ?  Every  one 
can  understand  how  much  He  has  been  enriched 
through  the  heart  of  His  mother,  and  how  His 
noblest  sentiments  have  been  derived  from  her. 
But  who  can  understand  how  Jesus  enriched 
the  heart  of  Mary  in  that  incomparable  union  ? 
For,  next  to  that  union  by  which  Jesus  is  God 
and  man  in  one  person,  there  is  no  union  so 
intimate  as  that  of  a  mother  with  her  child. 
The  saints  are  His  brethren  by  adoption,  but 
Mary  is  His  Mother  by  nature.  They  have 
affinity  with  Him,  but  she  holds  with  Him  the 
first  degree  of  consanguinity.  Her  graces,  then, 
are  of  quite  another  order  than  those  which 
sanctified  the  very  holiest  of  the  saints.  And 
as  St.  Thomas  says,  through  the  operations  of 
her  maternity,  she  touches  more  nearly  on  the 
confines  of  divinity.  And  which  of  the  Seraphs 
could  ever  say  to  the  Lord  omnipotent :  Thou 
art  my  son,  this  day  have  I  conceived  Thee  ? 

Jesus  is  born,  and  His  features  are  a  copy  of 
her  features,  as  He  lies  in  the  arms  of  His 
Mother.  They  converse  together  through  each 
others'  eyes,  and  the  soul  of  Mary  is  the  mirror 
of  the  soul  of  Jesus.  And  He  puts  His  divine 
head  upon  her  bosom,  and  drinks  of  her  foun- 
tains "  filled  from  Heaven."* 

Then  came  the  time  when  she  must  exercise 
her  maternal  office,  not  only  with  her  heart  but 
through  her  mind.  And  if  God  endowed  the 
mind  of  Moses  for  his  office  as  the  guide  of  His 
people,  if  He  put  wisdom  into  Solomon,  for  the 

*  Hymn  of  the  Church. 


OF  THE  MOTHER  OF  GOD.  11 

sake  of  Israel,  with  what  exquisite  wisdom  did 
He  not  endow  the  Mother  of  God  for  her  far 
greater  office  towards  Jesus.  For  Mary  guided 
the  ways  of  Jesus.  She  was  the  minister  of  the 
Father's  will  to  His  incarnate  Son.  Three  days 
only  excepted,  the  Scripture  records  the  first 
thirty  years  of  His  life  in  the  brief  word,  that 
He  was  subject  to  His  parents.  And  during  that 
long  time,  the  word  of  Mary  was  the  law  of  Jesus. 
During  all  that  time,  she  not  only  studied  the 
life  of  Jesus,  but  she  commanded  His  will,  and 
guided  His  actions;  and  those  actions  were  each 
of  them  contributing  to  the  glory  of  God  and 
the  salvation  of  the  world. 

Now  may  we  understand  those  words  of 
Jesus,  when  He  answered  the  woman,  who  ex- 
claimed to  Him  from  the  crowd,  "  Blessed  is  the 
womb  that  bore  Thee,  and  the  breasts  that 
nourished  Thee."  And  He  said :  "  Yea,  more 
blessed  are  they  ivho  hear  the  Word  of  God 
and  keep  it."  She  was  blessed  that  she  had 
borne  Him.  But  she  was  far  more  blessed  that 
she  had  received  and  obeyed  that  Word  by 
which  she  had  deserved  to  bear  Him.  And 
hence  Elizabeth  gave  her  that  greeting,  "Bless- 
ed art  thou  ivho  hast  believed"  She  heard 
that  word  at  all  times  in  her  heart.  She  spoke 
it  to  Jesus;  she  heard  it  from  the  lips  of  Jesus. 
The  dignity  of  her  maternal  office  had  brought 
even  greater  blessings  to  her  soul  than  to  her 
virginal  frame,  and,  as  St.  Augustin  says,  "  she 
conceived  Jesus  more  happily  in  her  mind  than 
in  her  womb."  And  when  our  Lord  made  His 
remark  in  reply  to  that  woman,  as  St.  Cyprian 
observes,  He  was  not  comparing  Mary  with  any 


12  THE  OFFICE  AND  DIGNITY 

other  person,  but  He  compared  the  different 
gifts  and  offices  which  were  united  together  in 
her  person,* 

There  is  another  source  of  Mary's  preroga- 
tives. Jesus  came  not  to  violate  but  to  confirm 
the  law  of  the  commandments.  And  He  con- 
firmed them  more  especially  by  His  obedience 
to  their  precepts.  But  of  these  commandments, 
the  first  given  with  a  promise,  as  Si  Paul  re- 
minds us,  is  that  one  which  says  :  "  Honour  thy 
father  and  thy  mother."  The  claims  of  a  mother 
to  the  honour  and  the  gifts  of  her  son  are  pre- 
eminent before  those  of  all  other  claimants. 
How  often  does  God  compare  His  own  claims 
upon  us  to  the  claims  of  parents  on  their  chil- 
dren, as  where  He  says:  "  Ifl  am  a  father  where 
is  my  honour?"  Hence  on  this  subject,  St. 
Methodius  addresses  Mary  thus;  "Thou  hast 
Him  for  thy  debtor,  who  lends  to  all.  For  we 
all  owe  debts  to  God ;  but  to  thee  even  He  is  in- 
debted, who  has  said  :  '  Honour  thy  father  and 
thy  mother'  And  that  He  might  fulfil  His  own 
law,  and  exceed  all  men  in  its  observance,  He 
paid  all  honour  and  all  grace  to  His  own 
Mother. "f  Hence,  St.  Eucherius  says:  "  If  you 
would  know  how  great  is  the  Mother,  think  how 
great  is  the  Son."  Hence,  again  St.  Augustin  : 
"  No  heart  can  conceive,  no  tongue  can  express 
the  effect  of  the  dignity  and  grace"  of  her 
maternity.  And  lastly,  St.  Anselm,  that,  "  to 
proclaim  this  alone  of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  that 
she  is  the  Mother  of  God,  exceeds  every  height 

*  St.  Gyp.  De  Passione  Domini, 
t  St.  Method.    Or,  de  Puriflcatione. 


OF  THE  MOTHER  OF  GOD.  1  3 

and  name,  which,  after  that  of  God,  it  is  possi- 
ble for  us  to  think  of."* 

But  we  have  now  to  consider  what  founda- 
tions God  laid  when  He  created  Mary;  when 
He  framed  her  for  an  office  which  raised  her  so 
far  above  the  laws  and  customs  of  our  human 
nature.  We  have  to  consider  how  the  Most  High 
did  found  His  tabernacle.  We  have  to  consi- 
der, how  the  Eternal  Word,  in  the  infinity  of 
His  power,  prepared  a  Mother  for  Himself.  We 
have  to  consider  how  the  Holy  Spirit  of  grace 
prepared  His  spouse.  We  have  to  seek  for  the 
beginning  of  her  ways,  and  to  explain  the  pri- 
mal cause  of  so  much  dignity,  and  grace,  and 
purity.  But,  alas  !  conceived  in  sin  and  born  in 
sin,  living  in  actual  sin,  and  bearing  about  us 
the  deep  scars  and  traces  of  our  origin  in 
sin,  surrounded,  pressed  upon,  and  blinded  by 
the  effects  of  sin  in  a  world  of  sin,  how  can  we 
approach  so  near  to  Jesus,  that  we  may  learn 
from  Him  the  grace  of  Mary,  unless  He  be 
pleased  in  His  infinite  goodness  to  approach  to 
us  :  unless  He  both  purify  our  hearts  and  illu- 
minate our  mind  to  see  this  noblest  work  of  His 
grace  and  love,  this  most  glorious  of  the  works 
of  His  redeeming  power  ? 

*  Eadmer,  De  Excell.  B.  M.  2. 


14:  HOW  THE  FATHERS  SPEAK 


CHAPTER  II. 

HOW  THE  FATHERS  SPEAK  OF  THE  DIGNITY  OF  THE 
MOTHER  OF  GOD. 

THOSE  who  have  only  read  the  Fathers  of  the 
Church  in  the  brief  extracts  from  their  works, 
which  are  so  often  cited,  can  have  no  idea  of 
the  amplitude  and  magnificence  with  which  they 
extol  the  praises  of  the  Mother  of  God.  I  pro- 
pose, therefore,  to  give  more  satisfactory  exam- 
ples of  the  mode  in  which  they  speak  of  her  in 
this  chapter. 

St.  Proclus  was  a  disciple  of  St.  Chrysostom, 
and  is  highly  commended  by  St.  Cyril,  as  well 
for  his  learning  and  piety  as  for  his  accurate 
observance  of  the  discipline  of  the  Church.  In 
the  year  429,  on  a  feast  of  the  Blessed  Vir- 
gin, in  the  great  Church  of  Constantinople,  he 
preached  a  discourse  on  the  Mother  of  God, 
which  was  received  with  great  applause  by  the 
people.  Nestorius  was  present,  and  unable  to 
endure  so  much  truth,  he  rose  up  and  burst  out 
with  a  reply.  The  discourse  was  afterwards 
placed  at  the  beginning  of  the  Acts  of  the  Coun- 
cil of  Ephesus.  I  propose  to  give  the  first  part 
of  it.  St.  Proclus  begins  : — 

"  The  Virgin's  festival  incites  our  tongue  to- 
day to  herald  her  praise.  And  well  may  this 
solemnity  be  considered  fruitful  to  the  assembled 
faithful.  For  we  celebrate  her,  who  is  the  argu- 
ment for  chastity  and  the  glory  of  her  sex  ;  her 


OF  HER  DIGNITY.  15 

•who  is  Mother  at  once  and  Virgin.  Lovely  and 
wonderful  is  this  union.  Let  nature  rejoice,  and 
mankind  exult,  for  women  have  also  received 
their  honour.  Let  men  show  their  delight,  that 
virgins  are  held  in  esteem.  For,  ivhere  sin 
abounded,  there  grace  has  super  abounded. 
For  now  the  holy  Mary,  Virgin,  Mother  of 
God,  brings  us  together.  That  undefiled  trea- 
sury of  virginity  ;  that  spiritual  paradise  of  the 
second  Adam ;  that  laboratory  of  the  union  of 
natures  ;  that  mart  of  the  commerce  of  salva- 
tion ;  that  bridal  chamber,  in  which  the  Word 
espoused  flesh  unto  Himself;  that  animated 
bush  of  nature,  which  the  fire  of  the  divine 
birth  consumed  not ;  truly  the  bright  cloud, 
which  bore  Him  bodily  who  sits  upon  the 
Cherubim  :  the  most  clean  fleece  of  the  celestial 
shower,  with  which  the  Shepherd  put  on  the 
condition  of  the  sheep.  Mary,  I  say,  handmaid 
and  Mother,  Virgin  and  heaven  ;  the  only  bridge 
of  God  to  men  ;  the  awful  loom  of  the  Incarna- 
tion, in  which,  by  some  unspeakable  way,  the 
garment  of  that  union  was  woven,  whereof  the 
weaver  is  the  Holy  Ghost ;  and  the  spinner,  the 
overshadowing  from  on  high ;  the  wool,  the 
ancient  fleece  of  Adam  ;  the  woof,  the  undefiled 
flesh  from  the  Virgin  ;  the  weaver's  shuttle,  the 
immense  grace  of  Him  who  brought  it  about ;  the 
artificer,  the  word  gliding  through  the  hearing. 
Who  ever  saw,  who  ever  heard  how  God  dwelt 
in  the  womb,  yet  suffered  no  limitation  ;  and 
now,  Him  whom  the  heavens  do  not  contain, 
the  Virgin's  womb  did  nothing  straiten.  He 
is  born  of  woman,  not  God  only,  nor  merely 
man,  and  by  His  birth  He  made  woman  the 


16  HOW  THE  FATHERS  SPEAK 

gate  of  salvation,  who  before  had  been  the 
gate  of  sin.  For  where  the  serpent  entered 
through  the  way  of  disobedience,  and  shed  his 
poison  ;  there  the  Word,  through  the  way  of 
obedience,  entered,  and  built  a  living  temple  for 
Himself.  From  whence  Cain,  the  firstborn  of  sin, 
came  forth,  thence  without  man's  concurrence, 
came  Christ,  the  Redeemer  of  "our  race.  It 
shamed  not  the  loving  God  to  be  born  of  woman, 
for  it  was  life  He  was  building  up.  He  con- 
tracted no  stain  from  His  lodging  in  that  womb 
which  He  had  formed  without  any  dishonour. 
For  except  His  Mother  had  remained  a  virgin, 
the  offspring  would  be  but  man,  and  the  mys- 
tery of  the  birth  would  be  lost.  And  if  after 
bearing  she  remained  a  virgin,  how  shall  He  not 
be  also  God,  and  a  mystery  which  is  unuttera- 
ble ?  He  is  born  of  no  corruption,  who  went 
forth  unhindered  through  the  closed  doors. 
And  when  Thomas  saw  his  conjoined  natures, 
he  cried  out  and  said  :  "  My  Lord  and  my  God." 
Think  not,  O  man,  that  this  is  a  birth  to  be 
ashamed  of,  since  it  was  made  the  cause  of  our 
salvation.  For  if  He  had  not  been  born  of 
woman,  He  had  not  died  ;  and  if,  in  the  flesh,  He 
had  not  died,  neither  would  He  have  destroyed 
Him  through  death,  who  had  the  empire  of 
death,  that  is,  the  devil  By  no  means  was  the 
architect  dishonoured,  for  He  dwelt  in  the  house 
which  He  Himself  had  built.  K"or  did  the  clay 
soil  the  potter  in  refashioning  the  vessel  He  had 
moulded.  Nor  did  aught  from  the  Virgin's 
womb  defile  the  most  pure  God.  For  as  He 
received  no  stain  in  forming  it,  so  He  received 
none  in  proceeding  from  it.  Oh  womb,  in  which 


OF  HER  DIGNITY.  17 

the  general  decree  of  man's  freedom  was  written. 
Oh  womb,  in  which  the  arms  against  the  devil 
were  forged.  0  field,  in  which  the  divine  hus- 
bandman grew  wheat  without  sowing.  0  temple, 
in  which  God  was  made  a  priest,  not  changing  na- 
ture, but,  through  mercy  clothing  Himself  as  the 
priest  according  to  the  order  of  Melchisedec.  The 
Word  was  made  flesh,  though  the  Jews  believed 
not  our  Lord  when  He  said  it.  Truly  God  took 
the  form  of  man,  though  the  Gentiles  deride  the 
miracle.  Wherefore  St.  Paul  exclaimed,  "  To 
the  Jews,  a  scandal  and  to  the  Gentiles,  foolish- 
ness. They  know  not  the  force  of  the  mystery, 
because  it  passes  their  reason  and  comprehen- 
sion. For  if  they  had  known  it,  they  would 
never  have  crucified  the  Lord  of  Glory.  But 
if  the  Word  had  not  dwelt  in  the  womb,  neither 
would  the  flesh  have  been  seated  on  the  holy 
throne."* 

This  commencement  forms  part  of  one  of  six 
discourses  delivered  by  St.  Proclus  on  the  Bless- 
ed Virgin. 

Basil,  Archbishop  of  Selucia,  was  betrayed, 
with  many  others,  into  signing  the  false  Council 
of  Ephesus,  assembled  in  the  interests  of  Nesto- 
rius.  For  this  he  was  deposed,  but,  afterwards  he 
was  reinstated  in  his  See.  In  beginning  to  dis- 
course on  the  greatness  of  the  Mother  of  God,  he 
reveals  his  sense  of  the  deep  unworthiness  which 
in  his  piety  he  felt,  because  of  the  error  he  had 
committed. 

"  He,"  he  says,  "  who  would  exalt  the  holy 
Virgin  and  Mother  of  God,  will  find  a  most 
ample  subject  for  his  praises.  But  having 

•  St.  Proclus,  Orat.  i.  in  Laud.  S.  Maria,  Ed.  CombeSs. 
2 


18  HOW  THE  FATHERS  SPEAK 

before  me  my  own  weakness,  struck  to  the  soul 
I    have    long    delayed. — Oppressed  with    the 
weight  of  my  sins,  I  have  hesitated  and  delayed 
upon  the  matter  which  such  discourse  demands. 
For  I  have  thought  it  the  work  of  the  most 
clear  sighted  men,  of  those  who  are  eminently 
purified  in  soul  and  body,  and  that  only  those 
who   have  been  intimately  illuminated  by    the 
light  of  Divine  Grace  can  worthily  accord  the 
praises  which    are  due  to  the  Mother  of  God. 
But  I  have  nothing  in  me  that  can  inspire  this 
confidence  and  freedom  of  speaking.      For  my 
lips  have  not  been  purified  like  those  of  Isaias, 
who  waited  for  the  seraph,  with  the  divine  coal. 
Nor,  like  the  divine  Moses,  have  I  loosened  the 
shoes  from  the   feet  of  my   soul.     What   fear 
ought  to  encompass  me  then,  when  I  undertake 
to   offer   praise   to  the  Mother  of  God;    lest, 
through  some  indiscretion,  I  should  utter  words 
unsuited  to  her  dignity.     It  is  not  my  aim  to 
ascend  a  visible  mountain  whence  I  might  cleave 
the  overspreading  atmosphere,  and  be  caught 
up  into  the  midst  of  the  stars  sparkling  in  all 
their  brilliancy,  however  such  a  thing  were  to  be 
done ;  nor  even  rise  above  their  orderly  array, 
where,  nearing  the  heavenly  poles,  I  might  take 
my   stand   upon   the   glorious   course  of  their 
impetuous  career.     But  lifting  my  head  above 
these,  my  purpose  is,  as  far  as  my  power  will 
allow,  with  the  help  of  the  Spirit  who  guides  to 
things    divine,  even  to  pass  by  the  choirs  of 
angels  with  the  leaders  of  their  ranks,  and  to 
rise  above  the  brightness  of  the  Thrones,  the 
honoured  dignity  of  the  Dominations,  the  Prin- 
cipalities in  their  place  of  command,  and  the 


OF  HER  DIGNITY.  1  9 

clear  lustre  of  the  Powers  ;  and  then  the  clear- 
sighted purity  of  the  many-eyed  Cherubim, 
and  the  six-winged  Seraphim  with  their  move- 
ments unrestrained  on  either  side,  and  if  there 
be  any  created  being  above  these,  I  will  not 
there  stay  my  course  or  my  longing  desire,  but 
will  dare  to  fix  my  curious  gaze  intently,  as  far 
as  is  permitted  for  man  in  chains  of  flesh,  and 
will  contemplate  the  co-eternal  brightness  of  the 
Father's  glory,  and  encompassed  and  enlightened 
with  that  True  Light,  will  begin  the  hymn  of 
praise  to  the  Mother  of  God  there,  from  whence 
she  became  the  Mother  of  God,  and  obtained 
that  name  and  title." 

"  Can  there  be  any  subject  more  sublime  than 
this  ?  He  who  thinks  so  has  not  understood  the 
difference  between  things  human  and  things 
divine.  For  as  it  is  not  easy  to  know  God  and 
to  speak  of  Him,  yea,  rather  it  is  among  the 
things  that  can  least  be  done ;  so  the  great 
mystery  of  the  Mpther  of  God  transcends  both 
speech  and  reason.  When  then  I  speak  of  the 
Mother  of  God  incarnate,  I  will  ascend  to  God 
by  the  help  of  prayer,  and  will  seek  Him  for  the 
guide  of  my  speech,  and  will  say  to  Him  :  O 
Lord  Omnipotent,  King  of  the  whole  creation, 
who,  in  an  incomprehensible  manner  dost  infuse 
Thy  spiritual  light  into  incorporeal  minds,  illu- 
minate my  mind,  that  the  subject  set  before  me 
may  be  understood  Avithout  error,  may,  when 
understood,  be  spoken  with  piety,  and  when 
spoken,  may  be  received  without  hesitation." 

Here  Basil  casts  himself  upon  the  mysteries 
of  the  Divinity,  and  then  proceeds  to  those  of 
the  Incarnation,  after  which  he  runs  through 


20  HOW  THE  FATHERS  SPEAK 

the  prophecies  which  anticipate  the  coming  of 
Christ  of  a  Virgin  Mother :  and  illuminated 
with  these  truths,  he  passes  to  speak  of  that 
Virgin  Mother. 

"  From  what  flowers  of  praise  shall  we  cull  a 

farland  worthy  of  her  ?  From  her  sprang  the 
ower  of  Jesse ;  she  clothed  our  race  with  glory 
and  with  honour.  What  encomiums  can  we 
offer  her  as  she  deserves,  when  everything  of 
this  world  is  beneath  her  merits  ?  For  if  St. 
Paul  pronounced  these  words  of  the  other  saints, 
that  the  world  was  not  worthy  of  them  ;  what 
shall  we  say  of  the  Mother  of  God,  who  shone 
with  as  great  a  splendour  above  the  martyrs, 
as  does  the  sun  above  the  stars  ?  It  is  clearly 
fitting  we  should  greet  her  with  these  words  of 
Solomon :  '  Many  daughters  have  wrought 
virtue,  but  thou  hast  risen  above  them  all.'  O 
Sacred  Virgin,  well  may  the  angels  exult 
through  thee,  destined  as  they  are  to  the  ser- 
vice of  men,  from  whom,  in  former  times,  they 
turned  away.  And  let  Gabriel  now  rejoice,  for 
to  him  is  intrusted  the  message  of  the  Divine 
Conception,  and  he  stands  before  the  Virgin  in 
great  honour.  Wherefore,  in  joy  and  grace  he 
auspiciously  begins  the  message  :  '  Hail,  fall  of 
grace,  the  Lord  is  with  thee.' 

"  Hail,  full  of  grace.  Let  thy  face  be  joy- 
ful. For  from  thee  shall  the  joy  of  all  be 
born;  and  He  shall  take  away  their  ancient 
execration,  dissolve  the  empire  of  death,  and 
give  to  all  the  hope  of  resurrection.  Hail,  full 
of  grace.  Most  flourishing  paradise  of  chastity  ; 
in  which  is  planted  the  tree  of  life  which  shall 
produce  for  all  the  fruits  of  salvation ;  and  from 


OF  HER  DIGNITY.  21 

which  the  fountain  of  the  gospels  shall  stream 
to  all  believers,  in  floods  of  mercy  from  their 
fourfold  source  and  spring.  Hail,  full  of 
grace.  Mediatrix  of  God  and  men,  through 
whom  the  middle  wall  of  enmity  is  cleared 
away,  and  earthly  things  conjoined  with  those 
of  heaven.  The  Lord  is  with  t/iee.  For  thou 
art  a  temple  truly  worthy  of  God,  and  odorif- 
erous with  the  aromatics  of  chastity.  In  thee 
shall  dwell  the  great  High  Priest,  who,  accord- 
ing to  the  order  of  Melchisedec,  is  without 
father  and  mother, — of  God  without  mother,  of 
thee  without  father." 

"  Emanuel  then  came  into  this  world,  which 
before  He  had  created ;  a  child  new  born, 
though  pre-eternally  existing  ;  who  lay  in  the 
crib,  and  was  borne  upon  the  Cherubim ;  who 
found  no  place  in  the  inn,  yet  prepared  the 
eternal  tabernacles.  And  the  most  Holy  Mother 
of  the  Lord  of  all,  the  true  Mother  of  God, 
pondering  these  things  in  her  heart,  as  it  is 
written,  imbibed  full  draughts  of  joy  within 
her,  and  as  the  greatness  of  her  Son  and  her 
God  revealed  itself  more  and  more  to  the  eyes 
of  her  soul,  her  awe  increased  with  her  delight." 

"  As  then  she  looked  upon  the  divine  infant, 
and  fastened  her  affections  full  of  reverence 
upon  Him,  alone  with  Him,  she  spoke  in  her 
emotion  such  words  as  these : — What  fit  name 
shall  I  find  for  Thee,  my  Son  ?  A  man's  name 
shall  I  give  Thee  ?  But  Thy  conception  is  di- 
vine. God's  name  shall  I  give  Thee  ?  But 
Thou  hast  taken  human  flesh.  Shall  I  nourish 
Thee  with  milk,  or  shall  I  glorify  Thee  ?  Shall 
I  cherish  Thee  as  Thy  mother,  or  adore  Thee 


22  HOW  THE  FATHERS  SPEAK 

as  Thy  handmaid  ?  Shall  I  embrace  Thee  as 
my  Son,  or  adore  Thee  as  my  God  ?  Shall  I 
present  Thee  iny  breast  or  offer  Thee  incense  ? 
What  is  this  greatest,  this  most  unutterable  of 
mysteries  ?  Heaven  is  Thy  seat,  and  Thou  art 
carried  on  my  breast.  Thou  art  altogether 
here,  with  the  dwellers  of  this  earth,  and  Thou 
hast  in  nothing  left  the  dwellers  of  the  heavens. 
Nor  hast  Thou  come  here  through  change  of 
place,  but  Thy  divine  condescension  has  brought 
Thee  into  our  condition.  I  search  not  the 
secrets  of  Thy  incarnation,  but  I  entreat  Thy 
goodness  and  Thy  clemency." 

See  what  a  mystery  is  wrought  in  her ;  how 
it  passes  both  thought  and  speech.  Who  then 
will  not  admire  the  vast  power  of  the  Mother  of 
God?  Who  will  not  see  how  far  she  is  lifted 
above  the  saints  ?  For  if  God  gave  to  His  ser- 
vants a  grace  so  great,  that  by  their  very  touch 
they  healed  the  sick,  and  the  mere  casting  of 
their  shadows  across  the  street  could  do  the 
same  thing ;  if  Peter,  I  say,  with  his  shadow, 
could  heal  the  infirm  ;  and  if  when  men  took  the 
handkerchief  which  wiped  the  perspiration  from 
Paul,  they  drove  the  devils  away  with  it,  how 
much  power,  think  you,  did  He  give  His  Mo- 
ther ?  And  what  wonder  if  the  saints,  whilst 
they  lived  and  walked  on  earth,  had  such  effica- 
cious influence,  when  even  after  their  death 
the  earth  could  not  shut  up  their  power.  For 
whilst  their  bodies  lie  beneath  ponderous  stones, 
if  we  approach  to  them  in  a  worthy  spirit,  they 
bring  health  to  those  who  need  it.  But  if  to 
the  saints  He  has  granted  to  do  things  so  won- 
derful as  these,  what  has  He  given  to  His 


OF  HER  DIGNITr.  23 

Mother  for  her  nursing  ?  "With  what  gifts  has 
He  adorned  her  ?  If  Peter  is  called  blessed,  and 
the  keys  of  heaven  are  entrusted  to  him,  because 
he  called  Christ  the  Son  of  the  living  God,  how 
must  she  not  be  more  blessed  than  all,  who 
deserved  to  bear  Him  whom  Peter  confessed? 
And  if  Paul  is  called  a  vessel  of  election,  because 
he  carried  the  august  name  of  Christ  over  the 
earth,  what  vessel  is  the  Mother  of  God,  who 
did  not  merely  contain  the  manna,  like  the 
golden  urn,  but  who  in  her  womb  bore  that 
bread — that  heavenly  bread,  which  is  the  nou- 
rishment and  strength  of  the  faithful  ? " 

"  But  I  fear,  lest,  whilst  prepared  to  say  more 
concerning  her,  I  should  say  little  that  is  wor- 
thy of  her  dignity,  and  bring  the  more  shame 
upon  myself.  Wherefore  I  draw  in  the  sail  of 
my  discourse,  and  retire  into  the  harbour  of 
silence."* 

The  extract  which  follows  is  from  a  discourse 
of  Theodotus,  Bishop  of  Ancyra,  who  was  one 
of  the  most  active  and  able  antagonists  of  Nesto- 
rius.  It  is  taken  from  his  sermon  on  the  Holy 
Mother  of  God,  and  Saint  Simeon,  f 

"  Let  us  begin  with  the  salutation  of  Gabriel, 
the  heavenly  citizen.  Hail  full  of  grace,  the 
Lord  is  with  thee.  Let  us  take  up  the  greet- 
ing again.  Hail,  our  longed-for  joy  :  hail,  glory 
of  the  Church  :  hail,  sweetly  breathing  name  : 
hail,  divinely  refulgent  and  most  gracious  coun- 
tenance :  hail,  most  venerable  stronghold :  hail, 

*  Basil.  Seleuc.  Orat.  in  S.  Dei  Genitricem.    Combefls. 

f  This  discourse  seems  to   have  been  incorrectly  attributed  to  St. 
Auipliilocbius,  Vid.  Cellier.  t.  13.  p.  451. 


24  HOW  THE  FATHERS  SPEAK 

salubrious  and  spiritual  fleece  :  hail,  yes  hail, 
thou  clothed  with  light  and  mother  of  the  splen- 
dour which  knows  no  setting :  hail,  most 
undefiled  mother  of  sanctity :  hail,  pellucid 
fountain  of  life-giving  milk :  hail,  thou  new 
mother  and  framer  of  a  new  birth :  hail,  thou 
new  book  of  that  new  hand-writing  of  which 
Isaias  sings,  and  of  which  men  and  angels  are 
witnesses  :  hail,  thou  alabaster  vessel  of  the  un- 
guent of  sanctification  :  hail,  thou  upright  dealer 
in  the  coin  of  virginity  :  hail,  thou  who  fashioned 
by  hand,  embraced  Him  who  fashioned  thee: 
hail,  thou  who,  be  the  limits  of  thy  capacity  what 
may,  yet  containest  Him  who  contains  all 
things. 

"  Why  do  you  foolishly  dissent  from  the 
truth?  And  why  do  you  detract  from,  why  do 
you  deny  the  good  pleasure  of  God,  as  it  is  pro- 
videntially ordered  in  the  most  holy  Virgin  for 
the  common  salvation  ?  For  He  who  created 
the  primeval  virgin  without  reproach,  framed 
the  second  also  without  spot  or  crime.  And  He 
who  made  the  exterior  beautiful,  adorned  the 
interior  with  holiness  for  the  abode  of  the  soul ; 
which  therefore  appeared  most  sweet  and  delec- 
table to  God. 

"  Ye  Christians  who  are  good  and  teachable 
of  God,  hearken  to  the  divinely  inspired  predic- 
tions of  the  prophets,  for  they  everywhere  ex- 
claim of  the  most  praiseworthy  Virgin : — '  The 
Most  High  hath  sanctified  His  tabernacle. 
God  is  in  the  midst  of  her,  and  she  shall  not 
be  moved,  man  is  born  in  her,  and  He  the  Most 
High  hath  founded  her.1  But  as  the  adversa- 
ries of  the  truth  are  carnal-minded,  and  have  not 


OF  HER  DIGNITY.  25 

the  spirit  of  God,  they  savour  spiritual  things  in 
a  carnal  manner.  For  that  is  true  which  the 
apostle  so  wisely  says  :  *  The  animal  man  per- 
ceives not  those  things  ivhich  are  of  the  spirit 
of  God'  And  for  this  cause,  they  seek  to  be 
taught  by  things  sought  out  from  a  distance ; 
they  are  not  willing  from  what  is  more  near  and 
familiar  to  have  it  shown  them  that  the  Virgin 
was  changed  unto  yet  greater  holiness.  But 
things  that  are  known  to  all  eyes  render  things 
obscure  perceptible  to  sight.  As  iron,  then, 
when  it  holds  commerce  with  the  fire,  will  scat- 
ter its  sparks  and  flakes  upon  all  that  is  about 
or  in  contact  with  it ;  as  it  improves  at  the  same 
time  both  in  its  nature  and  condition;  as  it 
quickly  gains  resemblance  with  the  flame  that 
so  readily  enkindles  it ;  as  it  grows  incapable  of 
being  touched  by  whatever  may  come  near  to 
it ;  how  can  it  seem  wonderful  that  the  all-unde- 
filed  Virgin  should,  by  the  coming  unto  her  of 
the  divine  and  immaterial  fire,  be  inflamed  to 
greater  purity?  So  that  removing  whatever 
may  be  opposed  to  its  nature,*  she  stands  re- 
splendent in  the  beauty  of  a  nature  the  most 
pure.  And  so  far,  indeed,  that  henceforth  she 
is  incapable  of  being  approached  near  to,  or 
endured,  or  even  beheld  by  those  who  are  be- 
come degenerated  through  carnal  vileness.  And 
as  he  on  whose  head  there  is  water  poured,  is 
overstreamed  with  the  dropping  fluid  from  head 

*  Theodotus  has  affirmed,  in  the  previous  paragraph,  that  the  Blessed 
Virgin  was  made  without  spot  or  crime,  as  Eve  was  created  without 
reproach,  and  he  here  illustrates  that  more  perfect  holiness,  and  yet 
more  absolute  purity,  which  arose  from  the  descent  of  the  Holy  Ghost  at 
the  incarnation. 


26  HOW  THE  FATHERS  SPEAK,  ETC. 

to  foot ;  so  the  holy  Virgin  and  Mother  is  im- 
bued in  every  part  of  her  nature  by  the  sanctity 
of  the  Holy  Ghost  descending  upon  her :  and 
then,  at  last,  we  believe  that  she  received  God, 
the  living  Word,  into  her  virginal  and  unguent 
breathing  chamber." 


THE  LAW  OF  PREPARATION.  27 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE  LAW  OP  PREPARATION. 

WE  have  to  consider  the  question,  whether, 
from  the  first  moment  of  her  existence,  the 
Mother  of  God  obtained  a  preparation  of  grace 
and  purity  commensurate  with  her  most  sublime 
office  and  her  maternal  dignity.  We  must 
therefore  first  consider  the  laws  and  principles 
which  may  be  supposed  to  govern  the  subject. 
And  the  first  which  presents  itself  is  this  very 
principle  of  preparation. 

The  Old  Testament,  in  all  that  it  embraces, 
is  but  one  great  example  of  this  principle.  Its 
history  and  genealogies,  its  rites  and  sa- 
crifices, its  miracles  and  providences,  its 
prophets  and  other  great  personages,  all  are 
shaped  out  and  directed  by  God  towards  the 
one  great  mystery  of  the  Incarnation  of  His 
divine  Son.  And  as  is  the  whole,  so  is  each 
particular  part.  Preparation  is  one  of  the 
grand  laws  of  the  divine  economy,  and  one  which 
is  everywhere  apparent.  And  as  we  approach 
nearer  to  the  end  contemplated,  so  do  we  find  the 
preparations  more  perfect,  and  higher  grades  of 
holiness  in  the  instruments  which  God  designs 
to  employ  in  their  accomplishment.  The  general 
law  is  that  of  a  gradual  advance  of  preparation, 
yet  evil  may  still  remain,  and  may  be  allowed 
to  encompass  and  assault  what  is  holy,  or  even 


28  THE  LAW  OF  PREPARATION. 

to  afflict  and  crucify  it,  and  thus  to  be  a  means 
of  purification  or  probation,  but  notwithstanding 
the  presence  of  evil,  it  is  not  suffered  to  be  the 
source  from  which  aught  that  is  holy  springs. 

Great  personages  are  raised  up  by  God  to 
prepare  the  way  for  His  Son.  Some  begin  a 
new  epoch,  and  advance  the  order  of  things 
towards  the  Incarnation.  Some  are  of  Our 
Lord's  ancestry,  and  are  specially  chosen, 
specially  sanctified,  and  the  descent  to  Him 
limited  within  their  line.  Some  are  prophets, 
organs  of  the  eternal  Word,  who  partake  before- 
hand in  the  knowledge  of  the  \Yord  made  flesh. 
All  are  remarkable  figures  of  Christ.  And 
what  we  have  now  to  observe  is,  the  striking 
way  in  which  God  prepares  them  for  their 
sacred  offices.  For  in  many  cases  this  prepara- 
tion is  minutely  recorded,  though  in  others, 
it  is  but  insinuated  in  the  divine  history.  We 
have  sufficient  examples  given  to  shew  us  that 
preparation  is  a  principle  of  the  divine  economy  ; 
and,  as  it  were,  a  Law  with  God.  We  can  also 
see,  that  such  a  preparation  bears  relation  to  the 
office  for  which  each  person  is  designed ;  and 
that  the  nearer  that  office  stands  related  to  the 
Incarnation,  the  higher  and  more  supernatural 
is  the  preparation  which  precedes  it. 

Thus  Abraham  is  fixed  upon  to  found  the 
line  from  which  our  Lord  shall  spring.  He  is 
separated  from  his  country  and  kindred,  and  is 
brought  into  very  intimate  communion  with 
God.  He  receives  a  great  gift  of  faith,  and  a 
great  grace  of  obedience.  He  is  put  to  long 
and  severe  trials.  And  only  after  all  human 
hopes  and  natural  expectations  have  passed 


THE  LAW  OF  PREPARATION.  29 

away,  docs  he  receive  the  promised  son.  And 
if  the  descent  of  our  Lord  from  Adam  was 
limited  in  Abraham,  the  descent  of  our  Lady 
from  Eve  was  equally  limited  to  his  line,  and 
Sarah  was  a  figure  of  her.  For  the  Almighty 
said :  Sarah  shall  bring  forth  a  son.  And  she 
conceived  her  son  after  the  powers  of  nature  had 
expired.  Abraham  is  met,  after  his  victory,  by 
Melchisedech,  -who  is  the  priest  of  the  Most 
High  God,  and  the  type  of  the  royal  priest- 
hood of  Christ.  St.  Paul  says,  that  he  was 
without  father,  mother,  or  length  of  days  ;  and 
though  this  be  an  allegory,  yet  it  seems  to  point 
to  a  mysterious  origin. 

Moses  is  predestined  to  be  the  deliverer  of 
God's  people,  their  lawgiver,  and  guide,  and 
it  was  predicted  that  Christ  should  be  like  to 
him.  His  preparation  for  his  office  begins 
with  his  existence.  And  the  very  law  intended 
for  the  destruction  of  his  race  becomes  the  cause 
that  brings  about  that  preparation.  He  is  saved 
by  divine  interposition  in  his  infancy,  brought 
up  at  the  court  of  Pharao  in  the  learning  and 
•wisdom  of  the  Egyptians,  and  God  adorns  his 
mind  with  special  graces  for  his  future  office. 

Joseph,  that  great  figure  of  the  Saviour  of 
the  world,  is  born,  because  God  remembered 
Rachel,  heard  her,  and  opened  her  womb. 
And  after  his  miraculous  birth,  his  early  life 
consists  of  a  singular  course  of  preparations 
leading  him  to  his  future  office. 

David  is  designed  to  commence  that  royal 
line  in  which  our  Lord's  descent  is  again  limited. 
He  is  called  from  his  youth,  anointed  by  antici- 


30  THE  LAW  OF  PREPARATION. 

pation,  and  God  is  with  him  until  He  seats  him 
on  the  throne  of  Juda. 

Isaac  is  the  great  figure  of  our  Lord,  as 
well  in  his  birth  as  in  his  sacrifice,  and  lie 
therefore  is  miraculously  conceived.  Sam- 
son is  raised  up,  to  begin  to  deliver  Israel  from 
the  Philistines.  He  is  the  figure  of  Christ's 
victorious  power.  An  angel  announces  his  con- 
ception, and  before  his  existence  has  begun, 
special  laws  are  prescribed  for  his  observance. 

Samuel  opens  the  line  of  the  great  prophets. 
He  also  anoints  the  royal  lineage  of  Christ  in 
the  person  of  David.  His  mother  is  barren, 
and  he  is  a  child  of  prayer.  He  is  vowed  to  God 
ere  his  existence,  is  brought  up  in  the  temple, 
and  in  his  childhood  God  converses  with  him 
God  also  prepared  Daniel  with  grace  and  wis- 
dom from  his  childhood.  Isaias  is  the  evange- 
list before  the  Gospel,  the  prophet  by  eminence 
of  the  Incarnation.  We  have  no  account  of  his 
birth,  but  before  he  began  to  prophesy,  he  had 
a  special  preparation.  The  Seraph  cleansed  his 
lips  with  a  burning  coal  from  the  altar.  Jere- 
mias  is  the  prophet  of  the  Passion,  and  the 
figure  of  our  Lord's  sorrows.  And  to  him  the 
Almighty  says  :  "  Before  I  made  thee  in  the 
bowels  of  thy  mother,  I  knew  thee  :  and  before 
thou  earnest  forth  out  of  the  ivomb,  I  sanctified 
thee,  and  made  thee  a  prophet  unto  the  na- 
tions" 

But  the  long  expected  hour  of  the  Incarna- 
tion is  at  hand,  and  one  is  raised  up,  whose 
especial  office  it  is,  more  directly  to  prepare  the 
way  before  the  Son  of  God.  And  for  this 
singular  office,  exercised  so  near  to  the  Son  of 


THE  LAW  OF  PREPARATION.  31 

God.  we  find,  as  we  might  have  expected,  from 
what  has  gone  before,  that  he  receives  a  most 
singular  preparation  for  his  sacred  office.  Holy 
and  aged  parents  are  selected  by  God,  an 
Archangel  comes  and  announces  to  them  his 
conception,  and  prescribes  a  law  for  the  child. 
That  conception  is  miraculous.  He  is  filled  with 
the  Holy  Ghost,  even  from  His  mother's  womb. 
Nor  have  we  yet  reached  the  end  of  the  wonders 
that  surround  the  origin  of  our  Lord's  precur- 
sor. At  the  awful  moment  of  the  Annunciation, 
Gabriel  says  to  Mary  :  " And  behold  thy  cousin 
Elizabeth,  she  also  hath  conceived  a  son  in  her 
old  age ;  and  this  is  the  sixth  month  with  her 
that  is  called  barren ;  because  no  word  shall 
be  impossible  with  God"  Thus,  John's  concep- 
tion is  made  an  argument  and  a  proof  of  God's 
power  to  Mary.  And  no  sooner  did  she  hear  of 
that  miraculous  conception  than  she  bowed  down 
her  will  to  God,  and  said:  "Behold  the  hand- 
maid of  the  Lord,  be  it  done  to  me  according  to 
thy  word."  Mary  hastens  to  visit  Elizabeth. 
Elizabeth  hears  the  salutation  of  Mary,  and  the 
moment  the  sound  of  Mary's  voice  is  heard,  the 
child  of  Elizabeth  leaps  for  joy.  It  is  the  first 
sounding  of  Mary's  voice,  which  is  the  sign  for 
these  graces.  And  Elizabeth  herself  is  filled 
with  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  she  exclaims:  "  Whence 
is  this  to  me,  that  the  Mother  of  my  Lord  should 
come  to  me  ?"  Then  Mary  breaks  forth  in  her 
rapturous  canticle. 

The  various  offices  we  have  been  considering, 
had  their  cause  in  the  Incarnation  of  the  Son 
of  God.  They  looked  towards  that  mystery 
of  mysteries,  and  prepared  the  way  for  its 


32  THE  LAW  OF  PREPARATION". 

accomplishment.  And  when  we  consider  how 
those  great  personages  who  were  pre-elected 
to  fulfil  them,  were  prepared  and  pre-sa notified, 
can  we  suppose  that  she  who  was  pre-elected 
for  the  greatest,  and  the  most  pre-eminent  of 
all  offices,  that  she,  in  whose  very  person  that 
mystery  was  to  receive  its  consummation,  was 
not  prepared  and  pre-sanctified  in  a  yet  more 
perfect  manner  ?  The  preparation  of  those  who 
preceded  her  began  early,  sometimes  at  their 
very  origin,  or  came  at  any  rate  previous  to 
their  immediate  call  to  their  special  office, 
whether  as  founders  of  the  lineage  of  Jesus,  or 
as  anticipating  Him  in  their  persons,  or  as  pro- 
phetically conceiving  the  eternal  word  in  their 
minds,  and  bringing  it  forth  in  speech.  But 
Mary  was  the  Mother,  whilst  they  were  but  the 
ancestors ;  Mary  embraced  what  they  but  anti- 
cipated ;  Mary  conceived  Him  truly  whom  they 
conceived  but  mentally.  They  were  but  the 
ministers  of  God ;  she  was  the  Mother  of  God, 
and,  under  God,  the  one  co-operator  of  the 
Incarnation  through  the  submission  of  her  will. 
"  If  Jeremias,"  as  St.  Anselm  says,  "  who  pro- 
phesied in  groanings,  was  sanctified  in  the 
womb  ;  and  if  John,  the  precursor  of  the  Lord, 
was  filled  with  the  Holy  Ghost  in  the  womb  of 
his  mother,  who  dares  to  maintain  that  the  ark 
of  the  propitiatory  of  the  whole  world  was  de- 
prived of  the  illumination  of  the  Holy  Spirit  ?"# 
Consider  for  a  moment  that  long-descended 
ancestry  of  Christ.  Patriarchal  and  kingly  as 
it  is,  from  what  eause  does  it  derive  its  illus- 
triousness  ?  Not  like  other  great  lines,  from  its 

*  L.  De  Conceptu  Virginal!. 


THE  LAW  OF  PREPARATION.  33 

first  founder,  but  from  its  last  descendant.  Abra- 
ham, Jacob,  and  David,  are  so  great,  because 
Mary  is  to  be  their  daughter.  When  they  have 
given  birth  to  her,  they  have  accomplished  that 
for  which  they  were  appointed,  and  the  line 
of  David  disappears  from  history.  She  is  the 
sum  and  complement  of  all  those  preparations. 
Christ  is  the  Son  of  David,  and  the  Son  of  Abra- 
ham, because  He  is  the  Son  of  Mary.  And  she 
embraces  the  Son  of  God  as  her  child,  whom 
they  embrace  but  as  a  Son  through  her. 

When  a  temple  was  to  be  built  for  the  habi- 
tation of  God,  it  was  God  Himself  who  drew  the 
plan.  David  was  not  to  build  it  because  he  was 
a  man  of  blood ;  but  the  wise  and  peaceful 
Solomon  was  chosen  for  its  builder.  The  pre- 
parations were  magnificent  beyond  description, 
and  it  was  put  together  in  silence.  And  the 
house  when  it  was  in  building,  was  built  of 
stones,  hewed  and  made  ready,  so  that  there 
was  neither  hammer  nor  axe,  nor  any  tool  of 
iron  heard  in  the  house  when  it  was  in  building. 
And  Solomon  tells  us  the  cause  when  he  says, 
that  a  dwelling  is  prepared,  not  for  man,  but 
for  God. 

And  so  was  Mary  prepared  and  built  up  a 
living  temple  for  the  indwelling  of  God.  Silently 
was  she  prepared,  but  with  a  magnificence  of 
grace  of  which  the  magnificence  of  the  mate- 
rial temple  was  but  the  figure.  For  when  we 
consider  that  Jesus,  in  His  infinite  holiness,  was 
not  only  separated  from  sin,  but  also  separated 
from  sinners,  as  St.  Paul  tells  us ;  we  cannot 
suppose  that  He  took  His  flesh  from  a  sinner, 
dwelt  in  a  sinner,  and  came  forth  from  a 


34  THE  LAW  OF  PREPARATION". 

sinnner,  that  He  might  be  nursed,  and  ruled, 
and  commanded  by  that  sinner,  for  so  many 
years.  We  cannot  but  anticipate,  that  He 
who  sanctified  so  many  to  prepare  His  ways, 
did  in  a  most  singular  manner  prepare  and  sanc- 
tify His  living  temple,  when  He  made  it,  and 
that  He  made  His  own  most  Blessed  Mother, 
both  without  sin,  and  full  of  grace.  Hence  a 
writer  of  the  time  and  school  of  St.  Augustine 
introduces  our  Lord  creating  His  Mother,  as  a 
refutation  of  the  impieties  of  the  Manicheans  : — 
"  Whom  art  thou  despising,  0  Manichean  ?  She 
is  my  Mother.  I  framed  her  with  my  hands.  I 
made  the  Mother  of  whom  I  should  be  born. 
I  prepared  the  path  for  my  coming."-' 

St.  John  Damascen,  in  one  of  his  discourses 
on  the  Blessed  Virgin,  has  drawn  a  comparison 
between  the  creation  of  earth  with  its  heavenly 
canopy,  for  a  place  and  Celling  for  man, — that 
mother  earth  from  whose  substance  the  Divine 
Artist  formed  the  body  of  man  so  fearfully 
and  so  wonderfully ;  and  that  more  noble 
creation  of  His  grace,  by  which  He  prepared 
Mary  in  body  as  from  earth  and  in  soul  as  from 
Heaven  to  be  a  Mother  for  His  Son.  "  This  is 
that  earth  of  which  Isaias  sings,  that  it  shall 
germinate  mercy  and  bud  forth  a  Saviour. 
This  is  that  Tabernacle,  which  is  manifest  unto 
the  God  of  Jacob.  For  a  most  holy  place  is 
prepared  for  the  most  holy  Word.  Let  Jacob 
then  cry  out, — '  This  is  no  other  than  the  house 
of  God  and  the  gate  of  heaven.'  When  man 

*  L.  Contra  5  Hseres. 


THE  LAW  OF  PREPARATION.  35 

through  infinite  goodness  was  brought  into  exis- 
tence, the  heavens  were  expanded  and  the  earth 
was  spread  beneath,  and  the  sea  was  closed  up 
within  its  bounds,  and  all  things  were  produced 
for  the  adornment  of  the  Universe.  Then,  after 
all,  man,  royally  adorned,  was  placed  in  Paradise 
as  in  a  school  of  virtue. " 

"But  when  destruction  had  begun  its  course, 
lest  what  God  had  made  should  go  to  ruin  and 
perdition,  He  made  a  new  heaven  and  earth  and 
sea,  in  which,  that  He  might  reform  the  human 
race  through  higher  counsel,  He  might  Himself 
be  contained  whom  nothing  ever  can  contain. 
This  is  that  Blessed  Virgin  illustrious  in  so  many 
ways.  0  marvellous  work !  She  is  that  heaven, 
for  from  the  most  secret  treasures  of  her  vir- 
ginity shone  forth  the  Son  of  Justice.  She  is 
that  earth,  from  whose  undefiled  soil  grew 
the  wheat  of  life.  She  is  that  sea,  which  from 
its  deep  womb  produced  the  spiritual  pearl. 
How  magnificent  is  this  world !  What  a  stu- 
pendous creation !  Of  her  Zacharias  sings  : 
*  Rejoice,  and  be  glad,  0  daughter  of  Sion ; 
for  behold  I  come,  and  ivill  divell  in  the  midst 
of  thee,  saith  the  Lord.'  And  of  her  it 
is  that  Joel  exclaims  :  '  0  earth,  be  glad  and 
rejoice,  for  the  Lord  hath  done  great  things.' 
For  she  is  that  earth,  in  which,  by  the  Holy- 
Spirit,  He  was  founded  in  the  flesh  of  whom 
it  is  sung :  '  Who  founded  the  earth  in  its 
stability.'  She  is  that  earth,  in  which  sprung 
up  no  thorn  of  sin,  but  through  whose  germina- 
tion sin  was  rooted  out.  She  is  that  earth, 
not  cursed,  like  the  former  earth,  bristling  with 


36  THE  LAW  OF  PREPARATION. 

thorns  and  briars  ;  but  the  earth  on  which  came 
the  blessing  of  the  Lord,  since  the  fruit  of  her 
womb  was  blessed,  as  it  is  spoken  in  the  sacred 
oracle."* 

*  Contracted  from  St.  J.  Damascen,  2.  Horn.  De  Nativ.  B.  II.  V. 


THE  PRINCIPLE  OF  EXCEPTION  FROM  LAW.  37 


CHAPTER  IV. 

THE  PRINCIPLE  OF  EXCEPTION  j'ROM  LAW. 

EVERY  law  has  its  exceptions.  And  it  is  a 
maxim  that  the  exception  confirms  the  law. 
Nor  is  this  principle  limited  to  human  laws.  It 
is  found  in  the  natural  and  in  the  supernatural, 
in  the  divine  and  in  the  human  ordering  of 
things.  And  when  we  take  the  whole  assem- 
blage of  laws  into  our  consideration,  the  princi- 
ple of  exception  rises  above  them  as  a  superior 
law.  It  contemplates  motives  beyond  the  mo- 
tives of  the  law.  Tt  proves  the  freedom  of  the 
Lawgiver.  And  the  ground  of  its  operation  is 
found  to  lie  in  some  object  which  is  exterior  to 
and  exalted  above  the  common  state  of  things. 
It  implies  the  intervention  of  a  higher  power, 
than  is  indicated  in  the  sanction  of  the  law  ; 
and  the  accomplishment  of  some  more  exal- 
ted end  or  purpose  than  the  law  contemplates. 
Thus  miracles  are  exceptions  to  the  fixed  and 
constant  laws  of  nature,  and  their  object  is  the 
mystery  of  redemption  and  the  laws  of  grace 
and  holiness. 

Take  the  law  of  the  divine  commandments. 
The  expression  of  that  sacred  law  is  universal ; 
"  Thou  skalt  not  kill"  But  when  the  safety 
of  society  itself  is  at  stake,  the  magistrate  wields 
the  sword  of  justice,  which  God  has  put  into  his 


38  THE  PRINCIPLE  OF  EXCEPTION  FROM  LAW. 

hand.  Take  the  laws  of  human  society,  they 
are  universal  in  their  terms,  and  embrace  the 
whole  of  the  members  of  the  body  politic  within 
their  scope  ;  and  yet,  for  the  salvation  of  that 
body,  the  king  is  lifted  above  the  law. 

Let  us  consider  this  principle  in  examples 
from  God's  dealings  with  or  in  His  creatures. 
What  law  is  more  universal  than  that  by  which 
fire  burns  and  consumes  ?  And  it  may  be  well 
to  remember  that,  the  fuel  of  sin  is  the  figure 
by  which  divines  express  the  concupiscence 
which  reigns  through  mankind  from  original  sin. 
Yet  when,  by  command  of  the  King  of  Babylon, 
the  furnace  had  been  seven  times  heated,  the 
three  children  walked  unharmed  and  felt  re- 
freshed in  its  flames.  And  the  bush  which 
burnt  in  the  sight  of  Moses  and  was  not  con- 
sumed, is  a  favourite  figure  with  the  Fathers  for 
the  Blessed  Virgin.  It  is  a  law  equally  univer- 
sal, that  rivers  flow  on  and  seek  their  level. 
But  when  that  symbol  of  Jesus  and  Mary,  the 
Ark  of  the  Testament,  was  to  enter  into  the 
promised  land,  the  waters  of  the  Jordan  held 
back  their  floods,  and  stood  like  a  wall  of 
crystal  until  the  ark  passed  over.  No  law 
is  more  fixed  and  enduring  than  that  by  which 
the  sun  and  planets  move  along  their  spheres. 
Yet,  that  the  victory  of  Israel  might  be  com- 
pleted, the  sun  was  arrested  in  his  course. 

We  have  a  most  remarkable  exception  from  a 
universal  law  in  Enoch  and  Elias.  In  them  the 
law  of  death,  that  fruit  of  original  sin,  is  arrest- 
ed, and  without  death  they  are  translated  that 
they  may  return  again  to  the  world  after  the 
order  of  ages  has  been  unfolded.  We  have 


THE  PRINCIPLE  OF  EXCEPTION  FROM  LAW.  39 

already  considered  that  exception  from  the 
universal  law  in  Sarah ;  how,  after  being  ex- 
hausted by  age  God  enabled  her  to  bring  forth  a 
son.  And  we  have  another  remarkable  exception 
to  the  moral  law  itself  in  Abraham.  For  what  law 
is  there  more  indispensable  than  this,  that  a 
father  shall  cherish  the  life  of  his  son?  But 
Abraham  draws  the  sword  with  full  intention  of 
slaying  his  son,  and  placing  his  body  on  the 
fiery  pile,  and,  it  is  reputed  to  him  unto  justice. 
Take,  again,  the  sacramental  law.  Baptism  is 
the  remedy  for  original  sin,  the  one  and  only 
way  prescribed  for  our  escape  from  its  conta- 
gion. Our  Lord  declared,  that,  "  Unless  a 
man  be  born  again,  of  water  and  of  the 
Holy  Ghost,  he  cannot  enter  into  the  king- 
dom of  heaven"  Here  is  a  law  co-extensive 
with  that  of  original  sin,  and  founded  upon  its 
universality.  And  yet  it  admits  of  an  exception. 
For  he  who  for  the  faith  is  put  to  death  before 
he  has  received  that  birth  through  water,  re- 
ceives the  mystery  of  Redemption  through  the 
shedding  of  his  blood. 

But  of  the  exemption  of  Mary  from  the  law 
of  spiritual  death,  the  figure  of  Esther  is  perhaps 
one  of  the  most  interesting  of  illustrations. 
Esther  is  described  in  Scripture  as  being  exceed- 
ingly fair  and  of  incredible  beauty,  and  agree- 
able and  acceptable  to  the  eyes  of  all  per- 
sons. King  Assuerus  loved  her  more  than  all 
women,  and  made  her  his  queen.  Amon,  the 
enemy  of  God's  people,  plots  against  that 
people,  and  obtains  a  decree  from  the  king,  for 
the  destruction  of  the  entire  race.  Esther,  who 
is  reminded  by  Mordechai  that  she  has  received 


40  THE  PRINCIPLE  OF  EXCEPTION  FROM  LAW. 

a  kingdom  for  such  an  occasion  as  this,  enters 
into  the  presence  of  the  king.  "  She  trembles, 
her  mind  is  full  of  anguish  and  fear,  her  colour 
turns  pale,  and  she  rests  her  weary  head  upon 
her  handmaid."  And  God  changes  the  spirit  of 
the  king.  In  all  haste,  he  leaps  from  his  throne, 
he  upholds  her  in  his  arms,  and  he  says  : 
"  What  is  the  matter  Esther  ?  Fear  not. 
Thou  shalt  not  die.  THIS  LAW  is  NOT  MADE 

FOR  THEE,    BUT    FOR    ALL    OTHERS."       And    whilst 

Esther  is  proclaimed  to  be  exempted  from  the 
law,  she  becomes  the  instrument  through  which 
her  race  is  saved.  As  the  great  leading  princi- 
ples of  human  law  are  so  often  but  the  reflec- 
tion of  a  divine  order  of  things,  it  may  be  well 
to  consider  how  the  civil  law  regarded  a  case 
like  that  of  Esther.  Ulpian  says,  "  The  Prince 
is  not  subject  to  the  law :  but  though  the 
Empress  be  subject,  yet  the  prince  concedes  the 
same  privileges  to  her  which  he  has  himself."  * 

But  in  Mary  the  King  of  Heaven  accom- 
plished His  spiritual  nuptials  with  our  nature. 
And  she  is  the  most  wonderful  example  of  excep- 
tion from  the  common  laws  of  our  nature  in  so 
many  ways.  No  mortal,  no  angel,  no  creature 
ever  was  before,  or  will  be  again,  the  Mother  of 
God.  Next  to  her  Divine  Son,  the  created 
universe  has  nothing  like  to  her.  And  from 
how  many  laws  is  she  excepted.  She  is  a 
mother  without  man's  concurrence.  She  is 
mother  of  God  and  man  at  once.  She  is  a 
mother  whilst  she  remains  a  virgin.  She  is 
exempted  from  the  curse  of  Eve,  that  fruit  of 

*  Ulpian.     Princeps  de  Legttms. 


THE  PRINCIPLE  OF  EXCEPTION  FROM  LAW.  41 

original  sin,  and  brings  forth  her  Son  without 
pain  or  sorrow.  Her  child  is  born,  whilst  her 
virginal  integrity  is  preserved.  She  nourishes 
God  at  her  breast.  She  commands  Him  by 
her  words,  and  He  is  subject  to  her.  In  these 
instances,  and  in  a  thousand  others,  she  is  an 
exception  to  every  law.  The  Scripture  says 
that,  "  in  many  things  we  all  offend ;  and  that, 
even  the  just  fall  seven  times  a  day."  But  it 
is  the  general  teaching  and  the  general  belief  of 
the  Church,  that  though  in  the  nature  of  things 
she  could  have  done  so,  yet  never  did  Mary 
commit  an  actual  sin.  It  is  the  law  of  the 
resurrection,  that  it  shall  not  take  place  until 
the  judgment ;  but  though,  like  her  divine  Son, 
the  Mother  of  God  paid  that  debt  of  nature, 
which  implied  no  sin  in  either  the  Son  or  in  the 
Mother;  yet  it  is  piously  believed,  that  Jesus 
did  not  allow  her  most  pure  and  virginal  frame 
to  see  corruption,  but  assumed  that  body  into 
heaven.  Nor  did  any  one  ever  hear  that  the 
relics  of  that  holy  body  were  to  be  sought  for 
or  produced  on  earth. 

When  we  contemplate  a  life  which  stands  so 
far  above  the  common  conditions  of  our  human 
nature ;  a  life  which  presents  to  us  such  striking 
exceptions  from  its  laws ;  does  not  our  very 
reason  lead  us  to  look  into  its  commencement 
for  some  one  exception  more  which  may  yield 
to  us  an  explanation  of  its  entire  course  ?  If  the 
Mother  of  God  is  exempted  from  all  such  effects 
of  the  curse  as  in  their  nature  tend  to  dishonour 
and  degradation,  does  not  her  exemption  from 
the  curse  itself  present  both  the  simplest  and 
the  fullest  explanation  of  her  other  exceptions  ? 


42  THE  PRINCIPLE  OF  EXCEPTION  FROM  LAW. 

And  certainly,  He  who  preserved  the  three 
children  from  being  touched  by  the  fire  in  the 
midst  of  which  they  walked  uninjured,  and  who 
preserved  the  bush  unconsumed  in  the  midst  of 
the  burning  flame,  could  preserve  Mary  un- 
touched from  the  burning  fuel  of  concupiscence. 
He  who  took  up  Elias  in  the  fiery  chariot,  so 
that  he  tasted  not  of  death,  could,  in  the 
chariot  of  His  ardent  love,  set  Mary  on  high 
above  the  law  of  sin.  He  who  sent  down  the 
dews  of  heaven  upon  Gideon's  fleece,  whilst  all 
besides  was  dry  and  parched,  could  send  the 
dew  of  His  graces  upon  the  immaculate  and 
most  pure  Virgin,  whilst  it  was  dry  upon  all 
the  world  besides.  And  He  who  held  back  the 
waves  of  that  Jordan,  that  the  ark  of  that  Old 
Testament  might  pass  untouched  and  honoured 
through  its  bed,  could  hold  back  the  wave  of 
Adam,  lest  it  overflow  the  ark  of  the  New  Tes- 
tament beneath  its  defiling  floods.  For  that  we 
are  born  in  the  crime  of  Adam  and  with  origi- 
nal sin,  is  not  a  result  of  absolute  necessity,  but 
of  the  divine  will.  And  if  He  who  ordained 
this  penalty,  had  already  solved  it  in  part,  when, 
ere  His  birth,  He  sanctified  the  holy  Precursor 
of  His  Coming ;  much  more  could  He  solve  it 
altogether  when  He  sanctified  His  holy  Mother. 

For  He,  who  could  have  limited  Adam's  sin 
unto  himself,  can  ward  off  that  sin  from  Mary. 
And  what  He  could,  that  He  willed  to  do.  For 
why  should  He  not  have  willed  it?  Because 
the  most  Blessed  Virgin  was  included  in  the 
compact  with  Adam  and  his  race  ?  But  God,  in 
His  eternal  foresight  and  knowledge,  might  not 
have  included  her.  And,  again,  the  question 


THE  PRINCIPLE  OF  EXCEPTION  FROM  LAW.  43 

returns ;  God  could  do  it,  why  then  should  He 
not  do  it?  That  she  might  receive  the  grace 
of  redemption  ?  But  it  is  a  greater  grace  and  a 
greater  redemption  that  preserves  her  from  the 
fall,  than  would  have  been  required  to  raise  her 
after  falling.  That  she  might  be  more  humble 
after  her  fall  ?  And  certainly  humility  was  that 
virtue  in  Mary  which  drew  the  eyes  of  God  upon 
her.  But  far  greater  and  more  perfect  is  the 
humility  of  the  innocent  than  the  humility  of  the 
criminal.  Humility  increases  with  the  dignity  of 
holiness  and  the  greatness  of  God's  gifts,  and  this 
is  manifest  in  the  example  of  Our  Blessed  Lord 
Himself,  who,  as  man,  was  the  humblest  of  all 
creatures.  It  was  enough  for  Mary's  humility, 
that  she  might  have  fallen,  had  she  not  been 
upheld  by  Him  who  did  great  things  to  her. 
Was  justice  in  the  way  ?  But  the  Divine  Jus- 
tice had  exacted  its  terrible  account,  when  it 
involved  the  whole  race  of  Adam  in  his  guilt, 
and  shut  the  gate  of  heaven  against  them  ; 
when  even  the  very  Mother  of  God  was  by 
nature  comprised  beneath  the  law,  and  could 
only  be  rescued  from  its  operation  by  a  most 
magnificent  act  of  clemency.  But  the  Son  ful- 
filled each  law  of  justice,  both  the  law  of  con- 
demnation, and  the  law  of  filial  piety,  and  the 
law  of  His  own  honour,  when  He  paid  the 
great  price  of  His  Mother's  redemption,  and 
preserved  her  from  dishonour,  and  brought  not 
occasion  against  her,  or  any  accusation,  and 
was  born  of  her  innocence. 

And  if,  indeed,  our  human  reason  be  a  reflection 
of  the  divine  reason,  and  human  laws  of  divine 
laws ;  and  if  the  universal  reason,  and  the  spirit  of 


44  THE  PRINCIPLE  OF  EXCEPTION  FROM  LAW. 

all  laws  would  rise  up  astonished  and  distressed  to 
see  a  son  accuse  his  mother,  prove  her  guilt,  and 
bring  her  to  the  death,  when  power  he  had 
abundantly  to  save  her  from  that  ignominy ; 
can  we  look  upon  Jesus,  upon  Jesus  the  perfect 
man,  upon  Jesus  the  God-man,  upon  Jesus  the 
model  and  example  of  all  men,  and  of  all  sons ; 
and  then  imagine,  and  that  without  proof,  nay, 
with  proof  to  the  contrary,  that  He,  who  is 
both  judge  and  accuser,  left  His  Mother  in  the 
common  wreck  and  condemnation,  when  it  only 
asked  His  will  to  save  her  from  it,  and  yet  to 
satisfy  all  justice  ? 

What  St.  Augustine  says  on  another  mys- 
tery is  equally  applicable  to  this  : — "  Whatever 
occurs  to  you  in  the  truth  of  reason  as  what 
should  be  done,  know  that  God,  who  is  the 
giver  of  all  good  things,  .has  done  it."*  And 
it  is  in  the  spirit  of  this  maxim  that  the  great 
Doctor  of  grace  exclaims  :  "  Except  the  Blessed 
Virgin,  of  whom  I  will  have  no  question  where 
sin  is  concerned,  for  the  honour  of  the  Lord."f 

But  God  could  have  made  Mary  immortal 
as  well  as  immaculate,  and  why  then  did  He  not 
equally  do  this  ?  For  an  obvious  reason.  The 
death  of  the  body  is  not  an  evil  in  itself  like 
sin  and  culpability.  It  may  become  the  occa- 
sion of  the  noblest  virtues.  Our  Lord  was 
crowned  with  glory  for  His  death.  And  His 
Mother  shared  death  with  Him.  But  original 
sin  is  an  abomination  before  God. 

*  St.  Aug.  L.  3.  De  Lib.  Arbitrio, 
t  St.  Aug.  L.  i.  De  Nat.  et  Grat.  c.  36. 


LAW  OF  GRADATION  IN  PERFECTION,  ETC.     45 


CHAPTER  V. 

THE    LAW    OF    GRADATION   IN   PERFECTION  ;     AND 
THE    LAW    OF    THE    ACCUMULATION  OF  EXCELLENCE. 

GOD  has  ordered  His  creation  on  a  most  won- 
derful scale  of  ascension.  One  order  of  creation 
rises  above  another  :  kingdom  above  kingdom ; 
tribe  above  tribe ;  species  above  species ;  and 
individual  above  individual  within  the  same 
species.  Between  the  grain  of  sand  on  which 
inan  treads  without  a  thought,  and  the  seraph 
who  lives  on  the  extatic  contemplation  of  God, 
we  can  find  nothing  in  common,  except  that 
each  has  a  created  existence.  The  huge  round 
bulk  of  the  earth  has  an  incomparably  inferior 
order  of  existence  to  that  of  the  poor  worm 
that  crawls  upon  a  speck  of  its  surface.  For 
the  earth  exists  for  the  worm  but  not  for  itself. 
Whilst  the  despised  worm  has  the  sense  both  of 
its  own  existence  and  of  the  existence  of  the 
earth  on  which  it  crawls  and  feeds. 

The  mineral  has  but  an  insensate  existence ; 
the  plant  has  organization  and  growth,  and 
draws  subsistence  from  the  mineral ;  the  animal 
has  life,  sense,  and  instinct,  and  draws  its  subsis- 
tence from  the  plant ;  man,  to  the  inferior  life  of 
the  animal,  joins  an  intellectual  existence ;  whilst 
the  angel  is  more  like  to  God,  by  the  purely 
spiritual  nature  of  his  being.  *But  each  of 


46  LAW  OF  GRADATION  IN  PERFECTION, 

these  kingdoms  of  the  creation  possesses  in  an 
eminent  and  more  excellent  way  the  qualities 
and  attributes  of  the  order  which  is  inferior  to 
it.  Thus  man  has  existence  in  common  with 
the  mineral,  organization  and  growth  with  the 
plant,  sensibility  with  the  animal,  and  intellect 
and  a  free  will  as  his  own  especial  attributes ; 
whilst  the  angel  is  endowed  with  the  excellence 
of  man  in  a  yet  more  noble  manner.  He  has 
the  activity  of  man  without  the  like  need  for 
repose,  his  intelligence  free  from  obscuration, 
and  his  love  without  his  fears.  And  among  the 
angels  the  three  hierarchies  each  ascend  by 
more  eminent  gifts  of  excellence  above  the 
other.  Each  hierarchy  contains  its  three  orders, 
and  each  order  of  those  blessed  spirits  com- 
prises countless  individuals,  who  differ  one  from 
another,  as  star  from  star  in  excellence  and 
glory.  The  Seraph  illuminates  the  Cherub, 
the  Cherub  illuminates  the  Thrones,  and  each 
order  administers  to  the  order  next  in  dignity. 
Whilst  the  angel  is  the  minister  of  man,  and 
man  of  the  inferior  creation.  But  God  reigns 
through  all  and  gives  to  all  according  to  their 
nature  and  His  goodness.  And  the  excellence 
of  each  of  those  created  natures  lies  in  the 
degree  in  which  it  is  a  reflection  of  its  Creator. 
But  whilst  the  excellence  of  the  insensible  crea- 
ture lies  but  in  the  fact  of  its  existence,  and  in 
a  certain  order,  impressed  upon  it,  and  mutely 
reflecting  the  divine  reason  of  its  Creator ;  the 
excellence  of  the  spiritual  order  of  creation  lies 
not  only  in  the  image  and  likeness  of  God,  but 
also  in  a  certain  communion  with  His  eternal 
power,  truth,  and  goodness. 


AND  THE  ACCUMULATION  OF  EXCELLENCE.  47 

This  brings  us  from  the  order  of  nature  to 
the  order  of  grace.  As  no  two  men  are  alike, 
so  no  two  Saints  are  alike.  The  supernatural 
order  is  as  endlessly  diversified  as  the  natural 
order.  God  mocks  not  Himself,  nor  does  He 
make  copies  from  any  of  His  works.  Hence 
no  two  creatures  are  alike.  No  two  minds,  no 
two  hearts,  and  no  two  faces  are  alike.  The 
law  of  individuality  rests  on  the  law  of  unceas- 
ing variety.  Take  the  two  individuals  who  have 
the  closest  resemblance  to  each  other,  and  the 
more  you  study  them,  the  more  strikingly  will 
their  distinctions  come  out.  But  those  distinc- 
tions lie  in  some  farther  departure  from,  or 
some  nearer  approach  to  one  common  idea  of 
excellence ;  in  some  power,  some  quality  or 
some  gift,  which  is  possible  to  human  nature, 
and  belongs  to  the  type  of  our  species.  The 
miser  lives  in  his  mind  and  heart,  on  the  lowest 
kingdom  of  the  mineral  world,  on  acres  or  on 
gold.  The  epicure  sets  the  enjoyment  of  his  life 
on  the  vegetable  and  animal  creation  placed 
beneath  his  feet.  The  impure  sensualist  lives  on 
the  animal  portion  of  his  own  nature.  The  proud 
man  lives  on  the  subjection  of  other  minds  to  his. 
The  saint  lives  in  his  mind  and  in  his  heart  on 
God.  How  immeasurable  the  distance  between 
the  savage  and  a  St.  John,  the  disciple  of  love  ; 
or  between  the  proud  philosopher  and  a  St. 
Paul,  expending  himself  for  his  brethren.  Be- 
tween such  degradation  of  our  nature  on  the 
one  side,  and  such  elevation  towards  the  sanc- 
tity and  power  of  God,  who  can  measure  or 
comprehend  the  distance  ?  And  even  between 


48  LAW  OF  GRADATION  IN  PERFECTION, 

sanctity  and  sanctity  how  vast  are  the  spaces  in 
given  examples. 

St.  Paul  dilates  on  the  diversity  of  gifts 
in  the  saints.  They  are  not  only  of  different 
orders,  but  each  order  contains  an  endless 
diversity  of  individual  examples,  "  There  are 
diversities  of  graces,  but  one  spirit.  And 
there  are  diversities  of  ministries,  but  one 
Lord.  And  there  are  diversities  of  operations, 
but  the  same  God,  who  worketh  all  in  all."* 
And,  speaking  in  a  more  ample  manner  of  that 
gradation  and  diversity  which  reign  throughout 
the  natural  order,  and  comparing  it  with  the 
gradation  in  the  supernatural  order,  the  Apos- 
tle again  says:  "All  flesh  is  not  the  same 
flesh,  but  one  is  the  flesh  of  men,  another  of 
beasts,  another  of  birds,  and  another  of  fishes. 
And  there  are  bodies  celestial  and  bodies  ter- 
restrial :  but  one  is  the  glory  of  the  body  celes- 
tial, and  another  of  the  terrestrial.  One  is 
the  glory  of  the  sun,  another  of  the  moon,  and 
another  of  the  stars.  FOR  STAR  DIFFERS  FROM 
STAR  IN  GLORY."!  And  our  Lord  Himself  says 
of  the  gradation  of  that  glory,  "  I  go  to  prepare 
for  you  a  place.  In  my  Father's  house  there 
are  many  mansions." 

From  this  law  of  diversity,  which  excludes  all 
absolute  resemblance  or  identity  in  individuals, 
it  follows  that  there  must  be  one  example  in 
each  order  of  excellence  more  perfect  than  the 
rest.  And  that  example  is  not  only  the  most 
excellent,  but  it  must  in  an  eminent  manner 
embrace  in  itself  the  various  excellencies  exem- 

*  J  Cor.  xii.  4,  5-  1 1  Cor.  xv.  39—41- 


AND  THE  ACCUMULATION  OF  EXCELLENCE.  49 

plified  in  all  the  instances  which  stand  beneath 
it.  Take  this  in  the  natural  order.  Amongst 
poets,  there  is  but  one  Homer.  Amongst  orators, 
one  Demosthenes.  Amongst  contemplative  phi- 
losophers, one  Plato. 

Art  in  its  high  and  true  sense,  brings  us  to 
the  same  conclusion.  It  is  the  idealization  of 
nature,  the  raising  up  of  the  mind  from  indi- 
vidual examples  to  the  highest  and  most  perfect 
type.  And  if  the  perfect  form  of  man  be  under 
consideration,  we  have  but  one  unsurpassed  ideal, 
the  famous  statue  of  the  Vatican ;  of  the  form 
of  woman,  but  one  unrivalled  type,  the  equally 
famous  statue  of  the  Florentine  gallery.  These 
are  the  perfect  and  unapproachable  types  of  the 
twofold  form  of  man,  as  represented  in  art. 
Whatever  excellence  is  found  separately  in  other 
examples  is  found  perfect  and  in  the  completest 
harmony  in  them. 

Or  to  take  the  order  of  grace.  If  we  con- 
sider the  gradation  of  excellence  in  the  Saints, 
whether  in  illumination  or  in  charity,  we  shall 
find  we  have  amongst  Fathers,  but  one  St. 
Augustine ;  amongst  divines,  but  one  St.  Tho- 
mas ;  amongst  Episcopal  rulers,  but  one  St. 
Charles  ;  amongst  workers  of  charity  but  one 
St.  Vincent  of  Paul ;  as  amongst  Apostles  but 
one  pre-eminent  Apostle  of  love,  and  one  Apos- 
tle of  the  Gentiles. 

Virtue  as  distributed  in  different  souls,  or  as 
accumulated  in  one  individual,  does  not  give 
results  which  can  be  easily  brought  into  com- 
parison. A  thousand  instances  of  some  ordi- 
nary degree  of  grace  and  of  corresponding  vir- 
tue, in  as  many  Christian  souls,  can  scarcely 


50  LAW  OF  GRADATION  IN  PERFECTION, 

be  put  in  comparison  with  a  thousand  degrees 
of  grace  and  holiness  accumulated  in  a  sin- 
gle soul.  For  the  higher  degrees  of  virtue 
as  of  grace  are  of  a  different  order,  and  of 
another  kind  of  excellence.  It  is  not  so  much 
by  the  rarity  of  those  highest  examples, 
as  by  the  force  and  splendour,  the  unitive 
power  and  fertility  in  great  results,  which  re- 
dound from  a  high  degree  of  purity,  charity, 
and  the  light  of  wisdom  united  in  some  noble 
and  elevated  soul,  that  our  common  humanity 
is  most  exalted  and  God  most  glorified.  How 
many  Christians  possessing  but  ordinary  de- 
grees of  faith  and  love,  think  you,  would  it 
require  to  render  as  much  glory  to  God  and 
as  great  a  help  and  example  to  men,  as  the 
faith  and  love  of  the  single  soul  of  St.  John  ? 
And  how  many  ordinary  Christians,  combining 
all  their  lights  and  virtues,  could  do  the  works 
of  St.  Paul — works  so  mighty  that  they  are 
fertile  in  fruits  even  to  this  day  ? 

To  illustrate  this  principle  by  its  extreme 
example,  Our  Lord  accumulated  in  His  sacred 
person,  during  the  sufferings  of  His  mortal  life, 
the  graces  and  merits  which  redeem  and  sanc- 
tify the  human  race.  In  His  sacred  humanity 
He  gave  more  glory  to  God  beyond  measure 
than  all  saints  and  angels,  while  at  the  same 
time  He  exalted  our  human  nature  in  His  sacred 
person. 

When  God  then  accumulates  graces  in  a  very 
high  degree  in  some  one  individual,  He  lifts  up 
human  nature  in  the  same  degree,  and  thereby 
He  works  to  His  own  greater  praise  and  glory. 
But  this  is  not  all.  In  making  these  favours 


AND  THE  ACCUMULATION  OF  EXCELLENCE.  51 

manifest  to  men,  He  is  pleased  to  make  a  great 
provision  for  their  service.  For  through  that 
wonderful  disposition,  by  which  all  that  is  su- 
perior in  the  hierarchy  of  holiness  illuminates 
and  brings  help  to  the  inferior,  the  Saints  are 
prepared  by  God,  not  only  as  the  Angels  were, 
to  succour  and  defend  us  here  on  earth,  and  to 
advocate  our  interests  in  heaven,  but  also  by 
shedding  on  our  path  the  light  of  their  exam- 
ple to  encourage  us  to  follow  in  the  path  they 
trod. 

In  the  mind  of  God  there  is  one  perfect  type 
of  man,  and  in  that  perfect  type  the  varieties  of 
excellence  in  the  several  classes  and  individuals 
are  eminently  contained,  and  in  the  highest  de- 
gree made  perfect.  Has  God  filled  up  this  type 
in  His  creation,  or  can  we  suppose  that  it  is  to 
be  for  ever  a  barren  and  unrealized  idea  ?  No, 
that  type  of  man,  which  the  Almighty  for  ever 
contemplates  in  His  Eternal  Word,  is  the  glory 
of  His  creation.  It  is  the  Eternal  Word  Him- 
self made  flesh.  Jesus  is  the  head  and  type  of 
all  human  excellence.  He  is  the  one  perfect 
man ;  of  unapproachable  excellence  in  every 
kind  of  perfection.  He  is  at  once,  King,  Pro- 
phet, High  Priest,  Virgin,  Father,  and  divinest 
of  Victims  and  Martyrs.  And  as  He  resumes  in 
Himself  each  order  of  perfection,  so  through  the 
hypostatic  union,  He  is  absolutely  perfect,  and 
in  Him  the  whole  fulness  of  the  Godhead  dwells 
bodily. 

But  whilst  we  find  the  type,  the  model,  the 
head  and  very  crown  of  human  perfection, 
beyond  which  it  is  impossible  to  ascend,  in  our 
Blessed  Lord  and  Saviour ;  where  shall  we  look 


52  LAW  OF  GRADATIOX  IN  PERFECTION, 

for  the  highest  form  and  example  of  excellence 
in  woman  ?  For  though  our  Lord  is  the  head 
of  the  whole  of  humanity,  yet  of  its  two  coun- 
terparts, man,  not  woman,  was  united  with  the 
divine  personality.  Where  then  shall  we  find 
that  woman  so  perfect  that  none  more  perfect 
can  be  supposed  ?  Where,  in  other  words,  is 
the  type  and  head  of  womanhood  ?  As  Christ 
is  the  counterpart  of  Adam,  she  must  be  the 
counterpart  of  Eve.  As  Eve  brought  sin  into 
the  world,  she  must  bring  into  the  world  the 
redemption  from  sin.  To  place  her  at  the  head 
of  woman  she  must  have  these  two  qualities. 
She  must  have  a  nearer  resemblance  to  God 
than  all  others,  and  a  greater  union  with  God 
than  all  others.  And  she  must  resume  within 
her  person,  eminently  and  surpassingly,  the 
several  excellencies  to  be  found  in  every  order 
of  female  excellence.  But  this  supreme  excel- 
lence of  woman  as  the  type  and  head  of  woman- 
hood is  only  to  be  found  in  the  Blessed  Virgin. 
She  is  more  like  to  God  from  her  maternal 
resemblance  to  her  Son.  She  is  more  like  to 
God  as  bringing  forth  the  Eternal  Word  in 
the  flesh  in  time,  whom  the  Father  has  begot- 
ten of  His  substance  from  eternity.  She  is 
incomparably  more  united  to  God  than  any 
other  of  mere  creatures,  from  her  espousal  with 
the  Holy  Ghost  and  her  maternal  union  with 
her  Divine  Son.  She  resumes  the  excellence 
of  every  saintly  order  of  her  sex;  and  is  at 
once,  Queen,  Prophetess,  Virgin,  Spouse  of 
God,  Spouse  of  man,  Mother  of  the  Man-God, 
and  Martyr — for  her  sword  of  grief  was  both 
predicted  and  endured.  If  she  be  not  sinless 


AND  THE  ACCUMULATION  OF  EXCELLENCE.  53 

and  most  pure,  then,  never  was  there  woman, 
sinless  and  most  pure ;  and  the  type  of  woman 
as  excellent,  as  perfect,  and  unsurpassed  as 
even  man  can  contemplate,  and  which  there- 
fore God  contemplates  most  perfectly,  was 
never  realized.  And  God  has  not  filled  up  the 
ideal  plan  of  the  creation.  And  we  are  com- 
pelled to  think  that  a  more  perfect  woman 
than  the  Mother  of  God  is  yet  possible.  And 
that  Christ,  who  is  ever  separated  from  sin- 
ners, took  flesh  from  a  sinner,  and  one  who 
had  come  from  under  the  devil's  yoke.  As 
the  mind  springs  back  in  horror  from  this 
thought,  let  us  then  consider  Mary  as  the 
head  of  woman  and  the  counterpart  of  Eve. 
And  what  place  is  she  assigned  in  the  grand 
scale  of  the  creation?  There  are  diversities 
of  graces,  and  ministries,  and  operations,  which 
the  same  Spirit  works  in  all  the  several  mem- 
bers of  that  body,  of  which  Christ  is  the  head. 
And  to  her  is  given  the  grace  of  the  divine 
maternity,  the  operation  of  the  divine  mater- 
nity, and  the  ministry  of  the  divine  maternity. 
In  that  great  body,  therefore,  of  the  redeem- 
ed, next  to  her  Divine  Son,  who  is  its  head, 
she  is  the  first  in  all  graces,  rights  and  privi- 
leges. And  thus  she  stands  forth,  the  head 
and  type  of  woman  in  every  grace  and  every 
perfection.  Her  Son  is  God  and  she  is  but  a 
creature ;  but  of  all  mere  creatures  she  is  the 
one  most  closely  allied  to  God.  She  most 
perfectly  resembles  Him.  She  has  the  greatest 
influence  with  Him.  And  as  in  all  that  ascend- 
ing scale  of  created  spirits  endowed  with  the 
divine  grace,  even  the  brightest  Seraph  grows 


54:  LAW  OF  GRADATION  IN  PERFECTION, 

dim  before  the  soul  of  our  Blessed  Lord,  filled 
to  eternal  overflow  with  the  perfection  of  the 
divinity  ;  so  Mary  has  inherited  even  a  more 
excellent  name  than  the  Seraph.  For  what 
Seraph  can  say  to  his  Lord  and  Head,  thou 
art  my  Son  ?  Hence  the  Fathers  of  the 
Church,  from  the  earliest  to  the  latest  times, 
have  rivalled  each  other  in  placing  the  Mo- 
ther of  God  above  all  the  Choirs  of  Angels, 
and  next  her  Son  in  power  and  glory.  And 
hence  the  Church  can  only  understand  of  her 
amongst  all  women  the  words  of  the  Holy 
Ghost  unto  the  Spouse,  "  One  is  my  beloved, 
my  fair  one,  my  beautiful  one  is  but  one." 

St.  Anselm  resumes  the  doctrine  of  all  the 
Fathers  when  he  says,  "  That  Christ  might  be 
conceived  of  a  most  pure  Mother,  it  was  fitting 
and  becoming,  that  that  Virgin  should  be  re- 
splendent with  a  purity  so  great,  that,  under 
God,  no  greater  can  be  presented  to  the  com- 
prehension of  the  intellect.""'  And  St.  Thomas 
says,  "  She  touched  upon  the  confines  of  divi- 
nity." And  even  a  Protestant  divine,  Bishop 
Hall,  has  ventured  to  say  : — "How  worthily  is 
she  honoured  of  men,  whom  the  angel  pro- 
claimed beloved  of  God !  0  Blessed  Mary  ! 
He  cannot  bless  thee,  he  cannot  honour  thee 
too  much,  that  deifies  thee  not."j  In  the  lan- 
guage of  Hesychius,  she  is  "  the  elect  amongst 
women,  the  most  select  amongst  virgins,  the 
brightest  honour  of  our  nature,  the  singular 
ornament  of  our  earthly  race."J 

*  St.  Anselm,  L.  de  Concep.  Virg. 

t  Quoted  in  the  Justorum  Semita,  on  the  Conception  of  the  Blessed 
Virgin  Mary. 

t  De  Laudibus  Marie. 


AND  THE  ACCUMULATION  OF  EXCELLENCE.  55 

St.  Fulgentius  has  especially  contemplated 
the  Blessed  Virgin  as  "  the  restoration  of  wo- 
man." He  shows  how  she  passed  through  every 
state  and  office  of  her  sex,  that  all  might  find  a 
model  and  a  help  in  her.  And  that  as  the  new 
Eve  she  might  recover  and  raise  up  the  fallen 
state  of  woman.* 

This  then  has  Mary  done  for  woman  as  the 
head  and  type  of  her  sex.  She  has  freed  her 
from  a  state  of  bondage,  and  has  lifted  her  up 
from  her  degradation.  On  Eve,  the  Almighty 
laid  a  special  curse. — "  /  will  multiply  thy  sor- 
roivs  and  thy  conceptions;  in  sorrow  shalt 
thou  bring  forth  children,  and  thou  shalt  be 
under  thy  husband's  power,  and  he  shall  have 
dominion  over  thee."  Here  is  indicated  a  severe 
yoke  and  bitter  trials.  For  though  man  from 
the  beginning  was  the  head,  yet  woman  was 
ordained  for  his  companion  and  helpmate.  But 
between  the  fall  and  the  arrival  of  the  Gospel, 
woman  is  everywhere  in  a  state  of  bondage  and 
of  servitude  beneath  the  power  of  man.  And 
everywhere  the  wife  is  guarded  with  excessive 
jealousy.  Even  in  the  Old  Law  polygamy  is 
both  permitted  and  practised  by  the  holiest  men. 
And  because  of  the  hardness  of  men's  hearts,  as 
our  Lord  Himself  has  said,  divorce  obtained  a 
legal  sanction.  And  to  this  day,  beyond  the 
sphere  of  Christianity,  woman  is  still  in  the 
condition  of  a  slave. 

And  what  then  has  raised  our  mothers  and 
our  sisters  from  so  low  and  degraded  a  condi- 
tion ?  Mary  was  given  to  us.  In  her,  Eve  was 
set  free  and  made  resplendent.  All  her  daugh- 

*  Serm.  de  Nativit.  formerly  cited  amongst  St.  Augustine's  works. 


56  LAW  OF  GRADATION  IN  PERFECTION, 

ters  have  shared  in  the  honour  of  this  new 
Mother.  Mary  has  brought  grace  and  favour 
to  all  women.  They  are  reverenced  because  of 
the  reverence  for  her.  And  when  amongst  a 
people  of  faith,  woman  calls  for  protection  in 
her  distress  and  anguish — for  the  honour  of  the 
Blessed  Virgin !  she  reveals  the  foundation  on 
which  the  respect  due  to  her  rests. 

But  Mary  has  delivered  woman  in  a  yet  more 
striking  way.  She  has  given  honour  to  the 
state  of  virginity.  She  has  established  it  as  a 
state  of  life  by  her  example  and  her  influence. 
Woman  is  made  free,  because  she  has  a  choice 
of  states.  She  may  keep  her  freedom  to  the 
Lord  her  God,  or  she  may  give  it  to  a  husband. 
And  this  power  of  choice,  which  the  grace  of 
the  Holy  Spirit  guides,  has  given  a  dignity  to 
woman  which  grows  the  more  exalted  in  our 
minds,  the  more  deeply  we  reflect  upon  it.  She 
who  in  her  youthful  innocence  becomes  the 
spouse  of  Christ,  and  leads  a  life  of  divine  and 
contemplative  love  in  the  presence  of  her  God, 
and  she  who  devotes  herself  to  the  same  Lord 
in  His  suffering  members,  and  becomes  a  sister 
of  charity,  owes  her  happiness  and  dignity  to 
Mary.  And  this  holy  state  has  thrown  a  halo 
of  sanctity  and  freedom  around  the  entire  lot  of 
woman :  whilst  at  the  same  time  the  matron 
rejoices  in  a  respect  paid  to  her  maternity 
which  derives  its  dignity  from  the  type  of  all 
mothers.  This  wonderful  restoration  was  more 
striking  as  it  arose  with  the  uprising  of  the 
Church,  than  now  that  from  long  habit  and  cus- 
tom it  looks  like  the  natural  order  of  things. 

Wherever  the  Church  has  been  overwhelmed 


AXD  THE  ACCUMULATION  OF  EXCELLENCE.  57 

through  worldliness  and  error ;  wherever  Mary 
has  ceased  to  influence,  and  tradition  concern- 
ing her  has  grown  dim ;  there  the  reverence  of 
woman  has  begun  to  retrograde.  Two  remark- 
able consequences  have  shown  themselves.  The 
virgins  of  Christ  are  despised  and  ruthlessly 
assailed.  For  there  is  no  more  faith  to  be  found 
in  that  high  happiness  of  which  grace  can  make 
them  capable.  And  the  state  of  matronage  be- 
comes so  far  lowered,  that  the  Jewish  doctrines 
of  divorce,  which  our  Lord  abolished,  find  en- 
trance once  more  into  the  laws. 

Every  Catholic  virgin  then  and  every  Catho- 
lic matron,  instinctively  feels  that  the  type  and 
model  of  woman  is  immaculate  and  sinless. 
They  repose  themselves  on  Mary  as  on  the 
glory  and  strength  of  their  sex.  No  female 
saint  ever  uttered  a  doubt  as  to  Mary's  sinless 
purity.  And  even  the  penitent  inagdalen,  as 
she  recovers  her  lost  soul,  draws  the  argument 
more  strongly  still  from  her  deep  and  bitter 
experience  of  what  it  is  to  be  a  child  of  Satan. 
And  she  flies  for  refuge  and  strength  to  the 
feet  of  a  most  pure  and  immaculate  Mother. 
Whilst  the  Church  exclaims  in  her  faith,  God 
made  the  most  perfect  of  women  that  could  be 
made  when  He  made  the  Blessed  Virgin  for 
His  Mother  ;  therefore  He  made  her  sinless  and 
immaculate.* 

»  See  Appendix  A. 


58  MYSTERY  OF  THE 


CHAPTER  VI. 

IN    WHAT    SENSE    ARE   WE    TO    UNDERSTAND    THE 
MYSTERY    OF    THE    IMMACULATE    CONCEPTION. 

THE  confusion  of  two  facts,  which  in  their 
nature  as  in  their  causes  are  distinct  and  most 
completely  apart,  has  given  occasion  to  all  the 
difficulties,  which  have  attended  as  well  the  com- 
prehension as  the  contemplation  of  the  most 
pure  and  sublime  mystery,  which  is  under  our 
consideration.  A  child  derives  not  all  its  creation 
at  one  instant  and  from  one  source.  For  each 
child  has  two  conceptions.  And  it  is  not  of  that 
one,  which  the  word  conception  commonly  sug- 
gests, that  we  are  now  speaking.  The  body  is 
transmitted  through  the  parents,  the  soul  is  infus- 
ed by  God.  The  transmission  of  the  body,  where- 
by we  are  of  the  one  body  of  Adam,  is  called  by 
divines  the  active  conception ;  the  infusion  of 
the  soul,  whereby  the  body  receives  its  anima- 
tion, is  called  the  passive  conception.  The 
distinction  between  these  two  conceptions  was 
not  scientifically  drawn  at  the  period  anterior 
to  St.  Thomas  and  St.  Bonaventure.  And  the 
want  of  the  distinction  at  an  earlier  period 
explains  the  seeming  contradiction,  for  it  is  only 
an  apparent  one,  which  is  found  in  some  few  of 
the  Western  Fathers  and  other  writers  at  an 
earlier  period  than  the  thirteenth  century. 


IMMACULATE  CONCEPTION.  59 

Science  has  not  been  able  to  fix  the  period  of 
animation;  but  at  whatever  time  it  may  take 
place,  it  is  certain  that  the  body  is  transmitted 
and  organized  ere  the  soul  is  infused,  though  the 
interval  were  but  the  least  of  which  cognizance 
can  be  taken.  For  the  infusion  of  the  soul  from 
God  is  consequent  on  the  transmission  of  the 
body,  and  cannot  be  identical  with  that  act  or 
with  its  causes. 

We  must  further  observe,  as  very  important 
for  understanding  the  subject,  that  the  body 
before  it  has  received  the  animating  soul,  is  not 
the  subject,  but  only  the  cause  of  sin.  Deriving 
from  its  origin  the  poison  of  concupiscence,  it 
has  its  disordered  energies  awakened  into  acti- 
vity by  animation ;  and  the  soul,  created  and 
infused  without  grace,  to  which  as  a  child  of 
Adam  it  has  lost  all  claim,  becomes  overwhelmed 
in  its  disorder,  subjected  to  its  blind  confusion, 
and  distorted  from  rectitude,  until  by  the  grace 
of  Christ  it  is  regenerated  through  baptism. 
But  whilst  through  that  holy  sacrament  the 
soul  is  raised  up  from  injustice  to  life ;  the  body 
remains  subject  to  its  infirmity,  and  has  to  be 
subdued  and  kept  under,  until  it  yields  up  the 
soul  in  death,  for  the  flesh  is  only  regenerated 
at  the  resurrection. 

Speaking  with  the  strictest  degree  of  accu- 
racy, the  transmission  of  flesh  from  Adam  is  not 
the  conception  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  Mary,  but 
the  conception  of  St.  Ann.  Of  several  Mothers, 
the  Scripture  says,  she  conceived  a  son.  But 
previous  to  animation,  that  flesh  is  not  a  human 
subject,  and  possesses  no  moral  qualities.  In 
fact  it  is  not  Mary.  Mary  is  truly  conceived 


60  MYSTERY  OF  THE 

when  her  soul  is  created  and  infused  into  that 
body. 

Separating  then  these  two  periods  of  time, 
whatever  may  be  the  distance  between  them, 
the  question  regards  not  the  embryo,  which  is 
not  humanity,  which  has  no  personality,  and 
which  is  incapable  of  spiritual  grace  :  the  ques- 
tion regards  the  moment  of  rational  animation  ; 
of  the  reception,  or,  more  truly,  of  the  concep- 
tion of  the  soul ;  and  the  instant  of  its  union 
with  the  body.  To  use  the  words  of  Perrone, 
who  follows  Alexander  VII.,  Benedict  XIV., 
and  all  modern  divines,  the  true  question  is, 
whether  the  soul  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  was 
adorned  at  its  creation  with  sanctifying  grace  ; 
and  whether,  therefore,  her  animation  or  pas- 
sive conception  was  immaculate  and  exempt  from 
all  sin. 

This  is  clearly  explained,  and  denned  to  be 
the  question,  in  the  celebrated  Constitution  of 
Alexander  VII.  of  the  eighth  December,  1661.* 
The  Pontiff  says : — "  It  is  the  ancient  and  pious 
belief  of  the  faithful  of  Christ,  towards  this  most 
Blessed  Mother,  the  Virgin  Mary,  that  her  soul, 
at  the  first  instant  of  its  creation  and  infusion 
into  the  body,  was,  by  the  especial  grace  and 
privilege  of  God,  in  view  of  the  merits  of  Jesus 
Christ  her  Son,  the  Redeemer  of  the  human 
race,  preserved  and  made  exempt  from  the  stain 
of  original  sin.  And,  it  is  in  this  sense,  that 
they  honour  and  celebrate  with  solemn  rite  the 
Festival  of  her  Conception."  And  in  a  later 
part  of  the  Constitution,  the  same  Pontiff 
gays: — "Desiring,  after  the  example  of  the 

*  Sellicitudo  omnium  ecclesiarum. 


DIMACULATE  CONCEPTION.  61 

Roman  Pontiffs  our  predecessors,  to  favour 
this  piety  and  devotion,  so  worthy  of  praise, 
as  also  the  Festival  and  that  worship  which  it 
expresses,  and  which  in  the  Roman  Church  has 
never  been  changed  since  that  festival  was  in- 
stituted; and  moreover  to  protect  that  piety 
and  devotion  which  honours  and  celebrates  the 
Most  Blessed  Virgin  as  preserved  by  the  pre- 
venting grace  of  the  Holy  Ghost  from  original 
sin ;  wishing  also  to  preserve  in  the  flock  of 
Christ  the  unity  of  the  spirit  in  the  bond  of 
peace,  to  appease  contentions  and  strifes,  and 
to  remove  scandals ;  at  the  instance  and  en- 
treaties of  the  aforesaid  Bishops  with  their 
Chapters,  and  of  King  Philip  and  his  king- 
doms, we  renew  the  Constitutions  and  Decrees 
of  the  Roman  Pontiffs  our  predecessors,  and 
especially  of  Sixtus  IV.,  Paul  V.,  and  Gregory 
XV.,  published  in  favour  of  the  sentence  which 
affirms  that  the  soul  of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  at 
its  creation  and  infusion  into  the  body,  was 
endowed  with  the  grace  of  the  Holy  Ghost, 
and  preserved  from  original  sin :  as  also  in 
favour  of  the  Festival  and  of  the  honour  paid 
to  the  Conception  of  the  same  Virgin  Mother 
of  God,  according  to  that  pious  sense  above 
stated:  and,  under  the  censures  and  penalties 
contained  in  those  same  Constitutions,  we  com- 
mand them  to  be  observed." 

It  is  not  the  intention  of  Alexander  VII.,  in 
this  decree,  to  define  the  doctrine,  but  to  explain 
the  true  sense  of  the  Immaculate  Conception  as 
an  object  of  devotion.  And  understood  in  this, 
its  true  sense,  we  at  once  perceive,  that  the 
Conception  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  was  beyond 


G2  MYSTERY  OF  THE  IMMACULATE  CONCEPTION. 

all  comparison  more  noble  and  exalted  than  that 
of  John  the  Baptist,  or  of  any  other  saint,  whilst 
it  is  immeasurably  beneath  that  of  her  Divine 
Son.  For  if  the  conception  of  St.  Elizabeth 
was  miraculous,  so  also,  according  to  tradition, 
was  that  of  St.  Ann,  but  the  soul  of  the  Baptist 
was  not  preserved  immaculate  at  its  union  with 
the  body,  but  was  sanctified  through  the  pre- 
sence of  Jesus  at  the  Visitation.  And  Our 
Divine  Lord  was  alone  conceived  of  the  Holy 
Ghost,  in  the  virginal  womb,  so  that  His  active 
and  passive  conception  were  identical,  and  both 
most  holy  and  divine. 

It  may  be  well  to  observe  that  the  expres- 
sions— The  Immaculate  Conception — The  Im- 
maculate Preservation — The  Immunity — and 
Exception  from  original  sin,  are  all  phrases 
which  bear  the  same  signification,  and  are  used 
equally  to  express  one  and  the  same  mystery. 


THE  ETERNAL  COUNSEL  OF  GOD.  63 


CHAPTER  VII. 

THE  ETERNAL  COUNSEL  OF  GOD. 

THE  Almighty  One  has  said,  "My  thoughts 
are  not  as  your  thoughts,  nor  my  ways  as  your 
ways ;  but  as  far  as  the  heavens  are  removed 
from  the  earth,  so  far  are  my  thoughts  above 
your  thoughts,  and  my  ways  above  your  ways." 
He  reaches  from  end  to  end,  and  His  knowledge 
is  from  eternity  unto  eternity,  and  all  things  are 
open  and  manifest  before  Him.  A  thousand 
years  are  but  as  a  day  in  His  sight.  And  before 
the  beginning,  He  sees  what,  even  in  the  liberty 
of  His  creature,  is  accomplished  in  the  end. 
For  from  His  unchangeable  eternity  Our  God, 
in  His  most  simple  and  perfect  intuition,  beholds 
all  past,  all  present,  and  all  future  things  in  a 
present  manner.  His  indivisible  eternity  is 
equally  related  to  every  instant  which  dawns  in 
the  succession  of  time.  In  His  Eternal  Word, 
He  beholds  all  things  and  decrees  all  creations. 
But  the  counsel  of  His  eternal  wisdom  is  not 
ordained  according  to  those  laws,  which  direct 
the  successions  of  time.  These  are  laws  for  the 
creature  and  not  for  their  Creator.  His  wis- 
dom contemplates  the  end  of  His  work,  and 
ordains  the  means  unto  their  ends,  and  subor- 
dinates the  intermediate  ends  unto  the  final  end. 
And  the  final  end  stands  first  in  His  eternal 


64:  THE  ETERNAL  COUNSEL  OF  GOD. 

counsel.  And  the  end  of  that  eternal  counsel, 
from  which  creation  springs,  is  the  glorification 
of  His  Eternal  Son  through  the  mystery  of  the 
Incarnation.  Hence  Christ  is  the.  Alpha  and  the 
Omega,  the  beginning  and  the  end.  Hence, 
He  says,  "  sacrifice  and  oblation  thou  wouldest 
not ;  but  a  body  thou  hast  fitted  to  me :  holo- 
causts for  sin  did  not  please  thee.  Then  said  1: 
Behold  I  come :  in  the  head  of  the  book  it  is  writ- 
ten of  me:  that  I  should  do  thy  will,  0  God"* 
Hence,  St.  Peter  says,  "  The  precious  blood 
of  Christ,  as  of  a  lamb  without  spot,  foreknown 
indeed  before  the  constitution  of  the  world,  but 
manifested  in  the  last  times"  And  hence  St. 
Paul  says,  "  We  have  redemption  through  His 
blood,  ivho  is  the  image  of  the  invisible  God, 
the  first-born  of  every  creature  :  For  in  Him 
were  all  things  created  in  heaven,  and  on  earth, 
visible  and  invisible,  whether  thrones  or  domi- 
nations, or  principalities,  or  powers:  all  things 
were  created  by  Him,  and  in  Him :  and  He  is 
before  all,  and  by  Him  all  things  consist.  And 
He  is  the  head  of  the  body,  the  Church,  who  is 
the  beginning,  the  firstborn  from  the  dead:  that 
in  all  things  He  may  hold  the  primacy."] 
And  hence,  also,  in  the  Apocalypse,  Christ  is 
called,  "  The  beginning  of  the  creation  of 
God."% 

First,  then,  and  at  the  head  of  the  book  of 
the  eternal  counsel,  stands  decreed  the  incarna- 
tion of  the  Son  of  God.  By  that  decree  shall 
He,  in  the  fulness  of  time,  be  "  made  of  a 
woman,"  that  is  of  a  particular  and  predesti- 

*  Heb.  x.  5.  f  Coloss.  i.  15—18.  J  Apoc.  iii.  14. 


THE  ETERNAL  COUNSEL  OF  GOD.  65 

natod  woman.  And  shall  become  a  child,  that 
is  He  shall  become  the  child  of  Mary.  And 
thus  Mary  stands  next  to  Jesus  in  the  divine 
decree,  as  the  chosen  medium  of  the  incarna- 
tion. For  of  all  the  elect,  St.  Paul  has  said, 
"  He  chose  us  in  Christ  before  the  constitution 
of  the  world,  that  we  should  be  holy  and  blame- 
less in  His  sight  in  charity.  Who  predestined 
us  to  the  adoption  of  children  through  Jesus 
Christ,  unto  Himself,  according  to  the  purpose 
of  His  will,  to  the  praise  and  glory  of  His 
grace,  by  which  He  made  us  accepted  in  His 
beloved  Son."  And,  if  thus  He  chose  His 
adopted  children  in  Christ,  ere  the  world  was 
constituted ;  first,  and  before  them  all,  He  chose 
and  decreed  the  existence  and  the  graces  of  that 
mother,  through  whom  the  Son  should  come  to 
bring  this  grace.  She  is  THE  WOMAN,  proclaim- 
ed at  the  fall,  as  destined  to  crush  the  head  of 
Satan.  She  is  THE  VIRGIN,  who  shall  conceive 
and  bring  forth  a  Son,  made  known  to  Isaias. 
She  is  the  new  thing  upon  the  earth,  A  WOMAN 
shall  encircle  man;  who  is  made  known  to 
Jeremias.  And  a  series  of  illustrious  women, 
instruments  in  God's  hands  for  the  delivery  of 
His  people,  foreshadow  her  coming.  Such  are 
Judith,  Debora  and  Esther.  Such  also,  in  a 
more  special  sense,  is  the  one  true  and  immacu- 
late spouse  of  the  true  Wisdom,  whom  the  Holy 
Ghost  celebrates  in  the  Canticle  of  Solomon. 
Such  also,  though  more  imperfectly,  were  those 
women,  who  miraculously  brought  forth  sons 
that  were  the  figures  of  Christ. 

To  the  Prophet  Jeremias,  God  said  : — "  Be- 
fore I  formed  thee  in  the  bowels  of  thy  mother, 


66         THE  ETERNAL  COUNSEL  OF  GOD. 

/  knew  thee ;  and  before  tliou  earnest  forth 
from,  the  womb,  I  sanctified  thee,  and  made 
thee  a  prophet  unto  the  nations"  To  Mary 
therefore,  far  more  could  He  say  : — "  Before  I 
created  thee  I  knew  thee,  and  gave  thee  for  a 
Mother  unto  my  Son." 

Since  Mary  then  is  included  in  the  decree  of 
the  Incarnation,  as  the  means  for  its  accomplish- 
ment ;  and  since,  in  the  decree  as  it  concerns 
her,  must  be  of  course  included  those  gifts  of 
nature  and  of  grace,  which  adorn  and  prepare 
her  for  a  maternity  so  sacred ;  she  stands  forth 
next  to  her  divine  Son,  and  as  the  second  of 
creatures  in  the  counsel  of  God. 

From  eternity,  then,  does  God  contemplate 
Jesus  as  the  Son  of  Mary,  and  Mary  as  the 
Mother  of  Jesus  :  His  Son,  as  the  head  of  man; 
and  Mary,  as  the  head  of  woman. 

It  is  to  illustrate  this  doctrine  that  in  her 
offices  for  the  Festivals  of  the  Blessed  Virgin, 
the  Church  employs  those  passages  in  the  Sapi- 
ential Books,  which  speak  literally  of  the  Son  of 
God,  the  Eternal  Wisdom,  and  of  the  decree  of 
His  incarnation ;  and  applies  them  in  the  spirit 
of  accommodation,  to  the  Mother  of  Our  Lord. 
She  contemplates  Mary  as  the  chosen  one,  in 
•whose  person  God  has  everlastingly  contem- 
plated the  bringing  about  of  the  human  concep- 
tion of  His  Son. 

Thus,  from  the  eighth  chapter  of  Proverbs, 
we  say  of  Mary  by  accommodation,  as  of  Jesus 
literally: — "  The  Lord  possessed  me  in  the  be- 
ginning of  His  ways,  before  He  made  anything 
from  the  beginning.  The  depths  were  not  as 
yet,  and  I  was  already  conceived." 


THE  ETERNAL  COUNSEL  OF  GOD.         C7 

And  so  from  the  twenty-fourth  chapter  of 
Ecclesiasticus,  which,  as  Petavius  shows,*  the 
majority  of  the  fathers  interpret  of  the  Incarna- 
tion : — "  Then  the  Creator  of.  all  things  gave 
His  orders,  and  said  to  me :  And  He  that  made 
me,  rested  in  my  tabernacle.  And  He  said 
to  me :  Let  thy  dwelling  be  in  Jacob,  and  thy 
inheritance  in  Israel)  and  take  root  in  my  elect. 
From  the  beginning,  and  before  the  world,  was 
I  created,  and  unto  the  ivorld  to  come  I  shall 
not  cease  to  be,  and  in  the  holy  dwelling-place 
I  have  ministered  before  Him.  And  so  was  I 
established  in  Sion,  and  in  the  portion  of  my 
God  His  inheritance,  and  my  abode  is  in  the 
full  assembly  of  the  saints and  I  per- 
fumed my  dwelling  as  stornx,  and  galbanum, 
and  onyx  and  aloes,  and  as  the  frankincense 

not  cut,  and  my  odour  is  as  the  purest  balm 

....I  am  the  mother  of  fair  love,  and  of  fear, 
and  of  knowledge,  and  of  holy  hope.  In  me 
is  all  grace  of  the  way  and  of  the  truth,  in  me 
is  all  hope  of  life  and  of  virtue.  Come  to  me 
all  you  that  desire  me,  and  be  filled  of  my 
fruits.  For  my  Spirit  is  sweet  as  honey,  and 
my  inheritance  above  honey  and  the  honey- 
comb. My  memory  is  unto  everlasting  genera- 
tions." 

If  the  saints  then  are  elected  in  Jesus  before 
the  world  was  constituted,  Mary  is  pre-elected 
in  Jesus.  If  the  saints  are  chosen  for  His 
glory,  Mary  is  chosen  as  the  way  by  which  He 
came  to  purchase  that  glory.  If  these  graces 
are  predestined  to  them,  the  graces  of  Mary  are 
more  wonderfully  predestined  that  she  may 

«  Petav.  De  Trinitate  L.  ii.  sec.  3. 


68        THE  ETERNAL  COUNSEL  OF  GOD. 

bring  the  Author  of  grace  into  the  world.  And 
God  contemplates  from  the  depths  of  His  eter- 
nity that  Son,  who  is  born  into  the  world  for 
the  redemption  of  His  creature,  and  that 
Mother,  of  whose  virgin  purity  He  is  conceived 
of  the  Holy  Ghost.  And  thus  before  the  ages, 
in  the  contemplation  of  God,  was  Mary  the  pre- 
destined Mother  of  Jesus. 


THE  FALL  OF  THE  ANGELS.  69 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

THE   FALL   OF   THE   ANGELS. 

THE  angels  had  not,  at  their  creation,  the 
beatifying  vision  of  God.  That  glory  was  won 
by  them  in  a  state  of  grace.  This  implies,  that 
their  first  state  was  a  state  of  faith  and  of  trial. 
To  quote  the  famous  allusion  of  St.  Augustin, 
"  They  had  the  evening  light,  but  not  the  morn- 
ing light."  That  they  had  a  knowledge  through 
faith  of  the  Blessed  Trinity  is  the  doctrine  of  all 
the  divines.  And,  as  St.  Thomas  says,  "  What 
the  prophets  knew  of  the  mysteries  of  grace 
through  revelation  was  revealed  in  a  more  ex- 
cellent way  to  the  angels."* 

But  was  the  Eternal  Counsel  on  the  Mystery 
of  the  Incarnation  in  any  manner  communi- 
cated to  them  ?  That  they  adored  the  First-be- 
gotten at  His  entering  the  world  we  know ;  but 
had  they  been  expecting  this  event  from  the 
first  ?  Taking  the  whole  context  of  the  passage 
in  the  first  chapter  of  the  First  Epistle  of  St. 
Peter,  it  seems  evident  that  it  was  on  the  mys- 
tery of  Christ  that  the  angels  longed  to  look  ; 
which  implies  a  knowledge  begun  but  not  per- 
fected ;  a  knowledge  through  faith  but  not 
through  insight  of  that  sacred  mystery. 

Most  certainly,  the  "  primacy"  of  the  God  in- 

*  Sum.  p.  i.  q.  57,  a.  I. 


70  THE  FALL  OF  THE  ANGELS. 

carnate,  and  His  glorious  reign  over  angels  as 
over  men,  is  constantly  asserted  by  St.  Paul.  And 
the  victory  of  the  God  incarnate  over  Satan  and 
his  sin  as  over  Adam  and  his  sin,  is  the  most 
exalted  end  in  which  their  creation  resulted. 
For  by  that  victory,  which  was  the  work  of 
eternal  wisdom,  as  the  creation  was  the  work  of 
infinite  power,  not  only  are  the  angels  who  by 
grace  stood  firm  re-established,  and  man  re- 
deemed ;  but  the  greatest  of  glories,  that  was  pos- 
sible in  created  beings,  was  given  to  God,  and  both 
the  angels  and  saints  clothed  with  the  splendour 
thereof.  Hence  St.  Paul  says  of  Christ,  that, 
God  has  appointed  Him  the  heir  of  all  things;* 
and  that,  He  is  the  head  of  principalities  and 
powers  J  as  well  as  of  men.  And  that  it  has 
well  pleased  the  Father,  through  Him  to  re- 
concile all  things  unto  Himself,  making  peace 
through  the  blood  of  His  cross,  both  as  to  the 
things  that  are  on  earth,  and  the  things  that 
are  in  heaven.^  And  He  made  the  angels,  and 
powers  and  virtues  subject  to  Him.  §  The 
angels,  therefore,  were  most  deeply  interested 
in  the  mystery  of  the  incarnation.  And  though 
St.  Paul  seems  to  say  that  it  was  made  known 
to  them  through  the  preaching  of  the  Church, 
yet  this  cannot  refer  to  their  knowledge  as 
derived  from  the  Eternal  counsel  of  God,  but 
only  to  its  realization  and  the  fruits  it  brought 
forth  in  time.  For  the  angels  administered 
towards  its  fulfilment  under  the  Old  Testament, 
and  proclaimed  it  from  heaven  before  it  was 
preached  in  the  Church. 

*  Heb.  i.  2.  t  Ibid. 

J  Coloss.  i.  20.  §  i  St.  Peter,  iii.  22. 


THE  FALL  OF  THE  ANGELS.  71 

St.  Ignatius  in  his  Epistle  to  the  Smyrneans 
intimates,  that  the  angels  cannot  be  saved  with- 
out faith  in  the  blood  of  Christ.  He  says : — 
"  Let  no  man  deceive  himself:  both  the  things 
which  are  in  heaven,  and  the  glorious  angels 
and  princes,  whether  visible  or  invisible,  if  they 
believe  not  in  the  blood  of  Christ,  it  is  to  their 
condemnation."  And  St.  Jerom,  commenting 
on  the  Ephesians,  says,  that  "  The  Son  of  God 
descended  to  the  lowest  regions  of  the  earth, 
and  ascended  above  all  the  Heavens,  not  only 
to  fulfil  the  law  and  the  prophets,  but  also  to 
execute  certain  hidden  dispensations  which  are 
known  only  to  Him  and  to  the  Father.  Nor 
can  we  know  after  what  manner  the  blood  of 
Christ  has  profited  the  angels.  But  yet  we 
cannot  be  ignorant  that  it  did  profit  them."* 

St.  Bernard,  in  his  famous  exposition  of  the 
Canticles,  asks,  how  Christ  could  be  redemption 
to  the  angels.  And  he  briefly  answers.  "  He 
who  raised  up  man  from  his  fall,  gave  to  the 
angel  who  stood  that  he  might  not  fall.  Thus 
He  rescued  man  from  captivity  and  protected 
the  angel  from  captivity.  And  in  that  way  was 
He  equally  a  redemption  to  both,  delivering  the 
one  and  preserving  the  other.  Thus  it  is  plain 
that  Christ  the  Lord  was  redemption  to  the 
holy  angels,  as  He  was  their  justice  and  wisdom 
and  sanctification."f 

Supposing,  then,  that  the  angels  had  a  know- 
ledge of  the  incarnation,  and  that  they  read  in 
the  head  of  the  book,  of  that  wondrous  counsel, 
in  which  they  were  so  deeply  concerned ;  then 

«  St.  Jerom.  in  Eph.  L.  2. 
t  Serm.  22.  in  Cuiiticu. 


72  THE  FALL  OF  THE  ANGELS. 

there  follows  another  question,  what  was  their 
trial,  and  by  what  occasion  did  Satan  fall  ?  It 
is  clear  from  the  Sacred  Scriptures,  that  the 
beginning  of  his  fall  was  pride  and  ambition. 
But  many  of  the  Fathers  teach  that  he  com- 
pleted his  perdition  through  envy  of  the  prero- 
gatives of  man.*  He  envied  his  being  made 
in  the  image  of  God,  he  envied  his  dominion 
over  the  creation,  and  above  all,  he  envied  man 
in  the  head  and  prince  of  men,  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ.  And  thus  he  accumulated  new  crimes 
upon  his  head. 

As  the  angels  are  of  a  nobler  creation  than 
man  by  nature,  it  is  difficult  to  suppose  that 
Satan  envied  man,  except  with  reference  to  the 
incarnation  of  the  Son  of  God.  But  when  he 
saw  that  man,  born  of  woman,  and  made  a  little 
lower  than  the  angels,  was  made  one  with  God 
by  personal  union  with  the  Eternal  Son  of  God ; 
it  is  easy  to  comprehend  how,  full  of  pride  and 
ambition,  he  should  burst  forth  in  envy,  rage 
and  hatred,  at  the  revelation  of  so  wonderful 
a  mystery. 

Hence  great  theologians  of  very  different 
schools,  such  as  Scotus,  John  of  St.  Thomas 
the  celebrated  Dominican,  and  Suarez,  with 
other  divines,  maintain,  that  the  object  of 
Satan's  envy  was  the  hypostatic  union  of  God 
with  man  in  Jesus  ;f — that  he  accounted  him- 

*  For  this  opinion  St.  Justin,  Tryp.  c.  24.  St.  Tren.  3,  33,  and  4,  44. 
Tertul.  De  Patientia,  c.  5,  and  St.  Cyp.  De  Zelo  et  Livore  are  cited  by 
Klee.  And  Petavius  further  cites,  St.  Greg.  Nyssa.  Catech.  c.  5.  St. 
Augustin,  as  citing  St.  Cyp-  L.  4,  De  Baptismo,  c.  8,  and  Tract.  5,  hi  Joan. 
Also  Methodius  as  cited  by  St.  Epiph.  Hseres  64.,  and  Anastatius  the 
Sinaite.  Lactantius  says,  that  Satan  envied  the  Son  of  God. 

t  Scotus,  In.  2.  Sent.  disp.  5.  9.  Billuart,  De  Angelis.  disp.  5.  s.  3. 
cites  John  of  St.  Thomas,  and  calls  it  the  probable  opinion  of  a  most 


THE  FALL  OF  THE  ANGELS.  73 

self  more  worthy  to  be  one  with  God,  and  to 
sit  at  His  right  hand,  than  any  human  creature ; 
that  he  refused  to  confess  and  adore  the  rays* 
tery  of  humility ;  and  to  recognize  the  Son  of 
God,  as  made  of  a  woman,  made  under  the  law, 
and  made  a  little  lower  than  the  angels,  for 
the  sufferings  of  death. 

When  our  Lord  says  of  the  devil,  that  lie 
was  a  manslayer  from  the  beginning,  and 
stood  not  in  the  truth ;  He  seems  to  refer  to  the 
time  of  his  fall,  and  to  intimate  that  he  was 
a  manslayer  at  that  same  beginning,  when  he 
stood  not  in  the  truth.  This  is  the  interpretation 
of  Abbot  Rupert,  who  concludes  that  by  his  sin 
he  assailed  the  God  made  man.  The  whole  of 
the  two  first  chapters  of  St.  Paul  to  the  He- 
brews bear  strongly  on  this  subject.  The 
Apostle  asks : — "  To  which  of  the  angels  hath 
God  said,  at  any  time,  Thou  art  my  Son,  to- 
day have  I  begotten  thee  ?  And  again,  when 
He  bringeth  in  the  first-begotten  into  the  world, 
He  saith:  And  let  all  the  Angels  of  God 
adore  Him."  And  again  he  asks :  "  To  which 
of  the  angels  said  He  at  any  time,  Sit  thou  on 
my  right  hand,  until  I  make  thy  enemies  thy 
footstool  ?"  And  he  shows  that  God  would  not 
subject  the  world  to  come  unto  the  angels,  but 
that  in  Jesus  He  raised  up  man  from  a  con- 
dition lower  than  the  angels,  and  put  all 
things  under  his  feet,  and  through  His  death 
destroyed  the  empire  of  death,  tJiat  is  to  say, 
the  devil — For  nowhere  doth  He  take  hold 

eminent  divine.  Suarez,  L.  7.  De  Angelis,  c.  13.  He  cites  Vigner,  Jacob 
of  Valentia,  Catherinus  and  Naclantius,  as  absolutely  of  this  opinion,  and 
others  as  holding  it  probable.  Petavius,  who  is  against  it,  cites  Scribo- 
nius  as  for  it. 


74  THE  FALL  OF  THE  ANGELS. 

of  the  angels;  but  of  the  seed  of  Abraham  He 
taketh  hold.  The  whole  of  these  two  chapters 
corne  out  with  a  vast  increase  of  depth  and 
intelligence,  if  we  read  them  under  the  suppo- 
sition, that  angels  actually  aspired  to  that  seat 
which  Jesus  holds. 

The  Sacred  Scriptures  give  us  three  most 
terrible  descriptions  of  the  fall  of  Satan ;  and 
in  each  instance  that  fall  is  made  a  type  of  the 
fall  of  some  great  earthly  power,  which  has 
arisen  under  Satan's  inspiration.  In  each  of 
the  descriptions  the  type  is  constantly  mingled 
with  the  antitype,  and  we  see  Satan  blended 
with  his  earthly  instrument.  Thus,  in  the  four- 
teenth chapter  of  Isaias,  the  fall  of  Satan  is 
made  the  type  of  the  fall  of  the  King  of  Baby- 
lon. "  How  art  thou  fallen  from  Heaven,  0 
Lucifer,  ivho  didst  risv  in  the  morning? 
How  art  thou  fallen  to  the  earth,  that  didst 
wound  the  nations?  And  thou  saidst  in  thy 
heart,  I  will  ascend  into  heaven,  1  ^vill  exalt 
my  throne  above  the  stars  of  God,  I  will  sit 
in  the  mountain  of  the  covenant,  in  the  sides 
of  the  North.  I  will  ascend  above  the  height 
of  the  clouds,  I  will  be  like  to  the  Most  High. 
But  yet  thou  shalt  be  brought  down  to  hell,  into 
the  depth  of  the  pit"  This  description  indicates 
an  ambition  to  be  placed  at  the  head  of  the 
creation,  that  is,  in  the  place  of  Jesus,  rather 
than  in  that  of  the  Eternal  Father. 

In  the  twenty-third  chapter  of  Ezechiel,  Satan 
is  described  as  the  type  of  the  fall  of  the  king 
of  Tyre.  And  the  pride  of  Satan  is  more  fully 
brought  out  than  his  ambition  in  the  picture. 
"  Thou  wast  the  seal  of  resemblance,  full  of 


THE  FALL  OF  THE  ANGELS.  75 

wisdom,  and  perfect  in  beauty.  Thou  wast  in 
the  pleasure  of  the  paradise  of  God;  every 

precious  stone   was   thy   covering Thou 

wast  a  cherub  stretching  oat  thy  wings,  and 
covering,  and  I  set  thee  in  the  holy  mountain 
of  God,  thou  hast  walked  in  the  midst  of  the 
stones  of  fire.  TJiou  wast  perfect  in  thy  ways 
from  the  day  of  thy  creation,  until  iniquity  was 

found  in  thee And  1  cast  thee  out  from 

the  mountain  of  God,  and  destroyed  thee,  O 
covering  Cherub,  out  of  the  midst  of  the  stones 
of  fire.  And  thy  heart  was  lifted  up  in  thy 
beauty :  and  thou  hast  lost  thy  wisdom  in  thy 
beauty,  I  have  cast  thee  to  the  ground." 

For  brevity's  sake  I  have  omitted  those  parts 
in  the  two  descriptions  which  literally  apply  to 
one  or  other  of  the  kings.  But  the  most  re- 
markable description  of  Satan's  overthrow  is 
that  which  is  depicted  in  the  twelfth  chapter  of 
the  Apocalypse.  Here  the  fall  of  Satan  is  the 
type  of  the  fall  of  Antichrist,  and  the  first  and 
the  last  great  apostacies  are  brought  together. 
In  this  sublime  and  terrific  vision,  Satan  is 
revealed  to  us  as  the  first  Antichrist,  and  as  the 
inspirer  and  mover  of  the  second.  And  the 
combat  in  Heaven  is  put  forth  as  the  type  of 
the  final  combat  on  earth.  Amidst  that  won- 
drous commotion  in  Heaven,  where  Michael  and 
his  angels  are  arrayed  against  Satan  and  his 
angels,  the  Blessed  Mother  of  God  stands  radi- 
ant in  divine  light  with  the  Son  of  God  incar- 
nate in  her  womb.  She  is  the  central  figure 
about  which  those  great  events  take  their  rise. 
Satan  wars  against  her  and  seeks  to  devour  her 
Son.  Her  Son  is  born,  and  sits  on  the  throne 


76  THE  FALL  OF  THE  ANGELS. 

of  God,  and  Satan  is  cast  out  from  Heaven, 
to  continue  his  war  upon  the  earth.  In  this 
description,  whilst  Satan  is  the  figure  of  Anti- 
christ, the  Blessed  Virgin  is  the  figure  of  the 
Church.  For  as  Mary  bore  Christ,  so  the 
Church  bears  Christ  in  the  -bringing  forth  of 
His  members.  And  as  Antichrist  wages  war 
against  the  Church  impelled  by  Satan ;  so  Satan 
impels  him  to  the  combat  against  the  Church  as 
the  continuance  of  his  own  war  against  Jesus, 
and  against  "  the  woman."  We  shall  therefore 
find  in  this,  as  in  all  applications  of  types  and 
figures,  a  constant  mingling  of  two  literal  senses, 
and  each  part,  literal  in  one  sense,  becomes  figu- 
rative when  applied  to  the  counterpart.  Parts 
are  literal  as  describing  Satan;  parts  as  describ- 
ing Antichrist.  Parts,  again  are  literal  as  de- 
scribing the  Blessed  Virgin  and  her  Child; 
parts,  as  describing  the  Church  and  her  children. 
The  description  properly  commences  with  the 
last  verse  of  the  eleventh  chapter."' 

"And  the  temple  of  God  was  opened  in 
Heaven;  and  the  ark  of  His  testament  was 
seen  in  His  temple,  and  there  were  lightnings, 
and  voices,  and  an  earthquake,  and  great 
hail." 

St.  John  begins  with  what  we  may  call  the 
composition  of  place.  He  carries  us  to  the 
holy  of  holies — to  the  highest  heaven.  Jesus 
is  the  Testament,  and  Mary  the  ark  of  the 
Testament.  She  is  thus  designated  by  the 
fathers;f  as  in  her  Litany  she  is  called,  the 

*  In  the  exposition  of  this  chapter  I  chiefly  follow  Cornelius  a  Lapide. 

t  Vid.  Passaglia  De  Immac.  Concep.  sec.  3,  c.  2,  art.  z,  who  cites 
ten  fathers. 


THE  FALL  OP  THE  ANGELS.  77 

Ark  of  the  Covenant.  St.  John  Damascen  calls 
her  the  animated  ark  of  the  living  God. 

u  And  a  great  sign*  appeared  in  Heaven" 

What  sign  is  this?  Isaias  says,  "  The  Lord 
Himself  shall  give  you  a  sign.  Behold  a  Vir- 
gin shall  conceive  and  bring  forth  a  Son" 
And  this  Virgin  is  the  sign  which  St.  John 
beholds,  but  he  beholds  her  confronted  to 
Satan,  in  the  very  hour  of  his  perdition.  For 
who  is  this  sign  ?  "  A  woman  clothed  with 
the  sun,  and  the  moon  beneath  her  feet '',  and  on 
her  head  a  crown  of  twelve  stars.  And  she 
being  with  child,  cried  travailing  in  birth,  and 
in  pain  to  be  delivered" 

The  woman,  so  resplendent  in  her  glory,  is, 
and  can  be,  but  the  Blessed  Mother  of  God, 
for  her  child  is  no  sooner  born  than  He  sits  on 
the  throne  of  God.  But  the  cries  and  pains 
are  those  of  the  Church,  who  is  in  labour  with 
her  children.f 

"  And  there  appeared  another  sign  in  Hea- 
ven :  and  behold  a  great  red  dragon,  having 
seven  heads  and  ten  horns,  and  on  his  heads 
seven  diadems.  And  hu  tail  drew  the  third 
part  of  the  stars  of  heaven  and  cast  them  on  the 
earth  ;  and  the  dragon  stood  before  the  woman, 
who  was  ready  to  be  delivered,  that  when  she 
should  be  delivered,  he  might  devour  her  Son. 
And  she  brought  forth  a  man  child,  who  was  to 

»  So  Kenrick  translates  literally  instead  of  wonder  in  the  Donai  Version. 

t  St.  Ambrose,  Richardus,  Primasius,  and  others,  cited  by  &  Lapide, 
understand  this  as  literally  the  Blessed  Virgin.  "This  woman,"  says 
Kenrirk,  "  is  most  correctly  conceived  to  be  the  Blessed  Virgin,  since  shft 
is  spoken  of  as  the  mother  of  the  child,  whom  the  dragon  sought  to 
destroy.''  And  he  quotes  Moses  Stiiart.a  Protestant,  as  not  altogether 
objecting  to  it,  though  startled  at  the  magnificence  of  the  description. 


78  THE  FALL  OF  THE  ANGELS. 

rule  the  nations  with  an  iron  rod;  and  her  Son 
was  taken  up  to  the  throne  of  God" 

The  iron  rod,  for  the  ruling  of  the  nations,  is 
the  attribute  of  Christ  in  the  second  Psalm,  and 
in  the  second  chapter  of  the  Apocalypse.  Only- 
God  can  sit  upon  the  throne  of  God. 

"  And  the  woman  fled  into  the  wilderness, 
where  she  had  a  place  prepared  by  God,  that 
there  they  should  feed  her  a  thousand  two  hun- 
dred and  sixty  days." 

Satan  inspired  Herod  to  seek  the  death  of 
the  Child,  and  Mary  saved  Him  by  her  flight 
into  Egypt.  And  the  Church  is  dispersed,  and 
her  children  take  flight  to  the  deserts  in  the 
great  persecution. 

"  And  there  was  a  great  battle  fought  in 
Heaven:  Michael  and  his  angels  fought  with 
the  dragon,  and  the  dragon  fought  and  his 
angels ;  and  they  prevailed  not,  neither  was 
their  place  found  any  more  in  Heaven.  And 
that  great  red  dragon  was  cast  out,  the  old 
serpent,  who  is  called  the  devil,  and  Satan, 
who  seduceih  the  whole  world,  and  he  was  cast 
forth  unto  the  earth,  and  his  angels  were 
thrown  down  with  him" 

This,  as  De  Sacy  remarks,  is  a  literal  descrip- 
tion of  the  fall  of  Satan  and  his  angels.  For  he 
fell  from  Heaven  but  once,  and  then  was  over- 
thrown, as  Rupert  observes,  not  by  the  angels, 
but  by  the  power  of  that  most  holy  birth.  Hence, 
in  the  seventy- fourth  Psalm,  this  victory  is 
sung  : — "  God  is  our  king  before  all  ages  ;  He 
hath  wrought  salvation  in  the  midst  of  the 

earth Thou   hast  broken   the  heads  of  the 

dragon"     The  angels  who  stood  faithful, "stood 


THE  FALL  OP  THE  ANGELS.  79 

with  the  Son  of  God,  and  fought  with  Him  by 
His  strength  and  with  their  faith.  Their  great 
leader's  cry  was,  Michael !  that  is,  Who  is  like 
to  God  ?  And  it  became  his  glorious  designa- 
tion. And  Satan,  which  means  the  adversary, 
became  the  designation  of  his  enemy. 

Then  the  angels  burst  out  into  the  song  of 
victory,  and  proclaim  that  divine  power  by 
whose  grace  they  have  won  their  triumph. 

"  And  I  heard  a  loud  voice  in  Heaven,  say- 
ing :  Now  is  come  salvation,  and  .strength,  and 
the  kingdom  of  our  God,  and  the  power  of  If  is 
Christ :  because  the  accuser  of  our  brethren  is 
cast  forth,  ivho  accused  them  before  our  God 
day  and  night.  And  they  overcame  him  by  the 
blood  of  the  Lamb,  and  by  the  word  of  their 
testimony,  and  they  loved  not  their  lives  unto 
death." 

Here  Satan's  tempting  of  the  angels,  and  his 
trying  of  men,  are  blended  in  one  common  de- 
scription ;  and  the  heavenly  and  the  earthly  vic- 
tory are  equally  ascribed  to  the  power  of  the 
Son  of  God,  and  to  the  testimony  which  is 
given  unto  Christ.  The  trial  of  the  angels  is 
over,  and  they  pass  to  their  reward. 

The  remainder  of  the  vision  is  of  the  earthly 
conflict.  But,  at  the  close,  in  a  brief  word  St. 
John  resumes  both  the  earthly  and  the  heavenly 
combat,  for  in  both  does  Satan  stand  confronted 
in  his  enmity  against  the  Mother  of  our  Lord. 

if  And  the  dragon  was  angry  with  the  woman, 
and  went  to  make  war  with  the  rest  of  her  seed." 

But  the  rest  of  her  seed  are  the  members  of 
her  Son,  who  are  the  true  children  of  Abraham, 
all  sons  in  Christ  and  joint  heirs  with  God. 


80  THE  FALL  OF  THE  ANGELS. 

And  here  there  comes  out  into  clear  expression 
that  enmity  hetween  the  Mother  of  God  and 
Satan,  which  began  in  Heaven,  where  her  office 
was  first  revealed,  and  has  ever  since  been  con- 
tinued on  earth. 

The  sin  of  Satan  then  began  in  gigantic 
pride,  went  on  to  ambition,  and  brought  on  his 
final  destruction  through  his  envy  and  hatred 
of  the  Son  of  God,  incarnate  of  the  Virgin 
Mary.  Hence  his  deadly  hatred  of  that  meek 
and  holy  Mother,  who  is  the  created  cause  from 
which  his  woes  have  sprung.  She  is  the  pre- 
destined one,  through  whom  his  conqueror  shall 
always  foil  his  schemes,  confounding  the  strong 
one  by  the  weakness  of  woman.  For  his  de- 
struction is  the  work  of  wisdom,  not  of  power, 
and  wisdom  works  its  ends  through  the  weak- 
est of  instruments.  Hence,  no  sooner  has  Satan 
seduced  Eve,  than  God  declares  to  him,  "  /  will 
put  enmity  between  thee  and  THE  WOMAN,  and 
she  shall  crush  thy  head"  As  in  fact  she  had 
already  crushed  his  head.  For  Mary,  through 
Jesus,  crushed  the  heads  of  the  dragon,  as 
Hesychius,  the  priest  of  Jerusalem,  observes. 
"  She  who  was  incorrupt  and  immaculate  in  body 
and  soul,  crushed  the  head  of  the  most  perfidi- 
ous dragon,"  observes  St.  Ephraim. 

In  the  fourth  of  the  four  sermons  on  the 
Creed,  amongst  the  works  of  St.  Augustin, 
which,  if  it  be  not  of  that  Father,  ^s  of  his 
times  and  appeals  to  the  popular  belief,  the 
sense  of  the  vision  which  we  have  been  con- 
templating is  summed  up  in  the  following 
words  : — "  In  the  Apocalypse  of  St.  John,  this 
is  written,  that  the  dragon  stood  in  the  sight 


THE  FALL  OF  THE  ANGELS.  81 

of  the  woman,  who  was  about  to  be  delivered, 
that  when  she  had  been  delivered,  he  might 
devour  her  son.  No  one  of  you  is  ignorant 
that  that  dragon  was  the  devil,  and  that  that 
woman  signified  the  Virgin  Mary,  who,  in  her 
integrity,  brought  forth  our  head  in  His  integ- 
rity, and  who  shows  forth  in  herself  a  figure 
of  the  holy  Church ;  for  as  she  brought  forth 
her  Son,  and  remained  a  virgin,  so  the  Church 
brings  forth  at  all  times  her  members,  whilst 
she  loses  not  virginity." 

Two  motives  have  led  me  to  explain  this 
revelation  at  some  length.  The  glorious  form 
under  which  the  Blessed  Mother  of  God  appears 
to  St.  John,  as  the  sign  in  Heaven,  radiant  with 
grace,  and  having  the  dragon  subject  beneath  her 
feet,  is  the  symbol  under  which  her  Immaculate 
Conception  is  always  represented  to  the  faith- 
ful. This  must  have  an  especial  meaning ;  and 
that  meaning  we  have  endeavoured  to  bring  out. 
That  representation  will  now  remind  us,  that 
Mary  was  pre-ordained  before  the  world  to  be  the 
Mother  of  God,  and  equally  pre-ordained  to  a 
most  beautiful  nature,  and  a  most  resplendent 
grace — that  she  was  revealed  to  the  angels  as  the 
living  ark  of  the  living  God,  and  as  clothed  with 
the  light  of  the  Sun  of  Justice — that  Satan,  the 
old  serpent,  who  is  called  the  devil,  raised  up 
from  beneath  her  feet,  the  first  rebellion  and 
apostacy  in  Heaven,  against  her  Divine  Son  and 
against  herself — that  eternal  enmity  and  war  was 
then  proclaimed  by  Satan  against  her,  as  against 
her  Son.  And  that,  as  the  most  pure  and 
immaculate  sign,  and  the  animated  organ  of  the 


82  THE  FALL  OF  THE  ANGELS. 

Incarnation  of  the  Son  of  God,  she  overthrew 
that  first  heresy  in  Heaven,  as  she  has  done  so 
many  since  on  earth. 


ORIGINAL  SIS  AND  ITS  EFFECTS.  83 


CHAPTER  IX. 

ORIGINAL    SIN   AND   ITS   EFFECTS. 

BORN,  alas !  in  sin,  and  conceived  in  iniquity, 
the  effects  of  that  original  contamination  adhere 
to  us,  and  leave  us  not  but  with  our  earthly 
life.  Morally  one  with  the  head  from  which  we 
sprang,  and  of  one  body  with  that  first  prevari- 
cator ;  no  sooner  has  our  disordered  flesh  ob- 
tained existence  from  its  disordered  cause ;  and 
no  sooner  has  our  soul  obtained  its  lodging  in 
that  now  animated  but  troubled  germ,  than  it  is 
overwhelmed  and  brought  under  the  dominion 
of  its  sensuous  and  blind  confusion.  Void  of 
grace,  to  which  it  has  no  right,  and  infused 
into  a  vessel  already  defiled,  as  St.  Augustine 
expresses  it,  the  soul  contracts  defilement  there- 
from, and  becomes  the  victim  of  the  rebellious 
commotions  of  the  flesh,  in  which  it  has  taken 
its  abode.  And  without  aid  from  that  divine 
power  by  which  alone  it  could  resist  the  deadly 
venom,  the  child  becomes  the  prey  of  Satan 
even  in  its  mother's  womb.  Thus,  they  who  give 
life  to  our  bodies,  kill  our  souls.  Nor  can  all 
the  efforts  of  their  after  love  eradicate  the  mis- 
chjef  which  that  death  from  the  beginning 
brings  upon  us. 

The  mother  brings  forth  her  blighted  child 
in  pain  and  anguish.  Its  first  accents  are  cries 


84  ORIGINAL  SIN  AND  ITS  EFFECTS. 

and  weepings,  for  it  is  a  child  of  wrath,  and 
the  voice  of  God  exclaims  upon  it,  "  What 
is  born  of  flesh  is  flesh,  you  must  be  born 
again"  Yes,  the  divine  life  is  extinct  in  that 
little  creature,  made  for  union  with  God.  It 
breathes  but  a  sensuous  and  an  animal  life.  Its 
faculties  are  dreadfully  enfeebled;  ignorance 
reigns  in  the  intellect ;  the  will  is  gathered  upon 
that  little  self  as  on  its  centre  ;  and  sense  reigns 
through  all  its  powers.  It  is  shut  up  within  the 
bounds  of  fallen  nature,  as  the  snail  within  its 
slimy  shell.  No  angel  is  its  companion.  No 
saint  is  its  patron.  Jesus  is  not  with  such  a 
child  as  yet.  It  is  shut  out  from  God.  "  What 
is  born  of  flesh  is  flesh,  you  must  be  born 
again."  By  that  blessed  baptism  comes  that 
blessed  birth.  The  waters  of  life  flow  in  upon 
the  soul,  Satan  is  expelled,  and  within  it  Jesus 
seals  with  His  eternal  light  a  living  image  of 
Himself.  That  infant  is  thenceforth  a  Chris- 
tian, bears  the  Christian  name,  is  a  child  of 
eternal  life.  Yet  how  deep  are  the  scars  left 
by  that  primal  wound.  The  grace  of  Christ 
holds  possession  of  the  soul,  but  the  body  is  still 
unregenerate  as  before.  It  bears  the  penalties 
of  its  origin  in  every  mortal  sense,  and  vein,  and 
nerve,  and  fibre.  It  agitates  the  soul  with  its 
passions,  it  sways  her  about  with  its  fickleness, 
it  blinds  her  with  its  lusts,  it  torments  her  with 
its  petulance,  it  worries  her  with  its  incessant 
wants  and  cravings,  it  urges  her  to  all  manner 
of  selfishness  and  pride,  it  is  a  prey  to  its  own 
sensibilities  and  ever-varying  moods,  and  is 
scourged  by  a  thousand  diseases.  And  thus 
that  man,  whom  God  designed  to  be  spiritual  in 


ORIGINAL  SIN  AND  ITS  EFFECTS.  85 

the  flesh,  is  ever  inclining  to  be  carnal  in  his 
mind.  And  if  he  lend  his  mind  to  his  inclina- 
tions, that  mind  itself  deserts  his  soul,  goes  over 
to  the  domestic  enemy,  is  drawn  into  its  seduc- 
tions, becomes  its  terrible  ally,  and  the  soul 
once  more  becomes  the  enchained  and  blindfold 
victim  of  the  flesh.  And  the  Apostle  says  of 
such  a  one,  "  The  carnal  man  cannot  see  the 
things  which  are  of  the  Spirit  of  God." 

But  let  us  return  to  the  regenerate  and  just 
soul.  We  have  seen,  and  alas  !  we  have  all  expe- 
rienced, in  what  a  frail  and  unsafe  vessel  even 
the  just  man  carries  his  treasure.  The  worm  of 
corruption  is  in  his  members,  the  venom  of  the 
serpent  infects  them ;  and  however  it  may 
smoulder  under  the  ashes  of  our  clay,  the  fuel  of 
concupiscence  is  there,  and  ever  ready  to  burst 
into  lurid  flame,  as  occasion  breathes  upon  it. 
There  is  only  one  security,  and  that  is,  with  a 
most  humble  heart  to  mistrust  our  nature,  and 
vigorously  by  the  spirit  to  mortify  and  bring  it 
into  subjection,  and  to  wait  with  patience  for 
the  day  when  Christ  shall  reform  our  earthly 
bodies,  and  make  them  like  unto  His  own  most 
glorious  body. 

Who  of  men  has  the  grace  and  illumination  of 
St.  Paul  ? — and  yet  listen  to  the  description  which 
he  draws  of  himself:  "/  know  that  there  dwell- 
eth  not  in  me,  that  is  to  say,  in  my  flesh,  that 
which  is  good.  For  to  will  is  present  with  me, 
but  to  accomplish  that  which  is  good  I  find 
not.  For  the  good  which  I  will,  I  do  not,  but 
the  evil  which  I  will  not,  that  I  do.  I  find 
then  a  law,  that  when  I  have  a  will  to  do  good, 
evil  is  present  with  me.  For  I  am  delighted 


86  ORIGINAL  SIN  AND  ITS  EFFECTS. 

with  the  law  of  God,  according  to  the  inward 
man.  But  I  see  another  law  in  my  members, 
fighting  against  the  law  of  my  mind,  and  cap- 
tivating me  in  the  law  of  sin  that  is  in  my 
members.  Unhappy  man  that  I  am,  ivho  shall 
deliver  me  from  the  body  of  this  death.  The 
grace  of  God  by  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord.  There- 
fore I  myself,  with  the  mind,  serve  the  laiv  of 
God;  but,  with  the  flesh,  the  law  of  sin." 

Such,  then,  were  the  effects  of  original  sin, 
which,  after  so  long  and  sharp  a  combat,  re- 
mained in  that  most  holy  servant  of  God,  that 
vessel  of  election,  St.  Paul.  Can  the  faith  of 
Jesus  permit  us  to  regard  His  own  Blessed 
Mother  in  such  a  light,  even  for  a  moment? 
Did  the  Holy  Ghost  commingle  His  spirit  with 
such  a  flesh  ?  Did  Jesus  take  flesh  from  a  being 
like  this  ? 

How  mysterious  is  the  law  of  this  transmis- 
sion from  our  origin !  How  unsearchable !  yet 
how  plain  a  proof  that  we  are  not  made  now  as 
God  first  made  us.  Were  some  spirit  of  another 
sphere  to  hear  for  the  first  time  that  in  this 
planet,  on  which  his  gaze  was  fixed,  dwelt 
beings  made  to  God's  image  who  multiplied 
their  kind  ;  struck  with  the  gift  of  so  sublime  a 
power,  would  he  not  conclude  that  the  exercise 
of  a  privilege  so  like  unto  creation,  must  be  the 
most  exalted  hour  in  the  existence  of  those 
beings  ?  Alas !  for  the  fall.  We  can  only  close 
our  lips  in  silence  ;  and  then  exclaim,  "  What  is 
born  of  flesh  is  flesh.  For,  behold  I  was  con- 
ceived in  iniquity,  and  in  sin  did  my  mother 
conceive  me."  But  this  is  not  the  conception 
from  which  that  Blessed  one  should  be  formed 


ORIGINAL  SIN  AND  ITS  EFFECTS.  87 

who  shall  give  her  flesh  unto  the  Son  of  God. 
Grace  may  remove  the  sin,  and  blot  out  the  culpa- 
bility, as  day  removes  the  darkness  of  the  night ; 
but  as,  when  the  night  is  gone,  it  leaves  effects 
behind — the  cold,  the  fogs,  the  frosts,  and  the 
keen  blasts,  so,  after  original  sin  has  departed, 
there  remain  debilities,  habits,  depraved  emo- 
tions, penalties,  and,  above  all,  that  irreparable 
loss  of  original  innocence,  which,  like  lost  virgi- 
nity, can  never  be  restored.  However  atoned 
for,  that  dishonour  rests  on  the  soul  like  the 
stain  on  the  escutcheon,  which  no  after  deeds 
can  succeed  in  erasing.  And  what  is  that  stain, 
but  that  the  supernatural  image  of  God  had 
been  blotted  out,  but  that  the  soul  had  been 
beforetimes  disinherited  of  life,  but  that  she  had 
been  hated  of  God,  but  that,  in  the  language  of 
Scripture,  she  had  been  "  a  vessel  of  contu- 
mely" and  of  the  "  mass  of  corruption  ?" 

And  if  our  faith  will  not  allow  that  the 
Blessed  Mary  ever  contracted  actual  sin,  though 
but  venial,  though  but  the  dust  which  touches 
the  beauty  of  the  soul  without  wounding  deeply, 
etill  less  destroying,  its  charity ;  if,  as  St.  Thomas 
says :  "  She  would  not  have  been  a  suitable 
Mother  of  God  if  she  had  sinned  at  any  time, 
because,  as  in  Proverbs  it  is  written,  '  the  glory 
of  the  children  are  their  parents,'  consequently 
the  ignominy  of  the  mother  is  reflected  on  the 
son."'*  If  then  neither  our  faith  nor  our  piety 
will  allow,  that  those  motes  and  specks  of  sin 
fell  ever  on  the  face  of  Mary,  though  quickly 
brushed  away,  how  can  we  suppose  that  she 

»  3.  P.  q-  27-  a.  4- 


88  ORIGINAL  SIN  AND  ITS  EFFECTS. 

Lad  been  entirely  covered  and  penetrated  with 
sin  of  another  kind,  as  with  a  pestilential 
leprosy  ? 

To  sum  up  the  nature  of  this  sin,  in  the 
words  of  the  Council  of  Trent, — "  Original  sin, 
which  in  its  origin  is  one,  and  is  transfused  by 
propagation,  not  by  imitation,  is  in  all  and 
belongs  to  each  one"  But  is  so  in  each  of  all 
who  contract  it,  that  they  are  immediately  "  de- 
filed, lose  their  innocence,  are  made  by  nature 
children  of  wrath,  become  the  servants  of 
sin,  and  are  brought  under  the  power  of  the 
devil." 

Let  us  now  raise  up  our  minds  towards  that 
infinite  purity  of  God.  Let  us  invoke  His 
blessed  light,  that  it  may  purify  our  vision, 
and  give  the  clear  truth  unto  our  sight.  The 
most  pure  spirit  flies  from  sin,  and  will  not 
dwell  in  a  soul  that  is  subject  to  sin.  Let  us 
contemplate  now  the  eternal  decree  of  the  In- 
carnation, the  holiest  and  purest  of  created 
mysteries.  Let  us  consider  that  decree  which 
follows  so  close  upon  it,  and  is  bound  up  with 
it, — that  decree  which  provides  a  Mother  for 
the  Eternal  Son  of  God.  Let  us  consider,  that 
if,  as  St.  Paul  says,  Christ  took  the  likeness 
of  sinful  flesh,  it  was  yet  without  sin,  and  that, 
by  an  infinite  distance,  He  was  separated  from 
sinners.  And  then  can  we  say,  that  the  God, 
who  had  the  power,  had  not  the  will  to  make 
His  mother  sinless  and  immaculate?  When 
we  consider  that  Jesus  and  Mary  for  nine 
months  were  one  flesh ;  can  we  say  this  ? 
When  we  consider,  that  for  thirty  years  the 
will  of  Mary  was  the  law  of  Jesus,  can  we  say 


ORIGINAL  SIN  AND  ITS  EFFECTS.  89 

it?  When  we  consider  the  compass  of  God's 
power,  and  the  height  of  His  great  plan,  of 
which  that  Incarnation  wrought  in  Mary,  is 
the  most  unfathomable  mystery  ;  when  we  con- 
sider how  in  accomplishing  this  deepest  of  mys- 
teries, God  surrounds  it  with  exceptions  which 
rise  above  all  nature's  laws ;  when  we  consider 
that  spirit  of  preparation,  by  which  God  turns 
nature  so  often  from  its  course,  to  ripen  the 
hour  of  its  fulfilment ;  when  we  consider  that 
the  law  of  gradation  needs  the  crowning  of  per- 
fection in  woman  as  in  man,  and  that  the  accu- 
mulation of  all  the  possible  excellence  of  which 
woman  is  capable,  must  be  looked  for  in  a 
Mother  of  God,  if  there  can  be  such  a  person, 
and  that  Mary  actually  is  that  person ;  when 
we  consider,  once  more,  the  infinite  holiness  of 
Jesus,  and  His  filial  consanguinity  with  Mary ; 
what  other  conclusion  is  open  to  us,  than ,  that 
He  who  could  make  His  Mother  immaculate, 
did  not  abandon  her  to  His  enemy,  but  in  the 
view  of  His  own  merits  did  make  her  most  pure, 
and  full  of  grace,  and  immaculate  ?  Above  all, 
when  we  consider  that  the  Eternal  Word  did, 
in  the  splendour  of  the  Most  Holy,  mirror 
forth  to  the  contemplation  of  the  Father 
and  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  of  Himself,  and 
that  from  an  eternity, — the  express  form  and 
image  of  His  predestined  Mother,  can  we  say 
that  He  contemplated  her  as  defiled,  as  unclean, 
as  a  child  of  wrath,  as  the  servant  of  sin,  as 
brought  under  the  power  of  the  devil? 

But  after  a  moment  of  sin  she  is  cleansed 
and  sanctified,  say  certain  objectors.  But  if 
we  grant  to  sin  and  the  devil  but  that  one 


90  ORIGINAL  SIN  AND  ITS  EFFECTS. 

moment,  we  give  up  everything,  and  abandon 
her  stainless  honour.  She  comes  to  God  from 
the  hands  of  Satan,  and  gives  to  Jesus  what 
once  was  Satan's.  But  for  a  moment !  With 
God  the  first  moments  are  supreme  moments. 
Lucifer  fell  from  God  in  a  moment,  and  with  but 
a  thought.  And  of  what  moment  was  that  mo- 
ment !  For  sin  is  measured  not  by  time,  but 
by  depth  of  defilement.  And  better  is  it  to  be 
an  exile  from  God  for  eternity,  than  to  be  the 
sinner  of  that  moment.  Would  not  Mary  have 
preferred  to  have  been  neither  the  Virgin,  nor 
the  Blessed  One,  nor  the  Mother  of  God,  nor 
the  Queen  of  angels  and  saints,  than  to  have 
been  for  that  moment  graceless,  stripped  of 
innocence,  hateful  to  God,  and  defiled  with  sin? 
On  that  one  moment  are  all  those  treasures 
staked,  which  alone  are  most  dear  and  precious 
to  the  Virgin  Mother  of  God.  Say  anything 
else  of  Mary,  but  do  not  say  that  she  was  ever 
accursed,  this  only  could  grieve  her  beyond 
all,  that  she  had  ever  been  corrupted  and  de- 
filed. 

But  Christ  alone  is  born  without  man's  inter- 
vention. Mary  is  a  child  of  Adam,  and  by 
nature  a  child  of  wrath.  Where,  then,  shall  a 
refuge  be  found  her  from  the  deluge  of  sin  ? 
Where  but  in  the  arms  of  her  divine  Son  ? 
Where  but  in  His  infinite  power  to  save  and 
redeem?  Where  but  in  the  inexhaustible 
treasury  of  His  grace?  The  law  of  transmis- 
sion is  accomplished  ere  the  soul  has  joined  the 
body.  And  the  cause  of  original  sin,  which 
comes  with  the  body,  is  not  a  necessitating  cause, 
for  it  remains  in  that  body  still,  after  that  baptism 


ORIGINAL  SIN  AND  ITS  EFFECTS.  91 

has  repelled  it  from  the  soul.  It  is  that  pre- 
vious absence  of  grace  from  the  soul  which 
leaves  her  a  prey  to  the  corrupting  flesh.  But 
let  the  soul  of  Mary  be  fall  of  grace,  when  her 
union  with  the  body  is  accomplished,  and  she  is 
not  only  preserved,  but  all  laws  are  satisfied. 
And  He  who  in  the  face  of  the  universal  law- 
gave  sanctity  to  the  soul  of  John  the  Baptist, 
before  he  was  born,  could  give  sanctity  to  the 
soul  of  Mary  at  the  moment  of  its  conception. 

But  in  that  case  was  Mary  a  child  of  redemp- 
tion ?  Did  her  Son  die  for  her  salvation  ?  Was 
she  the  offspring  of  His  glorious'  blood  ?  Most 
surely  was  she  redeemed  by  His  blood.  Her 
redemption  was  the  very  masterpiece  of  His 
redeeming  wisdom.  It  presents  one  instance 
more,  the  very  noblest,  of  that  law  of  accumu- 
lation of  excellence,  as  the  one  absolutely  per- 
fect work  of  redemption.  For  to  enter  upon 
the  celebrated  argument  of  Scotus,  our  Lord  is 
the  universal  Redeemer  and  most  perfect  Medi- 
ator. Must  we  not,  then,  look  for  some  most 
complete  and  exquisite  example  of  His  mediato- 
rial and  redeeming  powers? — an  example  of 
such  surpassing  excellence  that  a  greater  cannot 
be  imagined  ?  And  if  He  has  not  wrought  that 
absolutely  perfect  redemption  in  His  Blessed 
Mother,  of  whom  alone  it  is  predicated,  has  He 
yet  put  forth  in  any  case  His  full  powers  of 
redemption  ? 

He  who  prevents  the  disease  is  the  greater 
physician  than  he  who  cures  it  after  it  has  been 
contracted.  He  is  the  greater  redeemer  who 

Says  the  debt  that  it  may  not  be  incurred,  than 
e  who  pays  it  after  it  has  fallen  on  the  debtor. 


92  ORIGINAL  SIN  AND  ITS  EFFECTS. 

It  is  a  greater  good  to  save  us  from  sin  that  we 
may  not  sin,  than  to  save  us  from  sin  after  we 
have  sinned.  It  is  a  more  blessed  mediation  to 
prevent  us  lest  we  should  offend  the  majesty  of 
God,  than  to  appease  His  anger  after  we  have 
offended.  And  so  St.  Bernard  says  of  the 
angels  who  stood,  that  Christ  saved  them  by 
His  grace,  that  they  might  not  fall,  and  was  in 
that  way  their  Redeemer. 

And  if  Our  Lord  exercised  a  greater  power 
of  redemption  over  Mary  than  over  others,  by 
preserving  her  from  actual  sin,  He  exercised 
His  greatest  power  by  preserving  her  from 
original  sin.  And  if,  as  our  Lord  said  to  Simon, 
more  love  is  owing  where  more  has  been  for- 
given, Mary  was  bound  in  more  love  to  Jesus, 
as  she  had  received  from  His  hands  that  great- 
est of  forgivenesses  in  the  greatest  of  redemp- 
tions. When  David  said  to  God,  *'  Thou  hast 
redeemed  me  from  the  malignant  sword"  the 
sword  of  Goliath  had  not  struck  the  Prophet 
King,  but  it  had  threatened  him,  and  God  had 
preserved  him  from  its  stroke. 

But  if  Jesus  saved  His  Mother  so  completely 
from  sin  that  she  never  felt  its  power,  it  was 
not  His  blessed  will  to  exempt  her  from  the 
temporal  penalties  of  Adam.  She  bore  her 
sorrows  as  He  bore  His.  She  died,  as  He  also 
died.  These  were  not  the  fruits  of  sin  in  the 
Mother,  as  they  were  not  in  the  Son ;  they 
were  the  occasions  of  her  virtues  and  the 
sources  of  her  merits.  It  is  the  likeness  of  her 
divine  Son,  which  we  must  everywhere  expect 
to  find  in  her.  And  strange,  indeed,  would  it 
have  been,  if  sharing  more  largely  than  others 


ORIGINAL  SIN  AND  ITS  EFFECTS.  93 

in  ITis  graces  and  His  innocence,  she  had  not 
also  shared  more  largely  in  His  sufferings.  Let 
no  one,  then,  account  those  sufferings  for  much 
which  God  may  send  him  for  his  sins  and  for 
his  security,  when  he  reflects  that  the  innocent 
Jesus  was  the  Man  of  Sorrows,  and  the  innocent 
Mary  the  Mother  of  dolours. 


94  THE  FALL  OF  MAN. 


CHAPTER  X. 

THE    FALL    OF   MAN. 

WHEN  we  recal  the  Paradise  which  God 
planted,  and  His  wisdom  beautified,  as  a  palace 
for  man's  reception;  of  serenest  climate,  of  ex- 
quisite harmony  with  that  order  which  reigned 
in  the  new-created  man,  its  possessor ;  its  ver- 
dure, and  variety  of  every  good  tree,  and  flower, 
and  fruit,  its  noble  streams  and  fountains,  and 
the  mystic  tree  of  life  in  the  midst ; — the  tribes 
of  beasts,  strong  without  terrors,  or  swift  and 
graceful  without  fears ;  the  birds  in  their  feather- 
ed beauty,  and  none  rapacious  amongst  them ; 
the  fishes  sparkling  through  the  waters,  but  all 
in  peace  with  one  another — and  even  the  subtle 
serpents  wreathing  their  lythe  forms  in  the 
playful  light,  undegraded  as  yet,  and  free  from 
venom :  when  we  contemplate  that  glorious 
Eden,  reflection  of  God's  own  beauty  in  the 
sweetest  light  of  His  wisdom,  and  our  father, 
Adam,  walking  free  in  his  domain,  and  our 
innocent  mother  by  his  side,  both  free  in  grace, 
and  free  in  their  command  of  the  creation  ;  and 
God's  divine  love  more  warm,  more  pure,  more 
radiant  than  the  light,  reposing  within  their 
hearts,  and  stirring  their  souls  to  adoration  of 
their  Creator ;  do  we  not  heave  our  breasts  in 
sighs,  and  our  eyes  are  they  not  moistened  with 


THE  FALL  OF  MAN.  95 

sorrow,  that  our  mother  should  have  listened  to 
that  seducer  until  the  voice  of  God's  love  was 
heard  no  more  ?  And  when  we  turn  from  her 
to  the  world  she  blighted,  painted  over  though 
it  be  with  countless  fascinations  and  seductions, 
and  look  beneath  the  surface  on  that  long  array 
of  loathsome  and  revolting  crimes,  that  conflict 
in  nature,  that  rebellion  in  man,  those  countless 
shapes  of  death  and  disease,  all  issuing  from  the 
touch  of  that  forbidden  fruit ;  either  grace  is 
not  in  us,  or  our  heads  must  bow  down  under 
the  shame,  our  hearts  shrink  beneath  the  woe, 
which  our  father,  too  facile  to  the  fallen  Eve, 
has  brought  upon  us. 

But  as  grace  begins  to  stir  within  our  sinking 
hearts,  we  lift  up  our  eyes  once  more,  as  new  life 
from  a  better  Father  dawns  upon  us,  and  we  see 
a  better  mother  is  by  His  side.  But  what  do 
we  behold !  instead  of  Paradise,  a  barren  moun- 
tain top,  strewn  with  sculls  and  bones,  and 
planted  there  another  tree,  leafless  and  lifeless, 
but  hanging  on  its  arms  the  Father  of  our  life, 
nailed,  torn  with  the  scourge,  and  ignominiously 
dying.  And  beside  the  new  Adam  stands  the 
new  Eve,  erect  in  innocence,  but  transfixed  with 
the  sword  of  grief.  Must  we  not,  then,  cry  out 
with  the  Church,  "  Oh  happy  fault  of  Adam, 
which  has  deserved  so  great  and  blessed  a 
Redeemer  ?" 

We  saw  the  fall  in  Heaven,  and  Satan  raging 
with  envy  against  our  nature,  which  the  Son  of 
God  had  raised  to  union  with  Himself  in  the  pre- 
destined womb  of  Mary,  that  it  might  sit  by  the 
eternal  Throne.  He  is  cast  out  upon  the  earth, 
and  comes  raging  with  his  infernal  malice 


96  TEE  FALL  OF  MAN. 

against  mankind.  But  it  is  not  Jesus  and 
Mary,  it  is  Adam  and  Eve,  that  he  finds  by  the 
tree  of  forbidden  knowledge.  Yet  no  sooner 
have  they  lost  their  innocence  and  grace,  no 
sooner  have  they  felt  their  shame,  and  covered 
up  their  misery  with  the  frail  leaves,  than  Jesus 
is  there,  and  Mary  also.  "  For  they  heard  the 
VOICE  of  the  Lord  God  walking  in  Paradise  at 
the  afternoon  air."  That  voice  was  the  Eternal 
Word  of  the  Father.  And  the  voice  of  God 
said  to  the  Serpent — "  I  will  put  enmities  be- 
tween thee  and  THE  WOMAN,  and  between  thy 
seed  and  HER  seed,  SHE  shall  crush  thy  head, 
and  thou  shalt  lie  in  wait  for  her  heel."  Ter- 
rible rebuke !  as  if  God  had  said,  Weak  as  is 
her  nature,  thou  hast  not  conquered  woman. 
There  is  one  predestined  of  whom  Eve  is  but 
the  likeness,  and  in  her  and  her  seed  thou  hast 
no  part.  If  thou  knowest  ought  of  her,  yet  shalt 
thou  know  in  time  to  come  far  more.  Thou 
shalt  wage  deadly  strife,  thou  and  thy  children, 
against  her  and  her  Child,  but  thou  shalt  never 
prevail  against  her.  In  seducing  her  likeness 
thou  hast  thought  to  triumph  over  me ;  but, 
mystery  of  weakness  and  of  lowliness  as  she  is, 
through  my  power  she  shall  crush  thy  head. 

The  mystery  of  redemption  is  the  master- 
piece of  the  divine  wisdom.  The  very  things  by 
which  Satan  wrought  the  fall,  God  employs  to 
discomfit  him,  and  to  bring  about  the  reparation, 
foiling  him  ever  with  his  own  weapons.  And 
so  the  Church  sings,  "  Such  was  the  order  God 
appointed  in  the  work  of  our  salvation,  coun- 
termining the  schemes  of  Satan  with  deeper 
schemes,  and  drawing  the  remedy  from  the 


THE  FALL  OF  MAN.  97 

source  whence  came  the  wound."*  So  He  took 
the  flesh  of  Adam  and  the  likeness  of  his  sin, 
that  He  might  destroy  sin  in  His  flesh.  So  He 
marked  the  tree  of  ignominy,  that  He  might 
produce  from  it  the  fruit  of  glory.  So  He  took 
up  death  in  Himself  that  He  might  dissolve  the 
work  of  death.  And  so  He  took  a  second  Eve, 
that  in  her  He  might  dissolve  the  work  of  the 
primal  Eve ;  and  that  as  the  first  was  vanquish- 
ed by  Satan,  in  the  second  He  might  vanquish 
Satan.  And  hence,  in  the  Canticle,  the  Holy 
Ghost  says  to  the  spouse  : — "  Under  the  apple- 
tree  I  raised  thee  up,  there  thy  mother  was  cor- 
rupted,  there  she  was  defiled  that  bore  thee." 

Mary  resembles  Eve,  then,  in  all  that  con- 
cerned her  innocence,  whilst  she  is  the  contrast 
of  Eve  in  all  that  concerned  her  sin.  And  the 
Fathers  of  the  Church  have  rivalled  each  other 
in  drawing  out  this  resemblance  and  this  con- 
trast. They  compare  the  original  innocence 
and  purity  of  Mary  with  the  original  innocence 
and  purity  of  Eve.  They  show  that  Adam  was 
formed  of  the  earth,  whilst  it  was  yet  virginal 
and  immaculate,  before  God  had  rained  on  it, 
or  man  had  broken  it,  or  compressed  it  with 
labour;  and  that  before  human  blood  had  flowed 
upon  it,  or  crime  had  defiled  it,  and  before  it 
had  been  opened  for  the  burial  of  man,  God 
formed  our  parent  from  its  chaste  and  all  pure 
soil.  I  have  put  together  the  words  of  many 
Fathers  in  this  short  sentence.  They  then  show, 
that  Christ  was  not  formed  from  an  origin  less 
pure,  less  virginal,  less  immaculate,  or  less  free 

»  Hymn,  Pange  lingua  gloriosi. 


98  THE  FALL  OF  MAN. 

from  the  curse,  when  He  was  formed  from  the 
Virgin  Mary. 

St.  Andrew,  the  Apostle,  to  whose  words  we 
shall  refer  later,  says  that,  "  As  Adam  was 
formed  from  immaculate  earth,  therefore  it 
was  necessary  that  the  perfect  man  should  be 
formed  of  an  immaculate  Virgin."  We  heard 
St.  Irena3us,  the  depositary  of  the  traditions  of 
St.  John,  speaking  the  same  language  in  a  for- 
mer chapter.  He  draws  the  comparison  between 
Adam,  formed  by  the  hand  of  God,  of  that  pure 
and  virginal  soil,  and  the  Eternal  Word  reform- 
ing Adam  in  Himself  from  the  virginal  Mary. 
He  then  asks,  why  God  did  not  take  earth 
again  to  form  Jesus,  and  replies,  that  it  became 
Him  to  be  formed  from  that  which  He  came  to 
save,  that  He  might  have  its  likeness.*  Tertul- 
lian  uses  the  same  language,  and  applies  to 
Mary  the  words  of  the  Psalmist,  "  The  earth 
shall  give  its  benedictions"^  The  same  idea 
is  put  forth  by  a  host  of  the  Fathers.  They 
compare  Mary  also  with  Paradise,  before  sin 
was  know  there.  They  point  out  how  Adam  was 
formed  of  that  earth  alone,  and  Christ  of  Mary 
alone.  And  that,  as  that  earth  at  the  time  was 
unaccursed,  so  Mary  was  unaccursed.  That  there 
germinated  in  her,  neither  the  thorns  of  original, 
nor  the  briars  of  actual  sin.  "  She  was  an 
earth,"  says  St.  John  Damascen,  "not  cursed 
like  the  former  earth,  whose  fruits  were  brist- 
ling with  thorns  and  briars,  but  on  whom  was 

*  St.  Iren.  Haeres.  L.  3.  c.ai. 
t  De  Carne  Christi,  c.  17.  and  Contra  Judaeos,  c.  13. 


THE  FALL  OF  MAN.  99 

the  blessing  of  the  Lord."*  "  She  was  a  lily 
amongst  thorns,"  says  Theodotus  of  Ancyra, 
"  she  was  ignorant  of  the  miseries  of  Eve."f 
"  She  was  not  infected  by  the  poisonous  blasts 
of  the  serpent,"  says  a  writer  amongst  the 
works  of  Origen.  And  the  Eastern  Church 
chaunts  in  her  ritual  hymns,  "  0  admirable 
flower,  who,  from  that  Eden  out  of  which  death 
was  diffused  into  the  universe,  did  breathe  the 
odour  of  immortality  into  the  children  of  Eve."J 
George  of  Nicomedia  says,  that  through  Mary 
"  the  image  of  God  that  had  been  vitiated  in 
us,  returned  to  its  beauty,  and  through  her  we 
throw  off  the  clothing  of  skins  which  were  made 
for  sin,  and  put  on  the  robe  of  light."  § 

She  is  compared  with  the  tree  of  life,  as 
contrasted  with  that  tree  from  which  Eve 
plucked  the  fruit  of  corruption.  And  the 
Eastern  Church  but  resumes  the  traditional 
preaching  of  her  Fathers,  when  she  sings : — • 
"  Thou  art  made  for  us  the  new  Paradise, 
wherein  the  tree  of  life  is  planted,  by  eating 
of  which  they  are  restored  to  new  life,  who 
through  eating  fell,  0  innocent  Mother  of 
God."|| 

The  wife  of  Adam  had  not  conceived  her 
first  born  child,  and  was  a  mother  in  no  other 
than  a  prophetic  sense ;  and  they  had  but 
heard  the  consoling  word  from  God,  that  the 
woman's  seed  should  crush  the  head  of  their 
destroyer,  when  Adam  called  her  by  the  name 

*  2.  Serm.in  Nativ.  B.  M.  V. 

t  Oral.  In  Sanct.  Dei  Genitricem. 

t  Eucolog.  in  officio  elevationis  panis. 

}  Orat.  in  Deip.  Present. 

li  Menolog.  die  8  April. 


100  THE  FALL  OF  MAN. 

of  Eve,  because  she  was  the  mother  of  all  the 
living.  Now  of  the  children  of  Eve,  the  first- 
born slew  the  second,  envious  that  he  had  done 
what  was  pleasing  to  God,  and  after  a  terrible 
life  came  himself  to  a  terrible  death.  How  then 
could  Adam  call  Eve  the  mother  of  the  living, 
who  became  the  mother  of  the  dead,  unless  in 
figure,  and  in  hope  of  a  better  mother  to  come  ? 
He  looked  to  that  true  Eve,  the  Woman,  and 
the  Mother,  who  should  bring  forth  life,  and 
crush  the  serpent's  head.  And  St.  Peter  Chry- 
sologus  thus  compares  this  second  with  the 
first  Eve: — "She  now  is  truly  the  mother  of 
the  living  through  grace,  who  stood  forth  the 
mother  of  the  dying  through  nature.""' 

But  much  deeper  is  the  contrast  between  the 
souls  of  the  two  mothers  of  mankind.  And  the 
Fathers  point  out  how  Eve  lost  all  things  for  us  by 
the  free  action  and  choice,  of  her  will ;  and  how 
Mary  gained  all  things  for  us  by  the  free  choice 
and  submission  of  her  will.  Hence  they  set 
the  faith  of  Mary  against  the  infidelity  of  Eve, 
and  the  obedience  of  Mary  against  the  rebellion 
of  Eve ;  and  the  innocence  and  immaculate 
purity  of  Mary,  against  the  thorough-going 
sin  and  defilement  of  Eve;  and  thence  they 
show,  how  completely  the  interior  disposition 
and  spirit  of  the  one  were  the  means  through 
which  came  the  remedy  that  healed  the  miseries 
occasioned  by  the  other.  Gabriel  explained 
Mary's  only  difficulties,  and  God  waited  for  the 
consent  of  her  will  before  He  accomplished  the 
Incarnation  of  His  Son.  Upon  her  will,  at  that 

*  Serm.  De  Annunciat.  B.  V. 


THE  FALL  OF  MAN.  101 

moment,  the  coming  of  our  salvation  depended. 
It  is  this  free  co-operation  of  Mary  which  ex- 
plains so  much  of  the  language  of  the  Fathers 
concerning  her.  Let  us  again  listen  to  St. 
IrenaDus,  for  he  is  a  very  early,  and  a  great 
authority.  He  says  : — 

"As  Eve  became,  by  her  disobedience,  the 
cause  of  death  to  herself  and  the  entire  human 
race,  so  Mary,  who,  though  a  virgin  had  yet  a 
predestined  husband,  was  by  her  obedience 
made  the  cause  of  salvation  to  herself  and  the 

entire  human  race Thus  the  knot  of  Eve's 

disobedience  was  untied  through  Mary's  obedi- 
ence. For,  what  the  virgin  Eve  tied  fast  by 
unbelief,  that  the  Virgin  Mary  untied  by 
faith."--  And  St.  Chrysostom  says:  "The 
Serpent  seduced  Eve, — Mary  listened  and  con- 
sented to  Gabriel.  But  the  seduction  of  Eve 
brought  death, — the  consent  of  Mary  brought 
forth  a  Saviour  to  the  world.  That  was  re- 
stored through  Mary,  which,  through  Eve,  had 
perished."f  St.  Epiphanius  says,  that  Eve  fore- 
shadowed Mary,  "  who  received  that  she  should 
be  figuratively  called  the  Mother  of  the  living. 
For  the  former  was  called  the  mother  of  the 
living  even  after  her  prevarication,  when  she 
heard  that  word,  dust  thou  art,  and  into  dust 
thou  slialt  return.  This  was  certainly  to  be 
wondered  at,  that  after  her  prevarication  she 
should  obtain  so  great  an  addition  to  her  name. 
But  if  we  consider  what  lies  beneath  our  senses, 
the  whole  of  our  earthly  race  is  derived  from 

*  St.  Iren.  L.  3.  c   33. 
t  St.  Chrys.  Horn.  De  Interdictione  Arboris. 


102  THE  FALL  OF  MAN. 

that  first  Eve.  But  from  Mary  truly  and  in- 
deed was  life  itself  brought  into  the  world,  so 
that  she  both  brought  forth  life,  and  became  the 
mother  of  them  who  have  life."* 

No  sooner,  then,  does  our  first  mother  fall 
than  our  second  mother  appears.  Satan  seduces 
Eve,  and  God  upholds  the  woman  before  him, 
who  shall  resist  him  to  his  overthrow.  In  Para- 
dise, the  Almighty  proclaims  a  lasting  enmity 
between  those  two.  Satan  may  lie  in  wait  for 
the  new  Eve,  but  God  has  set  her  foot  upon  his 
head,  and  threatens  him  with  fears  of  her  and 
of  her  seed.  But  if  she  is  to  be  his  prey,  why 
should  Satan  fear  her  ?  If  enmity  is  already 
placed  between  them  by  the  eternal  decree, 
which  resounded  through  the  trees  of  Paradise  ; 
if  that  decree  resounded  for  all  future  time,  1 
will  place  enmity  between  thee  and  THE  WOMAN  ; 
could  they  ever  be  friends?  could  Mary  ever 
be  his  subject  and  his  slave  ?  If  in  the  per- 
petual conflict  between  her  and  the  enemy  of 
man,  she  is  to  crush  his  head,  not  only  through 
her  divine  offspring,  but  also  by  her  own  en- 
mity against  him,  how  can  this  be  explained 
except  by  an  origin  as  well  as  by  a  life  in  which 
the  devil  had  no  part?  The  new  Adam  can 
yield  in  nothing  that  is  good  and  pure  to  the 
old  Adam;  and  therefore,  if  the  father  of  the 
human  race  is  formed  of  the  immaculate,  so  the 
Redeemer  of  the  human  race  is  formed  of  the 
Immaculate.  Eve  came  from  the  side  of  sinless 
Adam,  and  Jesus  from  the  womb  of  sinless 
Mary.  He  would  not  have  His  predestined 

*  St.  Epiph.  Hseres.  78. 


THE  FALL  OF  MAN.  103 

Mother  of  a  less  holy  beginning  than  the 
mother  of  Cain. 

Let  us  devoutly,  then,  address  to  her  the 
•words  of  the  holy  patriarch  of  Constantinople, 
St.  Germanus: — 

"Hail,  most  pleasant  and  rational  Paradise 
of  God !  who  to-day  art  planted  by  the  right 
hand  of  the  Almighty,  in  the  East  of  His  de- 
lights, where  thou  presentest  unto  Him  the 
flowering  lily  and  the  unfading  rose.  To  us, 
who,  in  the  West  of  death,  drink  in  the  pesti- 
lential bitterness  so  pernicious  to  our  souls,  thou 
art  the  Paradise  where  flourishes  the  Tree  of 
Life,  whose  fruit  whoever  tastes,  gains  immor- 
tality  This  alone  dost  thou  allege :  How 

can  this  be,  for  I  know  not  man  ?  But  in  as 
far  as  thou  dost  surpass  the  heavenly  ones  in 
glory,  and  the  earthly  ones  in  modesty,  so  far 
greater  art  thou  than  this  implies.  For,  be- 
yond all  that  can  be  said  or  thought  of,  thy 
mind,  pure  as  it  is,  and  free  from  stain,  is  closed 
to  any  approach  of  the  least  vestige  or  shadow 
of  inordinate  or  less  worthy  emotion.  Thou 
art  the  earthly  Paradise  which  God  planted, 
and  out  of  which  He  gave  command  unto 
the  Cherubim,  that  those  laws  thou  didst  re- 
ceive from  nature,  they  should  cultivate  to 
sanctity  ;  and  that  in  a  circle  round  about  thee 
they  should  wield  the  fiery  sword,  and  should 
protect  thee  from  the  snares  of  the  deceitful 
serpent.  The  Holy  Ghost  shall  descend  in 
thee,  and  the  power  of  the  Most  High  shall 
overshadow  thee.  When  Eve  conversed  in 
Paradise,  the  tortuous  spirit,  with  his  many 
wiles,  insinuated  himself  into  her  conversation, 


104  THE  FALL  OF  MAN. 

under  the  winding  folds  of  the  serpent :  but, 
in  thee,  the  most  holy  and  upright  Spirit  de- 
scended. For,  as  it  is  sung  in  the  Canticles, 
indeed  the  upright  love  thee."* 

*  Orat.  in  Deip.  Nativ.  apud  Combefls, 


JOACHIM  AND  ANNA.  105 


CHAPTER  XL 


JOACHIM   AND    ANNA. 

A  celebrated  divine'"'  has  made  the  remark, 
that,  though  some  persons  wonder  that  the 
Evangelists  are  silent  on  the  parents  of  the 
Blessed  Virgin,  and  have  left  tradition  to  record 
what  we  know  respecting  them,  yet  was  this 
arranged  with  an  especial  design  by  the  provi- 
dence of  God.  For  the  Holy  Spirit  would  not 
fix  our  attention  upon  her,  as  descended  of 
parents  from  whom  she  would,  in  nature's 
course,  have  received  the  transmission  of  origi- 
nal sin ;  but  He  would  concentrate  our  atten- 
tion upon  her  as  the  Mother  of  God,  lest  by 
too  vivid  an  idea  of  her  human  parentage,  we 
might  be  led  away  from  the  thought  of  her 
election  as  the  Mother  of  God  being  so  great  a 
profit  to  her,  that  in  the  matter  of  contracting 
original  sin,  her  birth  of  human  parents  was 
of  less  weight,  than  the  fact  of  her  destination 
to  that  divine  maternity. 

Yet  the  early  Christians  were  piously  curious 
as  to  the  natural  origin  of  the  Blessed  Mary. 
There  was  evidently  a  disposition  to  regard 
that  origin  as  having  been  in  some  way  super- 
natural. The  question  occupied  the  heretics  as 

*  Ambrosius  Catharinus.  Enarrat.  in  cap.  iii.  Gen. 


106  JOACHIM  AND  ANNA. 

well  as  the  orthodox.  The  apocryphal  books 
go  to  extravagant  lengths  in  their  history  of  her 
parents,  Joachim  and  Anna.  The  Collyridians 
supposed  her  to  have  been  born  of  a  virgin,  and 
offered  her  a  species  of  divine  worship,  which 
was  at  once  condemned.  Whilst  the  Mani- 
cheans,  if  we  are  to  believe  St.  Thomas,*  and 
Capponi,f  believed  her  to  be  an  angel  incarnate. 
Each  heresy  strove  to  exalt  her  in  its  own  way, 
whilst  each  fell  far  below  her  true  dignity,  and 
the  actual  greatness  of -her  origin. 

SS.  Joachim  and  Anna  are  extolled  as  the 
parents  of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  by  St.  Hippolytus 
the  martyr,!  tyy  St.  Epiphanius,§  St.  Gregory  of 
JSTyssa,||  Andrew  of  Jerusalem,*!  St.  Germanus 
of  Constantinople,**  Nicephorus,tf  St.  Andrew 
of  Crete4t  George  of  Nicomedia,§§  St.  John 
Damascen,||||  and  by  others  of  the  Fathers. 
Their  festival  was  celebrated  at  an  early  period 
both  in  the  Eastern  and  the  Western  Church. 

St.  Hippolytus,  the  martyr,  says,  that  in  the 
reign  of  Cleopatra  and  Cosoparis,  and  before 
the  reign  of  Herod,  the  son  of  Antipater,  there 
were  three  sisters  of  Bethlehem,  daughters  of 
Mathan  and  Mary.  The  first  was  called  Mary, 
the  second  Sobe,  and  the  third  Anna.  Mary 
married  in  Bethlehem,  and  was  the  mother  of 

*  St.  Thorn,  in  3  P.  d.  4.  q.  2.  t  Capponi  in  3  P.  q.  29. 

t  Apud  Niceph.  L.  i.  c.  7.  ?  Epiph.  Haeres.  78. 

||  Greg.  Nyss.  Orat.  de  Sanct.  Nativ.  Christi. 
f  Andrew  of  Jer.  De  Divinit.  Deip.  **  German.  De  Oblat.  Maria. 

ft  Niceph.  Hist.  L.  i.  c.  7. 

it  Andr.  Cret.  de  Divinit.  Deip.  §?  Georg.  Nicomed.  Orat.  4. 

III!  S.  J.  Damasc.  L.  iv.  De  Fide  Orthodox,  et  Orat.  de  Nativ.  B.  M. 


JOACHIM  AND  ANNA.  107 

Salome ;  Sobe  also  married  in  Bethlehem,  and 
was  the  mother  of  Elizabeth  ;  Anna,  the  third 
sister,  was  married  in  Galilee,  and  brought  forth 
Mary,  the  Mother  of  God,  of  whom  Christ  was 
born  to  us.*  This  would  explain  the  origin  of 
those  who,  after  the  Jewish  custom,  are  called 
the  brethren  of  our  Lord,  though  but  relatives 
in  a  more  distant  degree ;  and  we  are  not 
required  to  suppose  that  St.  Anna  had  any 
other  children  besides  the  Blessed  Virgin. 

That  great  presages  should  have  preceded 
the  human  conception  of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  we 
must  be  prepared  to  expect,  when  we  reflect  on 
those  which  preceded  so  many  of  the  saints  of 
the  Old  Testament.  For  who  can  think  so 
abjectly  and  unworthily  of  God  as  to  suppose 
that  He  would  do  greater  things  for  His  ser- 
vants than  for  His  Mother,  for  the  friends  of 
the  spouse  than  for  the  spouse.  Hence  nearly 
all  the  Fathers  last  cited,  describe  Joachim  and 
Anna  as  advanced  in  age,  and  childless,  and 
past  all  hope  of  children.  And  that  whilst  they 
were  apart,  and  each  in  prayer,  Joachim  on  a 
mountain  in  the  desert,  says  St.  Epiphani'^, 
professedly  quoting  traditions,  and  Anna  in  her 
garden,  an  angel  announced  to  them  the  con- 
ception of  Mary. f  St.  John  Damascen  asks, 
why  the  Blessed  Virgin  should  be  born  of  a 
sterile  mother.  Clearly,  he  replies,  for  this 
reason :  "  That  He  who  alone  was  new  beneath 

*  Apud  Niceph.  L.  ii.  c.  3. 

f  On  all  this  subject,  see  the  Apparatus  of  Mansi  and  Georgi  to  the 
Annals  of  Baronius,  and  Mazzola,  De  B.  M.  Virgine.  St.  Epiphanius, 
St.  Gerrnanus,  and  St.  John  Damascen,  speak  of  the  apparition  of  the 
angel. 


108  JOACHIM  AND  ANNA. 

the  sun,  and  the  head  of  prodigies,  might 
open  the  way  for  Himself  through  prodigies, 
and  that  the  order  of  things  might  ascend 
from  the  lowest  to  the  highest  by  degrees."* 
As  Rupert  observes,  all  those  in  the  Scriptures, 
who  were  born  of  sterile  mothers,  were  great 
personages,  who  present  most  admirable  simili- 
tudes in  the  course  of  their  lives  and  actions. 
And  as  St.  John  Damascen  again  observes : 
"Anna,  who  brought  forth  God's  Mother,  was 
not  to  yield  to  any  of  those  mothers  who  had 
been  made  illustrious."  f 

St.  Epiphanius  says  : — "  Her  parents  were 
Joachim  and  Anna,  who  in  their  lives  pleas- 
ed God,  and  germinated  that  fruit,  the  holy 
Virgin  Mary,  at  once  the  temple  and  the 
Mother  of  God.  And  these  three,  Joachim, 
Anna,  and  Mary,  offered  openly  a  sacrifice  of 
praise  to  the  Trinity.  But  Joachim  is  inter- 
preted the  preparation  of  the  Lord,  because 
from  him  was  prepared  the  Lord's  temple,  that 
is  the  Virgin.  Anna,  again,  is  interpreted 
grace,  because  Joachim  and  Anna  received 
grace,  that  after  their  continual  prayers  they 
might  germinate  such  fruit,  as  they  received 
in  the  holy  Virgin.  For  Joachim  prayed  on 
the  mountain,  and  Anna  in  her  garden.  But 
Anna  having  conceived,  brought  forth  that  hea- 
venly and  cherubic  throne,  the  holy  child 
Mary."  J  Hence,  the  Church  says,  in  the  col- 
lect on  the  Feast  of  St.  Anna  :— "  0  God,  who 

*  S.  J.  Damas.  Horn.  i.  in  Nativ.  B.  V. 

t  St.  J.  Damasc.  L.  iv.  de  Fid. 
J  St.  Epiph.  De  Laudibus,  B.  V.  M.  apud  Martene,  t.  vii. 


JOACHIM  AND  ANNA.  109 

didst  confer  the  grace  on  Blessed  Anna,  that  she 
might  be  worthy  to  become  the  mother  of  her 
•who  brought  forth  Thy  Son,"  &c. 

When  Slary  had  reached  the  age  of  three 
years,  her  parents  presented  her  in  the  temple, 
where,  like  the  child  Samuel,  she  abode  for 
eleven  years,  after  which  she  was  delivered  by 
the  priests  to  the  care  of  Joseph.  * 

If  then  the  first,  or  active  conception  of 
Mary,  was  not  immaculate,  it  was  at  least 
miraculous.  And  the  organization  of  that  body 
which  was  to  receive  a  soul  so  very  beautiful,  so 
very  pure,  and  full  of  grace,  was  not  left  to  the 
common  course  of  nature,  but  was  brought  about 
by  the  divine  intervention.  But  it  is  not  of 
this  conception  of  St.  Anna,  admirable  and  mira- 
culous as  it  is,  that  we  speak,  when  we  contem- 
plate the  Immaculate  Conception  of  the  Mother 
of  God,  but  it  is  of  that  divine  conception 
which  we  are  about  to  consider  in  the  following 
chapter. 

There  is  however  an  objection  floating  in  the 
atmosphere  of  our  country,  which  must  here  be 
brought  to  examination.  If  it  be  supposed  ne- 
cessary that  our  Lord's  Mother  should  be  of 
immaculate  origin,  why,  it  is  asked,  are  not  St. 
Anna,  and  all  her  ancestors,  included  in  a  like 
exemption  from  the  common  misery  ?  This  ob- 
jection could  only  arise  from  a  sensuous  appre- 
hension of  a  most  spiritual  mystery.  It  is 
closely  allied  with  Calvin's  doctrine,  that  the 
just  propagate  the  just.  There  is  forgetfulness 

*  Niceph.  citinp  Evodius,  patriarch  of  Antioch,  L.  II.  c.  3.  St.  Greg. 
Nyss.  De  Christi  Natal.  S.  J.  Damasc.  De  Fid.  Orth.  c.  13.  St.  German. 
Constant.  Seriu.  De  Presentations.  S.  And.  Cret.  De  S.  Deip.  and  others. 


110  JOACHIM  AND  ANNA. 

of  the  fact,  that  the  body  is  not  regenerate 
until  the  resurrection.  Or  there  is  a  notion 
latent,  that  souls  are  transmitted  as  well  as 
bodies.  St.  Augustine  met  that  difficulty  when 
he  said : — "  You  wonder  how  a  sinner  can  be 
born  of  a  just  man.  But  you  do  not  consider 
that  the  wild  olive  springs  from  the  garden 
olive  tree ;  nor  do  you  take  note  that  the  straw 
springs  with  the  wheat,  though  not  planted  with 
it.  And  the  cause  that  the  just  man  cannot  be 
the  author  of  the  just  is  this,  that  he  generates 
not  from  the  source,  whence  he  receives  regene- 
ration, but  from  the  source  whence  he  was  gene- 
rated."* 

Mary  is  immaculate  from  God's  grace,  through 
her  soul,  and  not  from  her  parents,  through  the 
body.  Our  Lord  takes  not  flesh  from  Anna, 
but  from  Mary.  She  alone  is  the  Mother  of 
God,  and  therefore  is  she  alone  excepted  from 
the  general  law,  and  preserved  immaculate. 

*  Senn.  in  Verb.  Apostoli,  c.  16. 


THE  MOMENT  OP  THE  IMMACULATE  CONCEPTION.       Ill 


CHAPTER  XII. 

THE   MOMENT    OP   THE    IMMACULATE    CONCEPTION. 

THE  Morning  Star  is  about  to  rise  upon  the 
night  which  overspreads  the  fallen  world  with 
its  deep  shadows.  The  East  already  warms, 
and  the  glorious  Sun  of  Justice  sends  His  rays 
before  His  coming.  That  beautiful  Star  pre- 
cedes Him  on  His  way.  It  is  full  of  His  light, 
and  is  the  reflection  of  His  purity.  Oh  Lucifer  ! 
no  longer  art  thou  the  brinyer  of  the  light,  but 
the  prince  and  ruler  of  the  darkness.  And  now 
thy  kingdom  is  invaded  by  the  dawning  day, 
and  Mary  is  the  bringer  of  the  light.  The 
instant  is  come  for  that  elected  creature  to 
appear,  who,  of  a  daughter  of  Eve,  is  made  the 
Mother  of  God. 

Chosen  in  the  counsels  of  eternity :  associated 
with  the  Son  of  God  from  the  beginning  of  the 
sacred  plan:  revealed  to  the  angels  with  her 
Son :  assailed  by  the  proud  and  aspiring  Lucifer 
for  her  lowliness,  because  of  Him  who  lifts  up 
the  lowly:  revered  by  the  angelic  hosts  as 
their  Queen,  and  the  animated  temple  of  their 
Lord :  proclaimed  to  our  first  parents  as  the 
antagonist  of  their  destroyer,  and  as  destined 
with  her  Son  to  crush  the  serpent's  head : 
contemplated  and  preached  by  the  prophets,  as 
THE  WOMAN  and  THE  VIRGIN,  who  was  to  bring 


112      THE  MOMENT  OF  THE  IMMACULATE  CONCEPTION. 

into  the  world  its  long-desired  deliverer :  pre- 
figured by  the  noblest  women  of  Israel :  re- 
nowned in  the  tradition  of  the  Gentiles  through 
their  Sybils,  and  sung  by  their  poets  :  daughter 
of  Abraham,  of  Juda,  and  of  David — of  a 
lineage  which  God  had  upheld  and  protected 
for  more  ages  than  the  Christian  Church  yet 
numbers,  and  so  illustrious  only  because  it  is 
destined  to  terminate  in  her ;  closing  the  Old 
Testament  and  opening  the  New :  the  repairer 
of  woman  and  the  Mother  of  salvation  to  man- 
kind :  raised  to  an  office,  to  a  dignity,  and  an 
alliance  with  her  God,  which,  next  to  her 
divine  Son,  makes  her  one  and  unapproach- 
able in  excellence  :  above  the  angels,  yea,  above 
the  Seraphs,  for  which  of  them  can  say  to  God, 
Thou  art  my  Son? — this  Mother  of  God  is 
about  to  pass,  from  God's  eternal  counsel,  to 
created  life. 

The  Father  contemplates  the  forming  of  the 
fairest  of  His  daughters, — the  Son  considers  the 
graces  which  are  suited  to  His  Mother, — the 
Holy  Ghost  prepares  to  sanctify  the  chosen 
spouse  whom  His  Spirit  shall  search  and  His 
power  overshadow. 

It  was  on  the  sixth  day,  and  after  He  had 
prepared  the  world  for  the  residence  of  man, 
that  out  of  the  deep  counsels  of  His  Most 
Blessed  Trinity,  the  Almighty  spoke  the  final 
word  of  creation — Let  us  make  man.  He 
formed  Adam  from  the  innocent  earth — He 
drew  Eve  from  his  innocent  side — He  graced 
them  with  pure  and  holy  souls. 

For  four  thousand  years  have  their  descend- 
ants multiplied  in  sin,  sprung  from  the  disobe- 


THE  MOMENT  OF  THE  IMMACULATE  CONCEPTION.       113 

diencc  of  that  guilty  pair,  till  they  have  covered 
the  earth  with  a  terrible  history.  And  to  each 
germ  that  buds  from  that  bitter  root,  by  virtue 
of  His  primal  gift  and  promise,  God  owes  an 
immortal  soul.  But  no  sooner  does  a  soul 
come  to  animate  the  new  offshoot  from  that  old 
stock  of  Adam,  than  it  is  overmastered  by  the 
contamination  which  flows  for  ever  onwards  from 
corrupted  source. 

But  a  bud  is  springing  from  the  root  of  Jesse ; 
and  the  poison  of  the  serpent  shall  not  infect 
it,  nor  shall  his  foul  breathings  blight  its 
beauty.  The  Adorable  Trinity  is  about  to 
pronounce  the  creative  word— Let  the  Mother 
of  God  be  made. 

To  her  aged  parents,  past  all  hope  of  off- 
spring, an  Angel  comes ;  amidst  their  devotions, 
he  proclaims  them  the  chosen  organs  of  her 
miraculous  beginning.  And  the  fleshly  frame, 
which  shall  give  flesh  to  the  living  God,  com- 
mences its  existence.  A  soul,  bright  as  the 
morning  star,  and  full  of  holiest  grace,  is 
breathed  by  God  into  that  tender  and  exquisite 
frame.  And  the  secret  fire  that  lingered  there, 
at  the  very  entrance  of  that  free  and  holy  soul, 
is  quenched,  and  the  flesh  brought  into  subjec- 
tion and  order.  And  thus,  from  the  first  instant 
of  her  animated  existence,  the  Mother  of  God  is 
most  pure,  most  holy,  and  most  immaculate. 
And  she  offers  immaculate  praise  to  her  Creator 
and  Redeemer.  Jesus,  who  had  so  often  antici- 
pated His  work  for  the  sanctification  of  His 
elect,  made  one  great  anticipation  more  for  the 
sake  of  His  own  Incarnation.  He  drew  the 
most  costly  of  the  gems  of  grace,  from  the  in- 


114       THE  MOMENT  OF  THE  IMMACULATE  CONCEPTION. 

exhaustible  treasury  of  His  Cross,  and  wrought 
the  most  perfect  of  redemptions  in  the  Imma- 
culate Conception  of  His  Mother.  And  since 
the  human  race  began,  in  this  chosen  one  alone 
did  God  see  a  soul  escape  from  His  creative 
hands,  that  was  neither  caught  in  the  cords 
of  Adam,  nor  ensnared  in  the  bonds  of  death. 
So  from  the  Ark,  our  father  Noah  sent  forth 
the  raven  from  his  hands,  but  it  joined  the 
floating  putrefaction,  and  nourished  thereby  a 
degraded  life ;  whilst  the  dove  returned  into 
his  bosom,  and  brought  him  in  its  innocent  beak 
the  olive  branch  of  peace. 

To  the  true  dove,  His  one  true  spouse,  the 
Holy  Spirit  sings  that  Canticle,  through  the 
choirs  of  the  Church,  which  He  rehearsed  to 
the  bride  of  Solomon.  "  One  is  my  dove,  my 
perfect  one  is  but  one,  the  only  one  of  her 
mother,  the  chosen  of  her  that  bore  her. 

11  Thou  art  all  fair,  0  my  love,  and  there  is 
not  a  spot  in  thee. 

"  As  the  lily  amongst  thorns,  so  is  my  love 
amongst  the  daughters. 

"  Under  the  apple-tree  I  raised  thee  up,  there 
was  thy  mother  corrupted :  there  was  she  de- 
filed who  bore  thee. 

"  My  spouse  is  as  an  enclosed  garden,  and  a 
sea  led  fo  u  n  tain. 

"  Put  me  as  a  seal  upon  thy  heart,  and  a 
seal  upon  thy  arm;  for  love  is  strong  as  death : 
jealousy  is  hard  as  hell,  the  lamps  thereof  are 
fire  and  flames.  Many  ivaters  cannot  quench 
charity,  neither  can  the  floods  drown  it." 

Clearly  the  spouse  of  Solomon  is  but  a  figure ; 
and  the  Holy  Ghost  describes  another  Spouse, 


THE  MOMENT  OP  THE  IMMACULATE  CONCEPTION.       115 

who  is  one,  who  is  immaculate,  who  is  the 
Spouse  of  the  Eternal  Wisdom,  and  the  Mother 
of  the  King  of  our  Salvation.  And  if  the 
Church  sings  also  of  herself  in  this  inspired 
Canticle ;  of  all  her  members,  she  sings  first  of 
her  fairest  and  first-born.  Of  all  the  redeemed 
within  her  gates,  she  sings  first  of  the  holiest 
and  the  most  perfectly  redeemed.  The  Church 
knows  well  of  whom  she  sings  when  she  chaunts 
this  inspired  description  in  the  sacred  offices  of 
Mary.  Of  all  her  sons  and  daughters  she  sings 
first  and  most  of  her  who,  like  the  Church,  is 
the  Mother  of  all  the  living.  Of  her  the  Scrip- 
ture sings,  who  is  the  "fairest  amongst  women, 
and  comely  as  Jerusalem,  and  who  is  terrible 
to  Satan  as  an  army  set  in  array." 


116          THE  VOICE  OF  THE  FATHERS. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 


THE    VOICE    OF    THE    FATHERS. 

As  no  controversy  had  ever  arisen  with  re- 
ference to  the  Immaculate  Conception  of  the 
Mother  of  God  before  the  age  of  St.  Bernard, 
we  cannot  expect  to  find  a  scientific  statement 
on  the  subject  in  the  Fathers.  Yet  on  careful 
investigation  the  whole  mind  of  the  Oriental 
Church  is  found  to  have  been  imbued  with  it 
from  the  earliest  times.  And  when,  in  the 
Western  Church,  the  great  controversy  with  the 
Pelagians  led  to  a  thorough  sifting  of  the  sub- 
ject of  original  sin,  it  drew  from  St.  Augustine, 
the  great  Doctor  of  grace,  those  remarkable 
declarations,  which  exempt  the  Blessed  Virgin 
from  all  sin.*  In  examining  the  testimonies  of 
the  Fathers,  it  becomes  undeniable  that  whilst 
many  of  them  speak  in  the  sense  of  the  Imma- 
culate Conception,  not  a  single  one  of  their 
number  has  positively  said  that  Mary  had  ever 
contracted  original  sin.  Whilst  at  the  same 
time  the  ambiguous  language,  which  has  been  so 

*  Those  who  would  see  the  tradition  drawn  out  in  all  its  copiousness, 
must  take  in  hand  the  extensive  work  of  Passaplia,  whick  lias  just 
issued  from  the  Roman  press,  but  of  which  I  have  only  had  a  glance  at 
the  first  volume.  It  is  entitled,  De  Immaculate  Deiparce  Semper  Virginia 
Conceptu  Commentarim,  and  comprises  three  volumes  in  folio.  In  this 
chapter  I  am  much  indebted  to  the  beautitul  treatise  of  Abbot  Gueran- 
ger. 


THE  VOICE  OF  THE  FATHERS.         117 

carefully  collected  and  cited  by  the  opponents  of 
the  mystery,  from  a  certain  number  of  them, 
resolves  itself  into  perfect  accordance  with  the 
doctrine  of  her  exemption  from  sin,  the  moment 
that  doctrine  is  rightly  apprehended  and  distin- 
guished from  what  does  not  come  under  its  defi- 
nition. 

The  first  testimony  is  that  which  the  Apostle 
St.  Andrew  gives  in  his  profession  of  faith  before 
the  Proconsul  Egeus,  as  recorded  in  the  cele- 
brated letter  of  the  priests  of  Patras,  which 
relates  his  martyrdom.  "  The  first  man  brought 
in  death  through  the  tree  of  prevarication, 
hence  it  was  necessary,  that  as  death  had  been 
brought  in,  it  should,  through  the  tree  of  the 
Passion,  be  driven  out.  And  because  the  first 
man  was  created  of  immaculate  earth,  it  was 
necessary  that  the  perfect  man  should  be  born 
of  an  immaculate  Virgin,  through  whose  means 
the  Son  of  God,  who  had  before  created  man, 
might  repair  that  eternal  life  which  had  been 
lost  through  Adam."* 

The  celebrated  comparison  between  the  im- 
maculate earth  and  the  immaculate  Virgin 
became,  as  we  have  seen,  a  common  expression 
with  the  Fathers. 

St.  Dionysius,  Patriarch  of  Alexandria,  and 
one  of  the  most  famous  doctors  of  the  third 
century,  thus  speaks  of  the  relations  between 
the  Mother  of  God  and  her  divine  Son : — 
"  There  are  many  mothers ;  but  one,  and  one 


*  The  authenticity  of  this  letter  is  asserted  by  Lumper,  Gallandi,  Mor- 
celli,  &c.  And  the  Protestant  VVoog,  who  first  published  the  Greek, 
has  vindicated  it  against  its  assailants.  Gallandi  observes  that  it  WiUJ 
used  very  early  in  the  Offices  of  the  Church. 


118  THE  VOICE  OF  THE  FATHERS. 

only  Virgin  daughter  of  life,  who  brought 
forth  the  living  Word,  who  exists  of  Himself, 
uncreated  and  Creator."* 

Again,  of  that  divine  power  which  formed 
Mary  for  her  destination,  the  same  saint  says  : 
— "  Christ  dwelt  not  in  a  servant,  but  in  His 
holy  tabernacle,  not  made  with  hands,  Mary, 
the  Mother  of  God.  In  her  our  King,  the  King 
of  glory,  was  made  High  Priest,  and  abideth  for 
ever."f  Further  on,  the  same  holy  Bishop 
says : — "  Neither  was  our  supreme  High  Priest 
ordained  by  the  hands  of  man,  nor  was  His 
tabernacle  fabricated  by  men,  but  that  most 
praiseworthy  tabernacle  of  God,  Mary,  the  Vir- 
gin, and  Mother  of  God,  was  firmly  set  by  the 
Holy  Ghost,  and  protected  by  the  power  of  the 
Most  High."  St.  Dionysius  also  compares  tho 
Blessed  Virgin  to  the  garden  of  delights : — 
"  The  Only-begotten  God,  the  Word,  descended 
from  Heaven,  and  was  borne  in  the  womb,  and 
came  forth  from  the  virginal  Paradise  which 
possessed  all  things."} 

The  celebrated  comparison  between  Eve, 
whilst  yet  immaculate  and  incorrupt,  that  is  to 
say,  not  subject  to  original  sin,  and  the  Bless- 
ed Virgin,  is  drawn  out  by  St.  Justin. §  St. 
Irenaeus,||  Tertullian,1F  Julian  Firmicus,**  St. 

*  Epist.  Advers.  Paulum  Samosat. 

t  Ibid.    Respons.  ad  quaest.  7. 

I    Ibid.    Respons.  ad  qutest.  10. 

§  St.  Justin.  Diolog.  cum  Tryphone. 

I;  St.  Iren.  Cont.  Hares.  L  iii.  c.  22. 

f  Tertull.  De  Carne  Christ!,  c.  17. 
**  Jul.  Finnic.  De  errore  prophan.  relig.  c.  26. 


THE  VOICE  OF  THE  FATHERS.  119 

Cyril  of  Jerusalem,*  and  St.  Epiphanius.f  As 
St.  Justin  is  the  first  of  the  series,  from  whose 
Dialogue  with  Trypho  I  cite  the  passage,  where, 
speaking  of  the  Divine  "Word  of  the  Father,  he 
says  : — "  He  was  made  from  a  Virgin,  that  the 
way  by  which  disobedience  took  its  beginning 
from  the  serpent,  by  the  same 'it  might  receive 
its  destruction.  For  whilst  Eve  was  yet  a  Vir- 
gin and  incorrupt,  having  conceived  the  words 
spoken  to  her  by  the  serpent,  she  brought 
forth  disobedience  and  death.  But  the  Virgin 
Mary,  when  she  had  received  faith  and  joy,  as 
Gabriel  announced  to  her  the  glad  message, 
that  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord  should  descend  in 
her,  and  the  power  oi^the  Most  High  should 

overshadow  her, gave  answer:   Be  it  done 

to  me  according  to  Thy  word" 

In  the  same  spirit,  and  with  a  like  implied 
exemption  from  the  curse,  St.  Hippolytus,  Bishop 
and  Martyr,  says,  speaking  first  of  our  Saviour: 
— "  He  was  the  ark  formed  of  incorruptible 
wood.  For  by  this  is  signified  that  His  taber- 
nacle was  exempt  from  putridity  and  corrup- 
tion, which  brought  forth  no  corruption  or  sin. 
But  the  Lord  was  exempt  from  sin,  oj  wood  not 
obnoxious  to  corruption  according  to  man ; 
that  is,  of  the  Virgin  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost, 
covered  within  and  without  with  the  pure  gold 
of  the  word  of  God."| 

Origen,  or  the  ancient  author  of  the  Homilies 
attributed  to  him,  thus  speaks  of  the  Mother  of 
God  :— "  This  Virgin  Mother  of  the  Only-be- 
gotten of  God,  is  called  Mary,  worthy  of  God, 

*  St.  Cyril.  Jerusal.  Catech.  12.  t  St.  Epiph.  llseres.  78. 

J  Oral,  hi  illud,  Dorninus  pascit  me.  Bibl.  Tatruni  Gailundi,  t.  ii. 


120         THE  VOICE  OF  THE  FATHERS. 

immaculate  of  the  immaculate,  one  of  the  one." 
The  author  then  addresses  St.  Joseph  : — "  Re- 
ceive her  as  the  heavenly  treasure  confided  to 
thee,  as  the  riches  of  the  Deity,  as  most  com- 
plete sanctity,  as  perfect  justice She  con- 
ceives not  of  the  desire  of  the  fathers,  who  is 
neither  deceived  by  the  persuasion  of  the  serpent, 
nor  infected  with  his  poisonous  breathings." 
He  then  says  : — "  Christ  needs  not  a  father  on 
earth,  for  He  has  an  incorruptible  Father  in 
Heaven.  He  needs  not  a  mother  in  Heaven,  for 
He  has  a  chaste  and  immaculate  mother  on 
earth,  this  most  Blessed  Virgin  Mary." 

In  the  fourth  century,  St.  Ephrem  extolled 
the  Blessed  Virgin  in  streams  of  the  sweetest 
and  most  melodious  eloquence.  It  would  re- 
quire a  volume  by  itself  to  cite  all  the  beautiful 
things  which  he  has  said  of  her.  In  a  prayer 
to  the  Blessed  Mother  of  God  he  calls  her : — 
"Immaculate  and  uncontaminated,  incorrupt  and 
thoroughly  chaste,  and  a  virgin  most  estranged 
from  every  soil  and  stain  of  sin,  the  Spouse  of 

God  and  our  Lady inviolate,  integral,  and 

manifestly  the  chaste  and  pure  Virgin  Mother 

of  God more  holy  than  the  Seraphim,  and 

beyond  comparison  more  glorious  than  the  rest 
of  the  supernal  hosts.""*  Again,  St.  Ephrem 
calls  her  : — "  Immaculate,  most  immaculate, 
most  pure,  the  exceedingly  new  and  divine 
gift,  the  absolutely  immaculate,  the  divine  seat 
of  God,  the  Lady  ever  blessed,  the  price  of  the 
redemption  of  Eve,  fountain  of  grace,  the  sealed 
fountain  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  the  most  divine 


In  Oral,  ad  Sanct.  Dei  Genitricem. 


THE  VOICE  OF  THE  FATHERS.         121 

Temple,  the  pure  seat  of  God,  who  crushed  the 
head  of  the  most  wicked  dragon,  who  was  ever 

in  body  as  in  mind  entire  and  immaculate 

the  holy  tabernacle  which  the  spiritual  Beseleel 
built  up."* 

Much  more  might  be  cited  from  the  writings 
of  the  great  Doctor  of  the  Syrian  Church, 
which,  like  what  we  have  given,  is  utterly  in- 
consistent with  the  idea  of  a  sinful  and  corrupt 
origin  in  the  Mother  of  God. 

In  the  same  century  St.  Ambrose  says,  ad- 
dressing our  Saviour  on  these  words  of  the 
Psalmist,  "  /  have  gone  astray  like  a  sheep, 
seek  thou  thy  servant.  Seek  thou  thy  sheep, 
not  through  servants  or  mercenaries,  but  through 
thyself.  Receive  me  in  that  flesh  which  fell  in 
Adam  ;  receive  me,  not  from  Sarah,  but  from 
Mary ;  that  the  virgin,  from  whom  thou  receiv- 
est  me,  may  be  incorrupt,  a  virgin  integral, 
through  grace,  from  every  stain  of  sin."f 

\Ve  will  now  come  to  the  fifth  century,  and 
first,  to  St.  Augustine.  Refuting  Pelagius,  who 
had  maintained  that  a  considerable  number  of 
persons  had  lived  on  earth  absolutely  without 
sin ;  St.  Augustine,  in  his  book  on  Nature  and 
Grace,  replied,  that  all  the  just  had  truly  known 
sin :  "  Except,"  he  says,  "  the  holy  Virgin 
Mary,  of  whom,  for  the  honour  of  the  Lord, 
I  will  have  no  question  whatever  when  sin  is 
concerned.  For  whence  can  we  know  the 
measure  of  grace  conferred  on  her  to  van- 
quish sin  on  every  side,  on  her  who  deserved 

*  Ibid. 
f  Serm.  ^^.  in  Tsulm  118. 


122  THE  VOICE  OF  THE  FATHERS. 

to  conceive  and  bring  forth  Him  Who,  it  is 
evident,  had  no  sin  ?"«t  St.  Augustine  here 
speaks  professedly  of  actual  sin,  but  he  lays 
down  principles  which  equally  exclude  every 
idea  of  original  sin  from  Mary,  in  whom,  for 
the  honour  of  the  Lord,  he  will  not  hear  of 
sin.  And  the  grace  she  received  was  given  her 
to  vanquish  sin  on  every  side,  and  therefore 
on  the  side  of  her  origin. 

In  a  controversy  with  Julian,  the  disciple  of 
Pelagius,  St.  Augustine  had  to  defend  the  doc- 
trine of  original  sin,  which  Julian  denied.  And 
a  remarkable  incident  arises  in  the  course  of 
the  controversy,  as  connected  with  our  subject. 
Julian  makes  a  popular  appeal  to  the  pious 
belief  of  the  faithful  respecting  the  Blessed 
Virgin,  as  if  St.  Augustine,  'by  his  doctrine  of 
original  sin,  had  included  Mary  in  it.  And  St. 
Augustine  had  to  meet  the  charge.  Julian 
said :  "  Jovinian  opposed  Ambrose,  but  com- 
pared with  you,  he  deserves  to  be  acquitted. 
He  destroyed  the  virginity  of  Mary  by  sub- 
jecting her  to  the  common  laws  of  child-bearing, 
but  you  transfer  Mary  to  the  devil,  by  subject* 
ing  her  to  the  common  condition  of  birth." 
To  this  charge  St.  Augustine  replies  : — "  We  do 
not  transfer  Mary  to  the  devil  by  the  condition 
of  her  birth,  for  this  reason,  that  that  condition 
is  dissolved  by  the  grace  of  her  new  birth."f 

This  incident  shows  how  St.  Augustine  and 
those  of  his  time  shrunk  back  from  the  idea 
that  Mary  was  ever  abandoned  to  the  devil,  or 

*  De  Natura  et  Gratia,  c.  36. 
f  Opus  Imperfec.  contra  Julian.  L.  4.  c.  122. 


THE  VOICE  OF  THE  FATHERS.  123 

was  a  child  of  sin.  And  as  the  sin  in  question 
between  St.  Augustine  and  Julian  was  original 
sin,  it  is  clear  that  St.  Augustine's  intention  was 
to  free  himself  from  the  charge  of  having  trans- 
ferred Mary  with  the  rest  of  mankind  to  Satan 
through  that  sin.  And  by  her  new  birth,  or 
regeneration,  he  could  not  refer  to  baptism  in 
her  case,  but  to  the  grace  of  redemption  in  her 
passive  conception. 

In  a  work  entitled  A  Treatise  on  the  Five 
Heresies,*  long  attributed  to  St.  Augustine,  but 
supposed  by  the  Benedictine  editors  to  have 
been  composed  soon  after  his  death,  our  Lord  is 
introduced  as  reproaching  the  Manicheans  in 
these  words  : — "  I  made  the  Mother  of  whom  I 
should  be  born.  I  prepared  and  cleansed  the 
way  for  my  journey.  She  whom  thou  despisest, 
0  Manichean,  is  my  mother,  but  she  is  made  by 
my  hand.  If  I  could  be  defiled  when  I  made 
her,  I  could  be  defiled  when  I  was  born  of  her." 
Here,  as  in  several  of  the  ancients,  Mary  is 
spoken  of  as  having  had  a  special  creation. 
Nature  was  cleansed  in  her  when  the  flesh  was 
animated, 

St.  Maximin,  of  Turin,  says  : — "  Truly  Mary- 
was  a  dwelling  fit  for  Christ,  not  because  of  her 
habit  of  body,  but  because  of  original  grace."^ 

St.  Peter  Chrysologus,  Archbishop  of  Raven- 
na, in  one  of  his  celebrated  discourses,  says  : — - 
"  The  angel  took  not  the  Virgin  from  Joseph, 
but  gave  her  to  Christ,  to  whom  she  was  pledged 
in  the  womb,  when  she  was  made."J 

*  Inter  opera  S.  Augustini  t.  8. 

t  Horn.  v.  Ante  Natale  Domini. 

J  Serm.  140.  De  Annunciat.  B.  M.  V. 


124  THE  VOICE  OF  THE  FATHERS. 

Theodotus  of  Ancyra,  in  his  discourse  to  the 
Fathers  of  the  Council  of  Ephesus,  calls  the 
Mother  of  God  : — "  The  innocent  Virgin,  with- 
out spot,  void  of  all  culpability,  uncontaminated, 
holy  in  body  and  soul,  as  a  lily  springing 
amongst  thorns,  untaught  the  ills  of  Eve,  wor- 
thy of  the  Creator,  who  gave  her  to  us  by  His 
providence."* 

St.  Proclus,  in  his  discourse  contained  in  the 
acts  of  that  Council,  amongst  many  things  of  a 
like  nature,  says  : — "  As  He  formed  her  without 
any  stain  of  her  own,  so  He  proceeded  from  her 
contracting  no  stain."  And  he  introduces  the 
Son  of  God,  addressing  His  Mother  in  these 
words : — "  I  shall  not  in  any  way  injure  my 
uncreated  majesty,  for  I  shall  dwell  in  a  taber- 
nacle which  was  created  by  myself."f 

I  shall  conclude  the  testimonies  from  the  fifth 
century,  with  the  following  beautiful  passage 
from  the  Hymn  before  meat  of  Prudentius, 
"  Hence  came  the  enmity  of  old  between  the 
serpent  and  man,  that  inextinguishable  feud, — 
that  now  the  viper  prostrate  beneath  the  Wo- 
man's feet  lies  crushed  and  trampled  on.  For 
the  Virgin,  who  obtained  grace  to  bring  forth 
God,  hath  charmed  away  all  his  poisons  ;  and 
driven  to  hide  himself  in  the  grass,  green  as 
himself,  he  there  coiled  up  in  his  folds,  torpidly 
vomits  forth  his  now  harmless  venom." 

For  brevity's  sake  I  will  pass  over  the  inter- 
vening testimonies,  but  in  the  eighth  century 
there  is  a  passage  in  the  Synodal  Letter  of 
Theodore,  Patriarch  of  Jerusalem,  which  was 

*  Gallandi,  t.  ix.  t  Ibid. 


THE  VOICE  OF  THE  FATHERS.         125 

unanimously  approved  in  the  seventh  General 
Council,  and  is  too  remarkable  to  be  omitted. 
This  prelate  says : — "  She  is  truly  the  Mother 
of  God,  and  virgin  before  and  after  bearing, 
and  she  was  created  in  a  condition  more  sublime 
and  glorious  than  that  of  all  natures,  whether 
intelligible  or  sensible."* 

Twelve  years  later  the  Council  of  Frankfort, 
whilst  refuting  the  heresy  of  Felix  of  Urgel, 
gives  expression  to  the  same  doctrine  under 
another  form.  The  Fathers  of  this  Council 
have  to  repel  the  assertion,  that  Christ  is  the 
mere  adopted  Son  of  God,  and  they  thus  re- 
vive the  ancient  forms  of  speech  regarding  the 
Blessed  Virgin  : — "  But  we  would  hear  this 
from  you.  Adam,  the  first  father  of  the  human 
race,  who  was  created  of  earth,  which  was  still 
virgin,  was  he  created  in  a  free  or  in  a  slavish 
condition  ?  If  a  slave,  how  then  was  he  the 
image  of  God  ?  If  free,  why  should  not  Christ, 
formed  of  the  Virgin,  be  also  free  ?  For  of  a 
better  earth,  of  an  earth  animate  and  immacu- 
late, was  He  made  man  by  the  operation  of  the 
Holy  Ghost."t 

At  the  beginning  of  the  same  century  St. 
Germanus,  Patriarch  of  Constantinople,  had 
said  that  Mary  was  "  truly  elect,  and  superior 
to  all,  not  by  the  altitude  of  lofty  structures, 
but  as  excelling  all  in  the  greatness  and  purity 
of  sublime  and  divine  virtues,  and  having  no 
affinity  with  sin  whatever.'^ 

And  St.  Paschasius  Radbert,  in  his  book  On 

*  Labb.  Concil.  t.  vii.  f  Labb.  t.  vli. 

J  Marracci  in  S.  German!  Mariali. 


126         THE  VOICE  OF  THE  FATHERS. 

the  Perpetual  Virginity  and  Child-birth  of 
Mary,  whilst  denying  that  the  flesh  of  Mary 
was  a  flesh  of  sin,  adduces  these  remarks  in  the 
course  of  his  argument : — "  It  is  evident  that 
she,  through  whom  not  only  the  curse  of 
our  mother  Eve  was  solved,  but  the  blessing 
given  to  all,  was  exempt  from  all  original  sin, 

but  it  is  the  honour  of  exquisite  piety,  and 

the  glory  of  virtue,  to  preach  the  incorrupt  and 
uncontaminated  purity  of  the  most  Blessed  Vir- 
gin, and  to  declare  her  free  from  all  contagion 
of  the  first  origin." 

As  St.  John  Damascen  was  the  first  who,  in 
the  East,  drew  up  a  systematic  statement  of 
Catholic  doctrine,  and  St.  Anselm,  the  first  who 
did  this  in  a  scientific  form  in  the  West,  it  will 
be  interesting  to  see  what  the  two  founders  of 
theology  have  said  on  the  subject  of  the  Imma- 
culate Conception.  And  with  these  celebrated 
writers  I  shall  conclude  the  testimonies  from  the 
Fathers,  leaving  the  consideration  of  St.  Ber- 
nard to  the  next  chapter. 

In  his  first  Homily  on  the  Nativity  of  the 
Blessed  Mary,  St.  John  Damascen,  in  giving 
reasons  why  she  is  born  of  a  sterile  mother, 
says  : — "  But  I  can  allege  a  higher  and  diviner 
reason.  For  nature  gave  way  to  grace,  and 
stood  trembling,  not  daring  to  proceed.  Since, 
then,  it  was  to  be  that  the  Virgin  Mother  of 
God  was  to  be  born  of  Anna,  nature  did  not 
dare  to  anticipate  the  germ  of  grace  :  but  it 
remained  devoid  of  fruit,  whilst  grace  put  forth 
its  fruit."  And  in  his  Homily  on  the  departure 
of  the  Blessed  Mary,*  he  says  of  her : — "  To 

*  De  Dormitione  B.  V. 


THE  VOICE  OF  THE  FATHERS.         127 

tins  Paradise  the  way  for  the  serpent  was  not 
open,  by  the  fascination  of  whose  false  divinity 
AV<>  are  brought  down  to  the  level  of  the  beasts. 
For  He,  the  Only- begotten  Son  of  God,  whereas 
He  was  God,  and  of  the  same  substance  as  the 
Father,  formed  Himself  into  man  from  that 
Virgin  and  pure  earth."  Again,  in  his  second 
Homily,  on  the  Nativity  of  the  Blessed  Virgin, 
he  thus  addresses  her : — "  Hail,  bush,  miracle 
enveloped  in  fire,  thyself  inaccessible  to  sin  ;  for 
that  bush  cannot  be  touched Hail,  incom- 
parable wood,  who  didst  not  admit  the  worm  of 
the  corruption  of  sin." 

It  is  impossible  not  to  conclude  with  St. 
Thomas,  that  St.  Anselm  has  laid  down  the 
principles  of  the  Immaculate  Conception.  In 
his  treatise  On  the  Virginal  Conception,  the 
holy  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  expounds  the 
principle  on  which  the  doctrine  rests  in  the 
following  words : — "  It  was  fitting  that  the  con- 
ception of  that  man  (Christ)  should  be  accom- 
plished from  a  most  pure  mother.  For  it  was 
fitting  that  that  Virgin  should  be  resplendent 
with  such  a  purity,  that  under  God,  a  greater 
could  not  be  imagined ;  to  whom  God  the 
Father  disposed  to  give  His  one  and  only  Son, 
whom,  as  born  -from  His  heart  and  equal  to 
Himself,  He  loved  as  Himself  in  such  a  manner, 
that  He  might  be  by  nature  one  and  the  same 
Son  in  common  of  God  the  Father  and  of  the 
Virgin ;  her  the  Son  Himself  did  choose  to 
make  substantially  a  mother  for  Himself;  and 
from  her  the  Holy  Spirit  willed,  and  was  about 
to  accomplish  in  act,  that  That  should  be  con- 
ceived and  born,  from  which  He  (the  Holy 


128         THE  VOICE  OF  THE  FATHERS. 

Ghost)  Himself  proceeded."*  But  a  purity  so 
great  that  one  more  perfect  cannot  be  imagined, 
can  only  be  through  exemption  from  original 
sin.  And  St.  Thomas,  commenting  on  this 
passage,  draws  the  same  conclusion  in  these 
words : — "  Purity  is  understood  by  the  absence 
of  what  is  contrary  to  it,  and,  therefore,  a 
creature  may  be  found,  than  which  nothing 
can  be  more  pure  in  created  things,  if  it  be 
defiled  by  no  contagion  of  sin  ;  and  such  was 
the  purity  of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  who  was 
exempt  from  original  and  actual  sin.  But  she 
was  beneath  God,  inasmuch  as  there  was  in  her 
the  power  to  commit  sin."f 

St.  Anselm  adds,  indeed : — "  But  how  that 
same  Virgin  was  cleansed  through  faith,  before 
that  conception,  I  have  already  said."  And  he 
here  refers  to  what  he  had  said  in  a  previous 
work,  entitled,  Why  God  id  made  Man.  Yet 
this  cleansing  through  faith  before  conception, 
can  only  mean  that  she  who  in  her  conception 
from  St.  Anne,  was  of  the  mass  of  sin,  was 
cleansed  through  the  mystery  of  faith,  that  is, 
through  the  merits  of  Christ,  in  her  passive 
conception,  or  animation.  For  in  that  work 
it  is  not  St.  Anselm,  but  the  interlocutor  in  the 
dialogue,  who  asks  : — "  Why  God  took  flesh 
from  the  sinful  mass,  that  is,  from  the  human 
race,  which  is  wholly  infected  with  sin?"  and 
then  asserts  that  Mary  was  conceived  in  sin, 
and  born  in  sin,  because  she  sinned  in  Adam. 
To  which  St.  Anselm  replies,  that  "  Christ  was 

*  De  Conceptu  Virginali,  c.  18. 
t  In  i.  Sentent.  d.  44.  q.  i.  a.  3. 


THE  VOICE  OF  THE  FATHEItS.  129 

born  from  the  sinful  mass  without  sin."*  The 
Saint  could  never  have  intended  to  say  that 
Mary  was  hoth  conceived  in  sin,  and  born  in 
sin,  and  he  puts  these  statements  in  the  mouth 
of  an  objector.  And  when  he  says  that  Christ 
was  born  of  the  sinful  mass  without  sin,  he  says 
what  all  will  say,  that  He  was  born  of  the  mass 
of  Adam  without  sin,  for  that  mass  was  cleansed 
at  the  moment  of  Mary's  animation.  But  though 
St.  Anselm  establishes  the  principle  of  the  Im- 
maculate Conception  so  clearly,  and  St.  Thomas 
has  drawn  the  conclusion  from  it  in  a  passage 
which  is  indisputably  authentic,  yet  no  one 
who  reads  St.  Anselm  through,  can  say  that 
St.  Anselm  himself  has  drawn  the  same  definite 
conclusion. 

During  so  long  and  fervid  a  discussion,  last- 
ing as  it  has  done  for  centuries,  the  whole  of 
the  Fathers  have  been  gleaned  over  and  over 
again  by  the  antagonists  of  the  mystery,  in 
search  of  whatever  passages  might  seem  to 
make  against  the  glorious  privilege  of  the 
Mother  of  God.  The  result  of  these  researches 
has  been  brought  together  by  Petavius.  It 
amounts  to  some  thirty  passages,  from  the 
whole  collection  of  the  Fathers.  And  when 
we  come  to  examine  them,  with  the  aid  of 
that  light  which  a  precise  idea  of  the  mystery 
gives,  not  one  of  them  is  there  which  admits 
not  of  the  most  satisfactory  explanation.  For, 
in  the  first  place,  there  is  not  a  single  Father, 
who,  in  formal  terms,  declares  that  Mary  was 
defiled  with  original  sin.  Some  affirm  that  God 

*  Cur  Deus  homo.  L.  2  c.  16. 


130  THE  VOICE  OF  THE  FATHERS. 

alone,  or  that  Christ  alone  is  without  sin,  with- 
out making  any  allusion  to  original  sin,  In 
others,  it  is  said  in  general  terms,  that  the 
whole  human  race  is  infected  with  original  sin, 
whilst  no  direct  allusion  is  made  to  the  Blessed 
Virgin.  A  third  class  of  passages  assert  that 
all  men,  if  we  except  Christ  alone,  are  infected 
by  original  sin.  And  when  we  have  separated 
such  testimonies  as  speak  but  in  these  general 
terms — terms  in  which  even  the  most  strenuous 
assertors  of  the  exemption  of  the  Blessed  Vir- 
gin as  habitually  speak,  when  they  speak  of 
mankind  in  general — we  have  only  a  very  few 
passages  from  a  few  Fathers  left,  which  either 
speak  of  the  flesh  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  as  a 
flesh  of  sin,  or  speak  of  her  as  sanctified,  or  as 
cleansed,  or  as  purified.  St.  Augustine,  and 
certain  Fathers  of  his  school,  speak  of  the  flesh 
of  Mary  as  a  flesh  of  sin.  •  But  they  mean  no 
more  than  that  her  flesh  was  derived  from  the 
common  origin.  And  the  flesh  abstracted  from 
the  soul,  neither  has  personality,  nor  is  the 
subject  of  sin,  as  St.  Anselm,  and  St.  Thomas 
have  taught,  and  is  of  itself  neither  capable  of 
justice  or  of  injustice.  St.  Anselm  says,  "  origi- 
nal sin  can  only  be  in  a  rational  nature."*  And 
St.  Thomas  says,  "  original  sin  can  by  no  means 
be  in  the  flesh,  as  in  its  subject,  but  only  in  the 
soul."f  Those  Fathers,  therefore,  speak  of  the 
flesh  of  Mary  as  being  conceived  in  the  common 
way,  and  of  that  concupiscence  which  is  both 
the  daughter  and  the  mother  of  sin,  as  St. 

*  De  Conceptu  Virginali  et  Pec.  Orig.  c.  3. 
t  In  i.  2.  q.  83.  a  i. 


THE  VOICE  OF  THE  FATHERS.  131 

Augustine  says ;  but  in  the  Blessed  Virgin  this 
was  cleansed,  purified,  and  sanctified  by  grace, 
in  her  true  or  passive  conception,  when  that 
flesh  was  animated.  And  thus,  the  language 
of  these  Fathers,  of  St.  Augustine,  of  St.  Ful- 
gentius,  of  St.  Peter  Damian,  and  of  St.  Anselm, 
so  far  from  being  opposed  to  the  true  and  ortho- 
dox sense  of  the  Immaculate  Conception,  is  a 
language  which  perfectly  accords  with  the  doc- 
trine, and  describes  one  of  its  real  and  admitted 
features.  What  was  the  real  opinion  of  St. 
Augustine  on  the  subject  we  have  already  seen. 
And  St.  Peter  Damian  has  expressed  himself 
with  even  greater  clearness.  For,  besides  other 
passages  in  which  he  has  expressed  the  same 
idea  with  greater  fulness,  in  his  sermon  on  the 
Assumption,  he  says : — "  The  flesh  of  the  virgin 
which  was  taken  from  Adam  did  not  admit  the 
stains  of  Adam."  * 

There  are  Fathers  who  call  even  the  flesh  of 
our  Lord  &  flesh  of  sin,  by  reason  of  its  descent 
from  them  who  were  sinners.  St.  Proclus,  in 
his  Sixth  Discourse,  calls  the  body  of  our  Lord 
a  body  of  sin.  And  St.  Hilary,  in  his  work 
on  the  Trinity,  says  of  Christ : — "  He  received 
a  flesh  of  sin,  that  by  taking  our  flesh  He  might 
forgive  our  sins  ;  whilst  He  was  made  partaker 
of  it,  by  assuming  it,  and  not  by  criminality.""* 
And  St.  Gregory  Nazianzen  has  dared  to  say, 
that  the  Word  "took  condemned  flesh"}  But 
who  will  assert  that  these  Fathers  intended  to 
insinuate  that  Christ  was  conceived  in  original 
sin? 

*  De  Trinitate.  L.  i.  n.  13.  t  Orat.  51.  n.  18. 


132 


THE  VOICE  OF  THE  FATHERS. 


This,  then,  is  the  conclusion  we  are  brought 
to.  There  is  an  unbroken  chain  of  Fathers  for 
the  Immaculate  Conception,  and  there  are  none 
who  deny  the  mystery  in  that  sense  in  which 
the  Church  explains  and  understands  it.  But 
as  it  had  never  been  up  to  this  period  a  subject 
of  controversy,  it  had  not  been  couched  in  any 
doctrinal  formulary. 


MAHOMET  AND  MARTIN  LUTHER,  ETC. 


133 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

MAHOMET    AND    MARTIN   LUTHER    ON    THE 
IMMACULATE    CONCEPTION. 

THE  leaders  of  the  two  greatest  revolts 
against  the  Church  of  God,  strange  to  say, 
have  received  and  reflected,  each  in  his  pecu- 
liar way,  the  tradition  of  the  Church  on  the 
Immaculate  Conception. 

It  is  well  known  that  Mahomet,  during  the 
commercial  period  of  his  life,  conversed  with 
Christians  on  their  doctrines,  especially  in  his 
visits  to  the  great  fair  of  Bosra,  which  brought 
people  together  from  all  parts  of  the  East.  In 
various  parts  of  his  Koran  he  has  inserted  frag- 
ments of  Christian  teaching,  coloured  with  his 
own  fancies.  And,  amongst  the  Christian  tradi- 
tions, which  he  thus  caught  hold  of,  was  that 
of  the  Immaculate  Conception.  The  passage, 
however,  owing  to  the  rhapsodical  character  of 
its  style,  is  not  very  intelligible  to  ordinary 
readers,  without  the  aid  of  explanation.  And 
that  explanation  the  Mahommedan  commenta- 
tors will  supply  to  us.  The  passage  is  contained 
in  the  third  chapter  of  the  Koran,  which  is 
entitled,  The  Family  of  Imran.  Imran,  or 
Amran,  according  to  the  commentators,  is  the 
Jiusband  of  Anna,  and  the  father  of  Mary, — it 


134  MAHOMET  AND  MARTIN  LUTHER 

is  another  name  for  St.  Joachim.  In  this  chap- 
ter it  is  said  : — 

"  God  hath  surely  chosen  Adam,  and  Noah, 
and  the  family  of  Abraham,  and  the  family  of 
Imran,  above  the  rest  of  the  world;  a  race 
descending  the  one  from  the  other;  God  is 
He  who  heareth  and  knoweth.  Remember, 
when  the  wife  of  Imran  (Anna)  said,  Lord,  I 
have  vowed  unto  thee  that  which  is  in  my 
womb,  to  be  dedicated  *  to  thy  service ;  accept 
it  therefore  of  me,  for  thou  art  He  who  heareth 
and  knoweth.  And  when  she  was  delivered 
of  it,  she  said,  Lord,  verily  I  have  brought 
forth  a  female,  (and  God  well  knew  what  she 
had  brought  forth)  and  a  male  is  not  as  a 
female ;  f  I  have  called  her  Mary,  and  I  com- 
mend her  to  thy  protection,  and  also  her  issue, 
against  Satan,  driven  away  with  stones. :[  There- 
fore, the  Lord  accepted  her  with  a  gracious 
acceptance,  and  caused  her  to  bear  an  excellent 
offspring." 

I  have  cited  the  passage  from  Sale's  transla- 
tion. Marracci,  in  his  Latin  version,  which  Sale 
highly  commends  for  its  accuracy  and  closeness 
to  the  Arabic,  renders  the  chief  portion  of  the 
passage  after  this  manner  : — "  And  I  indeed 
have  called  her  Mary :  and  I  assuredly  com- 
mend the  care  of  her  to  thee,  and  her  offspring, 
to  be  defended  from  Satan  struck  with  stones. 

*  The  original  word  is  free,  which  signifies  here,  as  Gelali  says,  one 
free  from  worldly  occupations  and  desires,  and  devoted  to  God. 

t  That  is,  a  female  cannot  minister  in  the  temple  as  a  male  could. 

%  Driven  away  with  stones.  This  expression  alludes  to  a  tradition  that 
when  the  devil  tempted  Abraham  to  disobey  God,  and  not  to  sacrifice 
his  son,  Abraham  drove  him  off  with  stones.  In  memory  of  which  the 
pilgrims  to  Mecca  cast  stones  at  the  devil  in  the  valley  of  Mina. 


ON  THE  IMMACULATE  CONCEPTION.  135 

The  Lord  therefore  received  her  with  a  beauti- 
ful reception,  and  caused  her  to  germinate  with 
a  beautiful  germ." 

I  need  scarcely  remind  the  reader  that  the 
Koran  was  written  in  the  seventh  century. 
Gelali,  or  Gelaleddin  Mahalli,  explaining  the 
passage,  after  Mahommedan  traditions,  in  the 
fifteenth  century,  says  : — "  In  the  histories  it  is 
said,  no  one  is  born  but  Satan  touches  him  at 
his  birth,  and  therefore  he  bursts  into  weeping, 
except  Mary  and  her  Son."*  Hossein  Vaes,  a 
century  later,  repeats  the  exposition  in  his  Per- 
sian commentary.!  Cotada  confirms  the  Ma- 
hommedan opinion  in  these  words  : — "  Every 
one  born  of  Adam  is  pierced  in  the  side  by  the 
touch  of  Satan  when  born,  except  Jesus  and 
His  Mother :  for  God  put  a  veil  between  them 
and  Satan,  so  that  the  touch  of  Satan  was 
arrested  in  the  veil,  nor  did  it  touch  them  in 
any  part.  Moreover,  it  is  narrated  to  us,  that 
neither  of  them  committed  any  sin,  as  the  other 
children  of  Adam  do."J 

Sale,  in  his  note  on  Mahomet's  text,  says  : — 
"  It  is  not  improbable  that  the  pretended  imma- 
culate conception  of  the  Virgin  Mary  is  inti- 
mated in  this  passage." 

This  tradition  is  the  more  remarkable  as  the 
Mahommetans  teach  from  their  Koran,  that  God 
made  a  compact  with  Adam  and  all  his  descend- 
ants at  his  creation.§ 

*  Marraccl,  Alcorani  Refutatio,  in  locum, 
t  D'Herbclot,  Billiothfcque  Orient,  art.  Miriam. 

t  Marracci.  Ibid. 
J  D'Herbelot,  art.  Adam. 


136  MAHOMET  AND  MARTIN  LUTHER 

The  Koi\an  goes  on  to  say  that  Mary,  under 
the  care  of  Zacharia,  was.  placed  in  a  chamber 
of  the  temple.  It  then  narrates  the  miraculous 
birth  of  St.  John  the  Baptist,  whom  he  calls  an 
honourable,  chaste,  and  righteous  prophet,  who 
should  bear  witness  to  the  Word  from  God.  It 
then  adds : — "  The  angels  said,  0  Mary,  verily 
God  hath  chosen  thee,  and  hath  purified  thee, 
and  hath  chosen  thee  above  all  the  women  of 
the  world :  0  Mary,  be  devout  towards  thy 
Lord,  and  worship  and  bow  down  with  those 
that  bow  down." 

The  respect  which  Mahomet  and  his  followers 
have  always  expressed  towards  the  Blessed  Vir- 
gin, and  which  should  put  many  to  shame  who 
profess  themselves  Christians,  is  the  more  re- 
markable when  we  consider  their  notions  re- 
specting the  rest  of  her  sex,  opinions  as  dis- 
graceful as  they  are  degrading,  and  which  tend 
to  show  that  theoretical  opinions  concerning 
Mary  are  of  no  avail,  unless  in  those  Christian 
hearts  which  separate  her  not  from  Jesus,  and 
truly  honour  her  as  the  Mother  of  God.  An 
anecdote  is  told  by  D'Herbelot,  from  the  Defter 
Lethaif,  which  illustrates  the  Mahommedan 
opinion  concerning  Mary. 

Abou  Ishac,  one  of  the  most  famous  doctors 
of  Mahommedanism,  was  ambassador  from  the 
Caliph,  at  the  court  of  the  Greek  Emperor. 
There  he  had  warm  disputes  on  the  subject  of 
religion  with  the  Greek  Patriarch  and  several 
bishops.  The  bishops  had  quoted  sundry  re- 
flections made  by  Mahommedans  to  the  disad- 
vantage of  Ayesha,  the  wife  and  widow  of  the 
false  prophet.  Abou  Ishac  replied,  by  drawing 


ON  THE  IMMACULATE  CONCEPTION.  137 

a  picture  of  the  divisions  in  the  East  respecting 
Our  Lord's  incarnation  ;  how  some  said  that  the 
Holy  Virgin  brought  forth,  some  said  she  did 
not  bring  forth,  some  said  they  knew  not 
whether  she  did  or  did  not.  He  then  concluded 
with  this  appeal  to  the  bishops: — "How  can 
you  be  surprised  that  Mahommedans  have  dif- 
fered about  Ayesha,  since  Christians  have  differ- 
ed about  that  glorious  Virgin  Mary,  who  was  a 
mine  and  a  fountain  of  purity  ?" 

Let  us  now  turn  to  Martin  Luther. 

In  a  sermon  on  the  Gospel  from  the  eleventh 
chapter  of  St.  Luke,  "  Blessed  is  the  womb  that 
bore  thee"  &c.  preached  on  the  day  of  the  Con- 
ception of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  Luther  has  put 
forth  the  doctrine  of  the  Immaculate  Conception 
in  so  clear  and  solid  a  way,  that  one  may  almost 
forgive  him  the  fling  at  the  Religious  Orders 
with  which  he  opens  his  discourse.  After  speak- 
ing on  original  sin,  and  of  the  birth  of  Christ 
from  the  Blessed  Virgin,  he  says: — 

"  But  as  the  Virgin  Mary  was  herself  born  of 
a  father  and  mother  in  the  natural  way,  many 
have  been  disposed  to  assert  that  she  was  also 
born  in  original  sin,  though  all  with  one  mouth 
affirm  that  she  was  sanctified  in  the  maternal 
womb,  and  conceived  without  concupiscence. 
But  some  have  been  disposed  to  take  a  middle 
way,  and  have  said  that  man's  conception  is  two- 
fold;— that  the  one  is  from  the  parents, — but 
that  the  other  takes  place  when  the  little 
body  is  prepared,  and  the  soul  infused  by 
God,  its  Creator.  Of  the  first  conception  we 
shall  say  nothing.  Nor  does  it  much  concern 
us,  so  that  the  Virgin  Mary  be  conceived  in 


138  MAHOMET  AND  MARTIN  LUTHER 

such  manner  after  the  common  way,  that  Christ 
may  still  be  excepted,  as  alone  conceived  in  the 
way  peculiar  to  Himself,  that  is,  without  man. 
For  it  must  so  have  been  that  Christ,  God  and 
man,  would  be  conceived  in  all  His  members 
perfect ;  wherefore  it  was  necessary  that  His 
should  be  the  most  spiritual  and  most  holy  of  all 
conceptions.  But  in  the  conception  of  the  Vir- 
gin Mary,  whose  body  was  formed  with  pro- 
gress of  time,  and  after  the  manner  of  other 
children,  until  the  infusion  of  the  soul  there  was 
no  need  of  such  a  conception,  for  it  could  be 
preserved  from  original  sin  until  the  soul  was  to 
be  infused.  And  the  other  conception,  that  is 
to  say,  the  infusion  of  the  soul,  is  piously  believ- 
ed to  have  been  accomplished  without  original 
sin.  So  that,  in  that  very  infusing  of  the  soul, 
the  body  was  simultaneously  purified  from  origi- 
nal sin,  and  endowed  with  divine  gifts  to  receive 
that  holy  soul  which  was  infused  into  it  from  God. 
And  thus  in  the  first  moment  it  began  to  live,  it 
was  exempt  from  all  sin.  For  before  it  could 
begin  to  live,  perhaps  it  may  be  said  that  there 
was  neither  absence  nor  presence  of  sin,  for  that 
only  belongs  to  the  soul  and  to  the  living  man. 
Thus  the  Virgin  Mary  holds  as  it  were  a  middle 
position  between  Christ  and  other  men.  For  if 
indeed  Christ,  when  He  was  conceived,  was 
both  living,  and  at  that  very  moment  was  full  of 
grace ;  whilst  other  men  are  without  grace,  both 
in  their  first  and  in  their  second  conception  ;  so 
the  Virgin  Mary  was,  according  to  the  first  con- 
ception, without  grace,  yet,  according  to  the 
second  conception,  she  was  full  of  grace.  Nor 
was  this  without  reason.  For  she  was  the  mid- 


ON  THE  IMMACULATE  CONCEPTION.  139 

way  between  all  nativities,  being  born  of  a 
father  and  mother,  but  bringing  forth  without 
a  father,  and  being  made  the  mother  of  a  Son 
who  was  partly  of  the  flesh  and  partly  of  the 
Spirit.  For  Christ  was  conceived  partly  of  her 
flesh  and  partly  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  Moreover, 
Christ  is  the  father  of  many  children,  without  a 
carnal  father,  and  without  a  carnal  mother. 
But  as  the  Virgin  Mary  is  properly  the  midway 
between  the  carnal  and  the  spiritual  nativity, 
the  end  of  the  carnal  but  the  beginning  of  the 
spiritual,  so  she  justly  holds  the  midway  in  her 
conception.  For  as  the  rest  of  mankind  are, 
both  in  soul  and  in  body,  conceived  in  sin,  whilst 
Christ  is  conceived  without  sin,  as  well  in  body 
as  in  soul,  so  the  Virgin  Mary  was  conceived, 
according  to  the  body,  indeed,  without  grace, 
but  according  to  the  soul,  full  of  grace.  This  is 
signified  by  those  words  which  the  angel  Gabriel 
said  to  her,  '  Blessed  art  thou  amongst  women.' 
For  it  could  not  be  said  to  her,  Blessed  art  thou, 
if  at  any  time  she  had  been  obnoxious  to  the 
curse.  Again,  it  was  just  and  meet  that  that 
person  should  be  preserved  from  original  sin, 
from  whom  Christ  received  the  flesh  by  which 
He  overcame  all  sins.  And  that,  indeed,  is  pro- 
perly called  blessed  which  is  endowed  with 
divine  grace,  that  is,  which  is  free  from  sin. 
Concerning  this  subject  others  have  written  far 
more  things,  and  have  alleged  beautiful  reasons, 
but  it  would  lead  us  to  too  great  lengths  if  we 
repeated  them  in  this  place."* 

»  Martini  Lutheri  Postillae.    In  die  Conceptionis  Marise  Matris  Dei.  p. 
360-1.    Argentoratl  apud  Gcorgium  Ulricum  Adlanum,  anno,  xxx. 


140  MAHOMET  AND  MARTIN  LUTHER. 

Such  is  the  testimony  which  the  founder  of 
Protestantism  has  left  on  record,  concerning  the 
Immaculate  Conception. 


THE  VOICE  OF  THE  DIVINES.  141 


CHAPTER  XV. 


THE  VOICE  OF  THE  DIVINES. 

No  controversy  arose  on  the  Immaculate  Con- 
ception until  the  twelfth  century.  The  Festival 
in  its  honour  had  been  established  from  an  early 
period  in  the  East,  in  Spain  in  the  seventh,  in 
Naples  by  the  ninth,  in  England  in  the  eleventh 
century,  but  as  yet  it  had  not  been  instituted 
in  Rome. 

In  the  days  of  St.  Bernard  the  Festival  had 
begun  in  Lyons,  whereupon  the  Saint  addressed 
a  vehement  letter  to  the  Canons  of  that  Church, 
in  which  he  reproved  them  for  taking  the  step 
upon  their  own  authority,  and  before  they  had 
consulted  the  Holy  See.  And,  in  the  earnest- 
ness of  his  denunciation,  he  questioned  the  mys- 
tery. Yet  it  is  evident  from  the  tenor  of  his 
language,  that  he  had  no  idea  in  his  mind 
beyond  that  of  the  active  conception,  and  that 
the  distinction  between  the  active  conception 
and  the  passive,  or  animation,  had  not  yet  been 
drawn.  The  words  of  St.  Bernard  are  unmis- 
tak  cable.  He  says  : — "  For  how  could  she  be 
holy  without  the  sanctifying  Spirit,  or  how 
could  there  be  an  association  between  the  Holy 
Ghost  and  sin  ?  Or  how,  truly,  could  sin  be 
absent  when  concupiscence  (libido}  was  not  ab- 
sent ;  unless  it  were  said  that  she  was  conceived 


142  THE  VOICE  OF  THE  DIVINES. 

of  the  Holy  Spirit  and  not  of  man  ?  But  hitherto 
this  has  been  unheard  of."*  St.  Bernard,  then, 
is  clearly  arguing  upon  the  notion  of  the  active 
conception,  which  the  Church  does  not  contem- 
plate in  the  mystery.  Hence  Albert  the  Great 
observes  : — "  We  say  that  the  Blessed  Virgin  was 
not  sanctified  before  animation,  and  the  affirma- 
tive contrary  to  this  is  the  heresy  condemned 
by  St.  Bernard  in  his  epistle  to  the  Canons  of 
Lyons."f 

St.  Bernard  was  at  once  replied  to  by  a 
treatise  on  the  Conception,  written  by  either 
Richard  of  St.  Victor,  or  Peter  Comestor.  After 
the  Saint's  death  the  controversy  arose  anew 
between  Nicholas,  an  English  monk  of  St. 
Alban's,  and  Peter  Cellensis,  the  celebrated 
Bishop  of  Chartres.  Nicholas  defended  the  Fes- 
tival as  established  in  England,  and  Peter, 
though  he  maintained  to  the  last  that  the 
authority  of  the  Holy  See  should  have  been 
invoked,  yet  expressed  his  agreement  with 
Nicholas,  at  the  conclusion  of  the  controversy, 
in  these  words : — "  You  praise  the  Blessed  Vir- 
in,  and  I  praise  her.  You  preach  her  holy,  so 
o  I.  You  exalt  her  above  the  angelic  choirs, 
so  do  I.  You  say  she  was  exempt  from  original 
sin,  and  I  say  it.  Turn  and  return  the  question 
of  her  veneration,  and  of  her  glorification  in 
every  condition,  and  I  go  with  you,  I  feel  with 

you."* 

*  I  have  refrained  from  translating  the  following  sentence,  which  puts 
St.  Bernard's  meaning  beyond  question — An  forte  inter  amplexus  mari- 
tales  sanctitas  se  ipsi  conception!  immiscuit,  at  simul  et  sanctificata  et 
concepta  fuit.  Nee  hoc  quidem  admittit  ratio. 

f-   In  3,  dist.  3,  art.  4. 
t  Pet.  Cel.  L.  9.  Ep.  10.  Bib.  Max.  Patr. 


THE  VOICE  OF  TITE  DIVINES.  143 

The  point  continued  to  be  debated  through- 
out  the  thirteenth  and  fourteenth  centuries, 
and  great  names  appeared  on  both  sides.  St. 
Thomas  at  first  pronounced  in  favour  of  the 
doctrine,  in  the  passage  quoted  in  the  last  chap- 
ter from  his  Treatise  on  the  Sentences,  yet  in 
his  great  work,  the  Sum  of  Theology,  he  con- 
cluded against  it.  At  the  same  time,  his  master, 
Albert  the  Great,  who  lived  to  survive  him, 
stood  for  the  doctrine.  Much  discussion  has 
arisen  as  to  whether  St.  Thomas  did  deny  that 
the  Blessed  Virgin  was  immaculate  at  the  in- 
stant of  her  animation  or  not.  And  most  learned 
books  have  been  written  to  vindicate  him  from 
having  actually  drawn  the  negative  conclusion. 
But  after  all  the  researches  that  have  been  made 
into  manuscripts  and  early  editions  of  his  works  ; 
though  some  manuscripts,  and  five  editions, 
represent  him  as  really  teaching  the  doctrine, 
and  that  in  both  the  Sum  of  Theology  and  in 
other  of  his  works;  and  though  some  of  the 
greatest  divines  even  of  his  own  Order,  and  of 
his  own  school,  and  those  of  an  early  period, 
represent  him  as  having  had  no  intention  of 
opposing  it;  yet  it  is  hard  to  say  that  St. 
Thomas  did  not  require  an  instant,  at  least, 
after  the  animation  of  Mary  before  her  sancti- 
fication.  His  great  difficulty  appears  to  have 
arisen  on  the  question,  how  she  could  have  been 
redeemed  if  she  had  not  sinned.  This  difficulty 
he  has  raised  in  not  fewer  than  ten  passages  in 
his  writings.  But  whilst  St.  Thomas  thus  held 
back  from  the  essential  point  of  the  doctrine,  it 
is  most  worthy  to  be  remarked,  that  he  himself 
laid  down  the  principles,  which,  after  they  had 


144  THE  VOICE  OF  TEE  DIVINES. 

been  drawn  together,  and  worked  out  through  a 
longer  course  of  thought,  enabled  other  minds 
to  furnish  the  true  solution  of  his  difficulty 
from  his  own  premises."' 

Up  to  this  time  a  great  deal  of  the  objection 
owed  its  existence  to  a  want  of  clear  insight 
into  the  subject  in  dispute.  The  word  concep- 
tion was  used  in  different  senses,  and  those 
different  senses  had  not  been  separated  by  care- 
ful definitions.  And  the  language  employed  in 
certain  of  the  arguments  wanted  the  same  kind 
of  clearing  up.  The  argument  laboured,  in 
fact,  under  an  ambiguous  middle  term.  Thus 
the  disputants  were  often  contending  for  the 
same  truths,  and  their  words  alone  were  actually 
in  conflict.  It  may  also  be  well  to  call  to  mind, 
whilst  speaking  of  these  disputes,  that  the  teach- 
ing authority  in  the  Church  is  in  the  Episco- 
pacy, and  not  in  the  schools  of  theology.  The 
work  of  theologians  is  to  bring  together  and 
classify  the  teachings  of  authority,  and  to  eluci- 
date them  by  their  learned  reasonings.  The 
popes  and  bishops  are  the  true  guardians  of  the 
divine  traditions.  Valuable  as  their  great  works 
are,  the  divines  of  those  times  are  not  so  much 
distinguished  for  the  investigation  of  evidence 
as  for  the  exercise  of  their  powers  of  reasoning. 
Not  many  of  them  made  any  great  study  of  the 
Fathers,  or  of  history.  They  read  the  Western 
Fathers  more  than  those  of  the  Eastern  Church, 
who  are  much  the  fullest  on  the  tradition  of  the 
Immaculate  Conception.  And  many  works  of 
the  Fathers,  which  had  been  lost  sight  of,  have 

*0n  this  subject  see  the  very  beautiful  and  learned  work  of  Cardi- 
nal Sfondrato,  entitled,  Innocentia  Vindicata. 


THE  VOICE  OF  THE  DIVINES.  145 

since  been  brought  to  light  and  made  acces 
sible. 

The  authority  of  St.  Thomas  had  a  decided 
influence  for  a  time,  but  with  his  great  intellect 
he  had  himself  prepared  the  way  for  a  more 
clear  comprehension  of  the  subject.  St.  Bona- 
venture,  his  contemporary,  had  done  yet  more 
in  this  path.  With  a  firm  hand  he  drew  the 
distinctions  clearly  between  the  different  parts 
of  the  controversy,  and  separated  the  point, 
which  formed  the  real  question,  from  its  entan- 
glements. He  himself  wavered  between  the 
doctrine  and  the  objections  which  seemed  to 
stand  in  its  way,  and  has  been  generally  consi- 
dered as  opposed  to  it.  But  in  his  latest  writ- 
ings he  clearly  declared  himself  for  the  privi- 
lege of  Mary,  and  in  language  which  shows  how 
thoroughly  he  had  at  last  apprehended  the  sub- 
ject. In  his  second  sermon  on  the  Blessed 
Virgin  he  says  : — "  Our  Lady  was  full  of  pre- 
venting grace  in  her  sanctification,  of  grace  pre- 
servative against  the  foulness  of  original  sin ; 
which  sin,  from  corruption  of  nature,  she  would 
have  contracted,  if  she  had  not  been  prevented 
and  preserved  by  special  grace.  But  only  the 
Son  of  the  Virgin,  and  His  Virgin  Mother,  were 
exempt  from  original  sin.  For  it  is  to  be  be- 
lieved that,  by  a  new  kind  of  sanctification,  the 
Holy  Spirit  redeemed  her  from  original  sin,  not 
that  it  was  in  her,  but  that  it  might  have  been 
in  her,  had  not  He,  by  a  singular  grace,  pre- 
served her  from  it."* 

The  phrase,  a  new  kind  of  sanctification, 

*  Serm.  2.  De  B.  V.  M.    See  Appendix,  a. 


146  THE  VOICE  OF  THE  DIVINES. 

and  the  introduction  of  the  word  redeemed,  in- 
dicate that  the  solution  of  St.  Thomas'  difficulty 
had  dawned  upon  St.  Bonaventure.  This  Saint, 
whilst  he  held  the  office  of  General,  introduced 
the  Feast  of  the  Immaculate  Conception  through- 
out the  whole  Franciscan  order. 

But  soon  after  St.  Bonaventure  there  arose  in 
his  order  the  famous  John  Duns  Scotus,  who, 
first  at  Oxford,  and  then  in  a  disputation  before 
the  University  of  Paris,  laid  the  foundations  of 
the  true  doctrine  so  solidly,  and  dispelled  the 
objections  in  a  manner  so  satisfactory,  that  from 
that  moment  it  prevailed.  It  was  Scotus  who 
removed  the  great  objection  of  St.  Thomas.  He 
proved  that  so  far  from  being  excluded  from 
redemption,  the  Blessed  Virgin  obtained  of 
her  divine  Son  the  greatest  of  graces  and  re- 
demptions, through  that  very  mystery  of  her 
immaculate  preservation  from  all  sin.*  And 
from  this  time  the  doctrine  of  the  Immacu- 
late Conception  not  only  gained  a  vast  deal 
of  ground  in  the  schools  of  the  universities, 
and  became  the  common  opinion  there,  but 
the  Feast  of  the  Conception  came  to  be  estab- 
lished in  Rome.  This  was  done  under  Nicho- 
las III.,  or  perhaps  Clement  V.,  and  the 
example  spread  widely  through  those  countries 
where  it  had  not  been  previously  adopted. 
With  the  exception  of  the  Dominicans,  all,  or 
nearly  all,  the  Religious  Orders  took  it  up.  And 
the  devotion  sank  deeply  into  the  hearts  of  the 
people. 

Still  the  controversy  continued,  but  the  de- 

*  In  3  Sent.  d.  3.  q.  I. 


THE  VOICE  OF  THE  DIVINES.  147 

fenders  of  the  opposing  doctrine  became  more 
and  more  limited  in  numbers,  and  were  almost 
confined  to  the  members  of  the  Order  to  which 
we  have  alluded.  In  the  year  1439,  the  dis- 
pute was  brought  before  the  Council  of  Basle. 
And  after  it  had  been  discussed  for  the  space  of 
two  years  before  that  assemblage,  the  assem- 
bled Bishops  declared  the  Immaculate  Concep- 
tion to  be  a  doctrine  which  was  pious,  consonant 
to  Catholic  worship,  Catholic  faith,  right  reason, 
and  Holy  Scripture,  and  that  it  ought  to  be 
approved  and  embraced  by  all  Catholics,  nor, 
said  they,  was  it  henceforward  allowable  to 
preach  or  declare  to  the  contrary.  But  as  the 
Council  was  at  the  time  without  a  head,  it  was 
not  in  a  position  to  exercise  authority  or  to 
prescribe  to  the  Church.  And  it  is  only  ad- 
duced to  show  the  sentiments  entertained  by 
the  bishops  there  assembled.  The  controversy 
therefore  continued,  until,  in  the  year  1476, 
Pope  Sixtus  IV.,  to  put  a  stop  to  the  scandals 
and  disedification  which  it  occasioned,  granted 
indulgences  to  all  who  recited  the  canonical 
office,  or  assisted  at  the  mass  of  the  Immaculate 
Conception.  And  as  this  did  not  prove  sufficient 
to  appease  the  conflict,  in  1483  the  same  Pope 
published  another  Constitution,  in  which  he 
punished  with  excommunication  all  those  of 
either  opinion  who  charged  the  opposite  opinion 
with  heresy,  since  the  Holy  See  had.  not  as  yet 
pronounced  upon  it. 

In  the  year  1546  the  great  Council  of  Trent 
declared  that :  "It  was  not  in  the  intention  of 
this  Holy  Synod  to  include  in  the  decree,  which 
concerned  original  sin,  the  Blessed  and  Immacu- 


148  THE  VOICE  OF  THE  DIVINES. 

late  Virgin  Mary,  Mother  of  God."  But  as 
this  decree  did  not  define  the  doctrine — although 
it  was  well  known  that,  with  very  few  excep- 
tions, the  great  body  of  the  bishops  assembled 
were  inclined  to  the  pious  belief — the  theological 
opponents  of  the  mystery,  though  becoming 
continually  reduced  in  numbers,  did  not  yield  in 
their  pertinacity.  But  as  great  scandal  and 
offence  was  given  in  the  Church  by  those  who 
brought  up  the  discussion  in  public  disputations, 
and  even  in  the  pulpit,  St.  Pius  Y.  not  only 
condemned  the  proposition  of  Baius,  that  "  No 
one  but  Christ  was  without  original  sin,  and 
that  therefore  the  Blessed  Virgin  had  died  be- 
cause of  the  sin  contracted  in  Adam,  and  had 
endured  afflictions  in  this  life,  like  the  rest  of 
the  just,  as  punishments  of  actual  and  original 
sin ;"  but  the  same  holy  Pope  published  another 
Constitution,  in  which  he  forbade  all  public  dis- 
cussions by  word  or  writing,  in  any  living  lan- 
guage by  either  party,  and  only  allowed  of 
moderate  disputation  in  private.  Finally,  he 
inserted  the  office  of  the  Conception  in  the 
Breviary,  and  the  Mass  of  the  same  mystery  in 
the  Missal,  and  made  it  a  Feast  of  obligation. 

But  whilst  these  disputes  continued,  the  great 
universities,  and  almost  all  the  great  Orders, 
had  become  so  many  bulwarks  for  the  defence 
of  the  Immaculate  Conception.  In  the  year 
1497,  the  University  of  Paris  unanimously  de- 
cided and  published  a  statute  to  the  effect,  that 
henceforward  no  one  should  be  admitted  as  a 
member  of  the  university  who  did  not  swear 
that  he  would,  to  the  utmost,  assert  and  defend 
the  position,  that  the  Blessed  Virgin  was  pre- 


THE  VOICE  OF  THE  DIVINES.  149 

served  and  exempted  from  original  sin.  Tou- 
louse followed  the  example.  And  in  Italy, 
Bologna,  and  Naples;  in  Germany,  Cologne, 
Mayence,  and  Vienna ;  in  Belgium,  Louvain ; 
in  England,  before  the  Reformation,  Oxford  and 
Cambridge ;  in  Spain,  Salamanca,  Toledo,  Se- 
ville, and  Valentia ;  in  Portugal,  Coimbra  and 
Evora ;  in  South  America,  Mexico  and  Lima ; 
all  these  great  universities  and  seats  of  theolo- 
gical learning  bound  their  members  by  oath  to 
defend  the  Immaculate  Conception. 

The  most  celebrated  Religious  Orders  ren- 
dered homage  to  the  privilege  of  Mary,  and 
several  of  them  even  from  their  first  foundation. 
The  Premonstratenses  celebrated  an  office  estab- 
lished by  their  founder  St.  Norbert  himself,  in 
which  they  greeted  the  Blessed  Virgin  as  "  pre- 
served by  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  triumphing 
without  harm  over  the  great  sin  of  our  first 
parents." 

The  Friars  Minors,  in  a  General  Chapter  in 
1621,  declared  unanimously  that  they  had  hon- 
oured the  Blessed  Virgin  as  conceived  without 
sin,  from  the  very  beginning  of  their  Order,  and 
bound  themselves  by  oath  to  teach  the  mystery 
in  public  and  in  private,  and  to  promote  devo- 
tion to  it. 

The  Carmelites,  by  a  statute  which  dates 
from  1306,  not  only  celebrated  the  festival,  but 
made  a  daily  commemoration  of  the  mystery. 

The  Trinitarians  had  an  office  in  honour  of 
the  mystery,  and  the  Introit  of  the  Mass  began : 
"  Let  us  celebrate  the  Immaculate  Conception  of 
the  Virgin  Mary." 

The  Order  of  Mary  for  Redemption  of  Cap- 


150  THE  VOICE  OF  THE  DIVINES. 

tives  bore  the  white  scapular  in  memory  of  the 
Immaculate  Conception,  and  ended  their  daily 
meditation  with  the  following  prayer : — "  0 
God,  who  didst  preserve  the  immaculate  Virgin 
Mary  from  all  stain  of  sin  in  her  conception, 
grant  that  we  who  truly  believe  the  purity  of 
her  innocence,  may  feel  that  she  intercedes  for 
us  with  Thee." 

The  military  Orders  of  Santiago,  of  Cala- 
trava,  and  of  Alcantara,  went  still  further,  for 
they  all  vowed  to  defend  the  doctrine  with 
their  blood. 

The  Carthusians,  the  Cistercians,  the  Celes- 
tines,  the  Jeronimites,  the  Minims,  the  Camal- 
dolese,  the  Cluniacs,  and  the  Servites,  all 
adhered  to  the  pious  belief. 

The  Society  of  Jesus  had  been  conspicuous 
from  its  beginning  in  defending  the  doctrine, 
and  honouring  the  devotion. 

One  celebrated  Order  was  alone  found  absent 
from  the  general  unanimity.  The  Dominicans 
were  under  special  obligation  to  follow  the 
doctrines  of  their  great  divine  St.  Thomas ; 
and  though  there  were  some  learned  and  famous 
men  of  the  Order,  flourishing  not  long  after  St. 
Thomas,  who  maintained  that  the  Saint  did  not 
deny  but  actually  maintained  the  immaculate 
preservation  of  Mary  at  the  instant  of  her  ani- 
mation, yet  the  common  conclusion  was  to  the 
contrary.  The  principal  men  of  the  Order  who 
held  the  former  opinion,  were  the  Englishman, 
John  Bromyard,  and  the  Spaniard,  John  of  St. 
Thomas. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  but  that  had  St.  Ber- 
nard and  St.  Thomas  lived  in  these  days,  those 


THE  VOICE  OF  THE  DIVINES.  151 

two  great  assertors  of  the  other  privileges  of 
the  Blessed  Mother  of  God,  would  have  been 
amongst  the  foremost  to  defend  and  uphold  her 
stainless  origin.  For  both  of  them  expressly 
taught  the  principle  laid  down  by  St.  Augus- 
tine, that  the  Church  never  celebrates  any  festi- 
val except  of  what  is  holy.  And  they  both  had 
proved  the  holiness  of  the  birth  of  the  Blessed 
Virgin,  from  the  fact  that  her  nativity  was  ob- 
served as  a  festival  throughout  the  Church.  St. 
Bernard  concluded  his  celebrated  letter  in  these 
words : — "  But  what  I  have  said  I  have  certainly 
said  without  prejudice  to  what  may  be  more 
soundly  thought  by  one  more  wise.  I  reserve 
all  this,  and  everything  else  of  the  kind,  for  the 
examination  and  judgment  especially  of  the 
Roman  Church,  and  if  I  think  in  anything  dif- 
ferently, I  am  prepared  to  be  amended  by  its 
judgment."  And  St.  Thomas,  in  the  very  article 
in  which  he  seems  to  stand  opposed  to  the  pious 
belief,  makes  the  following  declaration : — "Al- 
though the  Roman  Church  may  not  celebrate 
the  Conception  of  the  Blessed  Virgin,  it  yet 
tolerates  the  custom  of  some  other  churches 
•which  do  celebrate  the  Festival,  hence  such 
celebration  is  not  to  be  wholly  disapproved  of."* 
What,  then,  would  St.  Bernard  have  said,  and 
•what  would  St.  Thomas  have  said,  had  they 
seen  a  Pope,  and  he  a  Saint  of  the  Dominican 
Order,  establishing  the  Festival,  and  making  it 
of  precept  for  the  whole  Church  ?  What  would 
they  have  said,  had  they  witnessed  the  devotion 

*  3  P.  q.  27.  a.  2.  ad  2. 


1 52  THE  VOICE  OF  THE  DIVINES. 

and  the  fervour  with  which  it  has  long  been 
everywhere  celebrated  ? 

But  it  is  a  popular  error  that  the  Dominican 
Order  has  always,  and  in  almost  all  its  distin- 
guished men,  been  opposed  to  the  pure  origin  of 
the  Blessed  Virgin.  Historians  affirm  that  St. 
Dominic  wrote  a  book  against  the  Albigenses  in 
defence  of  three  principles,  one  of  which  was  the 
Immaculate  Conception.  They  appeal  to  a  tab- 
let, preserved  in  the  archives  of  Barcelona  from 
almost  the  days  of  St.  Dominic,  who  died  in 
1221.  In  that  tablet  it  is  recorded  that  the 
Albigenses  denied  that  Christ  could  be  the  true 
Redeemer,  or  that  the  sacred  host  did  contain 
His  real  body,  and  one  of  the  reasons  alleged 
for  His  not  being  the  true  Redeemer  was,  that 
He  was  not  born  of  an  immaculate  Virgin,  but 
of  one  stained  with  original  sin.  Against  these 
errors  St.  Dominic  wrote  a  book  On  the  Flesh 
of  Christ,  in  which  he  not  only  maintained  the 
redemption  of  Christ,  but  defended  the  Imma- 
culate Conception  of  the  Blessed  Virgin.  He 
maintained  that  it  was  of  her  the  Holy  Ghost 
had  said  through  Solomon : — "  Thou  art  all 
fair,  0  my  love,  and  there  is  not  a  spot  in 
thee."  The  following  words  are  also  quoted 
from  his  book,  which  is  no  longer  to  be  found : 
— "As  the  first  Adam  was  formed  of  virgin 
earth,  which  was  never  accursed,  so  it  was  be- 
coming that  it  should  be  in  the  second  Adam." 
It  is  further  said,  that  as  the  Albigenses  with 
whom  the  Saint  disputed,  had  declared  that  if 
his  book  were  cast  into  the  fire  and  came  out 
unharmed,  they  would  believe  in  it ;  St.  Domi- 


THE  VOICE  OF  THE  DIVINES.  153 

me  threw  it  into  a  furnace,  and  it  did  come  out 
uninjured.'" 

Spondanus  in  his  annals,f  Catherinus,  and 
other  writers  assert,  that  from  the  beginning  of 
St.  Dominic's  Order  the  Feast  of  the  Concep- 
tion was  celebrated  until  the  year  1387,  when 
the  word  Conception  was  changed  for  that  of 
Sanctification.  And  in  an  ancient  Dominican 
Martyrology,  written  in  1254,  the  Conception 
of  the  Blessed  Virgin  is  marked  as  a  double 
feast,  as  also  in  their  Martyrology,  printed  in 
1579.  From  a  book  of  Hours  of  the  Blessed 
Virgin,  printed  in  Paris,  in  1529,  for  the  use  of 
the  fathers  of  the  Dominican  Order,  Cardinal 
Sfrondato  cites  these  remarkable  passages.  From 
the  prayer : — "  0  God,  who,  for  the  salvation  of 
the  human  race,  didst  deign  to  assume  flesh 
from  the  Glorious  Virgin,  and  didst  chose  her 
from  before  the  ages  to  be  Thy  mother,  and  to  be 
conceived  without  stain,  grant,"  &c.  From  the 
hymn  at  Tierce: — "The  praiseworthy  Concep- 
tion announced  by  the  angel  to  Mary,  who  was 
so  lovingly  preserved  in  her  Conception."  From 
the  Hymn  at  Vespers  : — "  Hail,  Star  of  the  Sea, 
without  stain  conceived." 

Amongst  the  distinguished  Dominicans  who 
are  mentioned  as  maintaining  the  mystery,  are 
Albert  the  Great,  Vincent  of  Beauvais,  St.  Vin- 
cent Ferrer,  Taulerus  the  great  mystic  writer, 
John  of  Viterbo,  St.  Louis  Bertrand,  the  vener- 
able Jerom  Lanuza,  St.  Raymond  of  Pennafort, 
Cardinal  Hugo,  Louis  of  Grenada,  and  Natalis 

*  For  the  authorities,  see  Jnnocentia  Vindicata.  Sec.  5. 
t  Ad  An.  1387. 


154  THE  VOICE  OF  THE  DIVINES. 

Alexander.  It  is  now  two  hundred  years  since 
Nieremberg  enumerated  five  Generals,  twelve 
Masters  of  the  Sacred  Palace,  and  about  a  hun- 
dred doctors  of  the  Dominican  order,  who  had 
written  or  spoken  in  defence  of  the  Immaculate 
Conception.  * 

Besides  individuals  of  the  Order,  the  Domi- 
nicans of  Spain  in  their  Provincial  Chapter  of 
1524,  decreed  that,  "Whereas  the  Dominican 
Order  has  hitherto  sustained  the  opinion,  that 
the  Blessed  Virgin  was  conceived  in  original 
sin ;  this  is  not  now  so  to  be  considered,  for  it  is 
a  matter  of  no  utility,  and  is  exceedingly  scan- 
dalous, especially  as  almost  the  entire  Church 
(whose  usage  and  authority,  according  to  St. 
Thomas,  prevails  against  the  dictum  of  any  in- 
dividual Doctor)  asserts  at  this  time  that  she 
was  preserved  therefrom."  And  the  Provincial 
Chapter  of  1683  petitioned  Pope  Paul  V.  that 
"  they  might  recite  the  Office  and  celebrate  the 
Festival  of  the  most  pure  Conception  of  the 
Mother  of  God." 

The  fourteenth  Prayer  of  St.  Catherine  of 
Sienna  has  been  alleged  to  prove  that  this 
glorious  Saint  of  the  Dominican  Order  was  op- 
posed to  the  exalted  privilege  of  the  Mother  of 
God.  But  this  part  of  the  prayer,  though 
printed  in  the  Aldine  edition  of  1500,  and  in 
another  Venetian  edition  of  1548,  is  left  out  in 
the  Sienna  edition  of  Gigli  of  1707,  and  also  in 
the  Lucca  reprint  of  1726.f  The  prayer  is  not 

*  Exception.  Concil.  Trid.  f.  194.  See  Innocentia  Vindicata.  Sec.  5, 
for  their  names  and  works,  or  Nieremberg. 

t  Gigli  refers  for  his  reasons,  at  length,  for  the  omission,  in  a  note, 
after  the  prayer,  vol.  iv.,  to  annotations  in  vol.  i.  p.  2-  which  volume 
I  have  not  been  able  to  meet  with. 


THE  VOICE  OF  THE  DIVINES,  155 

in  the  usual  style  of  St.  Catherine.  Its  terms 
savour  of  the  theology  of  the  schools,  and  Peter 
de  Alva  wrote  at  considerable  length  to  prove 
that  it  came  from  the  hand  of  Vincent  Bandello 
de  Castelnovo. 

The  Dominican  Order  had  ever  been  conspi- 
cuous for  their  devotion  to  the  Blessed  Virgin ; 
they  had  been  the  greatest  promoters  of  that 
devotion  through  the  Rosary ;  they  had  been 
founded  under  her  especial  patronage,  and  they 
wore  their  white  habit  in  her  honour.  That 
devotion,  and  the  general  action  of  the  Church, 
have  gradually  worn  away  the  prejudice  in 
which  so  many  of  its  members  had  been  held,  as 
it  were  spell-bound,  against  this  doctrine,  by 
the  influence  of  that  great  light  of  the  schools, 
St.  Thomas.  Yet  it  should  be  observed,  that  if 
as  individuals  a  considerable  number  of  Domini- 
can theologians  have  held  opinions  which  brought 
the  Immaculate  Conception  into  question,  the 
Order  itself  has  never  uttered  anything  as  a 
body,  in  any  form  whatever,  against  the  doctrine, 
so  as  authoritatively  to  influence  its  members, 
whether  in  its  General  or  in  its  Provincial 
Chapters.*  And,  in  the  year  1843,  their  Gen- 
eral petitioned  the  Holy  See  that  the  Festi- 
val of  the  Conception  might  be  celebrated 
throughout  the  Order  with  a  solemn  octave, 
and  that  the  words  Immaculate  Conception 


*  The  Procurator-General  of  the  Dominicans,  Father  M.  Francis  Gande, 
has  just  issued  a  work  on  the  relation  of  the  Dominican  Order  with  the 
doctrine  of  the  Immaculate  Conception,  and  expressive  of  the  firm  adhe- 
sion of  the  Order  to  the  dopnatic  definition.  It  is  entitled,  "  De  Immacu- 
late Deiparse  Conceptu,  ejusque  Dogmatica  Deflnitione,  in  Ordine  pr«- 
sertiui  ad  Scholam  Thomisticam  et  Institutum  F.F.  Prcedicatoruin."  __. 


156  THE  VOICE  OF  THE  DIVINES. 

might  be  used  by  them  in  the  Preface  of  the 
Mass. 

Near  the  cell  once  occupied  by  St.  Dominic 
at  St.  Sabina's,  in  Rome,  there  is  an  orange- 
tree,  which  was  planted,  says  the  tradition  of 
the  Order,  by  their  holy  founder.  Shrunk  with 
so  many  centuries  of  age,  inclining  towards  the 
ground,  and  threatening  a  final  decay,  in  the 
year  when  the  reviver  of  the  French  Domini- 
cans entered  the  noviciate  of  that  house,  the 
old  root  sent  up  a  new  and  vigorous  shoot, 
which  in  the  few  last  years  has  become  an 
upright  and  comely  stem,  and  last  year  bore 
fruit.  May  it  prognosticate  the  restoration  of 
that  illustrious  and  venerable  Order  to  its 
ancient  splendour,  under  the  protection  of  their 
Immaculate  Patroness,  of  which  restoration  it  is 
already  giving  goodly  signs. 

To  conclude  in  the  briefest  manner  the  his- 
tory of  the  contest ;  in  the  year  1622,  that  he 
might  put  an  end  to  those  private  disputations 
and  writings  which,  as  the  Pope  intimates,  were 
still  going  on  between  certain  Religious  Orders, 
to  the  disedification  of  the  faithful,  Gregory 
XV.  imposed  an  absolute  silence  on  those  who 
either  in  public  or  in  private,  by  speech  or  writ- 
ing, were  daring  enough  to  amrm  that  the 
Blessed  Virgin  was  conceived  in  original  sin, 
until  the  Holy  See  should  define  the  question. 
Those  only  were  exempted  from  the  severe 
penalties  by  which  this  Constitution  was  enforc- 
ed, who  received  especial  permission  from  the 
Holy  See.  The  Pope  then  enjoined  that  where 
the  word  Sanctification  was  still  used,  as  it  was 
in  some  instances,  it  should  be  expunged  from 


THE  VOICE  OF  THE  DIVINES.  157 

the  Mass  and  the  Canonical  Hours,  and  the 
word  Conception  inserted  in  its  place.  The 
decree  called  signs  of  joy  from  almost  every 
part  of  the  Catholic  world. 

But  there  were  still  here  and  there  intem- 
perate persons,  who  raised  the  question  under  a 
new  form,  and  affirmed  that  the  word  Immacu- 
late had  been  indeed  associated  with  the  Blessed 
Virgin  by  the  Council  of  Trent  as  a  general 
epithet,  but  that  it  was  not  applicable  to  her 
Conception.  The  principal  mover  in  this  con- 
troversy was  the  notoriously  unsound  Launoy. 
And  to  put  an  end  to  all  further  cavilling,  in  the 
year  1661,  Alexander  VII.  promulgated  the 
famous  Constitution  directed  against  those  who, 
by  their  scandalous  attacks,  sought  to  disturb 
the  pious  faithful  of  Christ  in  the  peaceful  pos- 
session of  that  devotion  and  Festival  which  so 
many  Pontiffs  had  favoured.  He  defined  the 
true  sense  of  the  word  Conception,  as  employed 
in  the  offices  and  devotions  of  the  Church  and  in 
the  Constitutions  of  his  predecessors,  to  signify 
that  the  belief  which  the  ancient  piety  of  the 
faithful  of  Christ  had  felt,  and  which  almost  all 
Catholics  embraced,  was  that  "  The  soul  of  the 
Blessed  Virgin,  in  the  first  instant  of  its  crea- 
tion and  infusion  into  the  body,  was,  by  the 
especial  grace  and  privilege  of  God,  and  in 
view  of  the  merits  of  Jesus  Christ  her  Son,  pre- 
served and  made  exempt  from  original  sin" 
Finally,  this  Pope  forbad  all  further  glossing  or 
interpreting  of  the  Scriptures,  Fathers  or  Doc- 
tors, in  whatever  way,  as  against  the  common 
and  pious  sentiment  of  the  faithful.  After  this, 
the  faithful  were  left  in  peace,  except  when  such 


158  THE  VOICE  OF  THE  DIVINES. 

intemperate  men  as  Muratori  and  Ricci  in  the 
last  century,  and  Hermes  in  the  present,  pre- 
sumed to  assail  the  holy  mystery  once  more. 
But  it  is  a  significant  fact  that  Muratori  appeared 
tinder  a  mask,  and  in  the  three  books  which  he 
published,  changed  his  assumed  name  as  often ; 
but  the  only  result  was  to  bring  out  to  the  light 
some  of  the  most  valuable  works  that  were  ever 
penned  in  vindication  of  the  great  privilege  of 
the  Mother  of  God.* 

In  looking  through  the  vista  of  ages  back  to 
the  beginning  of  this  controversy,  the  first  thing 
•which  strikes  our  attention  is  the  fact  that  it  was 
never  a  division  of  the  Episcopacy.  It  was  sim- 
ply a  conflict  in  certain  schools  which  possessed 
no  teaching  authority.  It  began  in  a  dispute 
as  to  the  power  through  which  a  Festival  ought 
to  be  established  in  local  churches.  In  the 
ardour  of  the  moment,  St.  Bernard  called  in 
question  the  holiness  of  that  conception  of  the 
Blessed  Virgin  which  it  was  proposed  to  cele- 
brate. The  word  itself  conveyed  two  senses, 
and  the  one  contemplated  by  the  tradition  of 
the  Church  was  not  the  one  the  Saint  under- 
stood. St.  Bernard  took  up  the  term  in  its 
popular  sense,  which  the  Church  does  not  con- 
template. This  confusion  of  terms  embroiled 
and  kept  up  the  quarrel  until  the  days 
of  St.  Thomas  and  St.  Bonaventure.  For  so 
long,  it  was  like  the  old  story  of  the  gold  and 
silver  shield.  St.  Thomas  hesitated  to  adopt 
•what  was  yet  but  a  pious  belief,  not  an  article  of 
faith ;  because  he  did  not  fairly  see  his  way  to 

*  See  especially  C.  Octavius  Valerius,  De  Superstitiosa  Timiditate 
Vitauda,  &c.— A  work  replete  with  curious  learning. 


THE  VOICE  OF  THE  DIVINES.  159 

reconcile  it  -with  the  great  dogmas  of  original 
sin  and  redemption.  St.  Bonaventure  rendered 
the  subject  more  clear,  and  then  Scotus  solved 
the  difficulties  of  St.  Thomas.  After  this,  oppo- 
sition sank  more  and  more,  and  almost  all  the 
great  institutions  of  the  Church  became  the 
zealous  promoters  or  the  valiant  defenders  of  the 
Immaculate  Conception  ;  all  the  universities,  and 
almost  all  the  great  Religious  Orders  were  con- 
tending for  Mary's  privilege.  It  never  came 
before  the  Bishops  assembled  in  their  Councils, 
but  they  shewed  themselves  inclined  to  it.  It 
never  came  before  the  Sovereign  Pontiffs,  but 
they  protected  it  as  a  doctrine  and  encouraged 
it  as  a  devotion. 

Why,  then,  should  the  debate  have  been  al- 
lowed to  continue  for  so  long  a  time  ?  A  full 
reply  to  this  question  would  require  an  entire 
treatise  on  the  Providence  which  guides  the 
events  within  the  Church  to  her  final  exalta- 
tion. Rosmini  has  written  such  a  treatise,  as 
St.  Augustine  did  before  him,  and  their  lofty 
principles  require  but  to  be  applied  to  this  par- 
ticular case.  I  must  content  myself  with  a  few 
very  brief  remarks. 

God  has  allowed  certain  truths,  though  im- 
plicitly contained  in  Scripture  and  tradition,  to 
remain  under  a  greater  or  less  degree  of  obscu- 
ration up  to  a  particular  time.  Such  truths 
may  even  be  explicitly  apprehended  and  ex- 
pressed at  various  points  in  the  general  current 
of  tradition,  but  have  not  become  as  yet  the 
daily  object  of  the  contemplation,  the  writing, 
the  preaching,  and  the  devotion  of  the  Church. 
Then  some  one  who  has  not  clearly  seized  the 


160  THE  VOICE  OF  THE  DIVINES. 

more  or  less  latent  sense  of  the  Church  on  a 
given  question,  commits  himself  to  an  opposite 
opinion.  Suddenly  the  Church  is  startled,  as 
when  St.  Cyprian  insisted  on  rebaptizing  here- 
tics. For  the  truth  is  in  the  Church,  though  it 
forms  not  as  yet  a  part  of  her  constant  daily 
teaching.  But  that  was  a  case  involving  a 
practical  question  which  demanded  instant  deci- 
sion. The  first  thing  questioned  respecting  the 
Conception  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  was  the  right 
of  establishing  its  Festival.  It  had  begun  in 
particular  Churches  in  the  West,  and  the  Holy 
See  had  not  been  invoked,  nor  had  it  set  the 
example.  And  it  was  rather  a  vindication  of 
the  privileges  of  the  Holy  See,  in  respect  of  a 
point  on  which  the  Holy  See  itself  observed 
silence.  Then  the  controversy  glided  into  the 
question  of  doctrine.  But  the  language  used 
was  ambiguous,  it  might  refer,  and  in  St.  Ber- 
nard's case  it  clearly  did  refer,  to  the  active 
conception,  and  this  is  not  what  the  Church 
honours.  But  even  this  ambiguous  language, 
wearing  as  it  did  the  appearance  of  opposing 
the  true  doctrine,  spread  a  feeling  of  disedifica- 
tion  so  widely  as  to  show  the  sense  which  was 
latent  in  the  Church.  Still  there  was  no  great 
practical  question  as  yet  demanding  an  imme- 
diate solution.  The  devotion  continued  to  spread 
with  the  Festival,  but  the  Head  of  the  Church 
had  not  yet  sanctioned  it  either  by  voice  or  ex- 
ample. Had  the  Festival  been  universal  at  that 
time,  the  Church  must  soon  have  spoken.  But 
as  long  as  the  Festival  was  but  partial,  and  had 
not  the  highest  sanction,  and  as  long  as  the 
language  on  both  sides  continued  to  be  ambigu- 


THE  VOICE  OF  THE  DIVINES.  161 

ous,  so  that  it  could  not  be  easily  seen  who 
was  for  the  true  tradition  and  who  was  against 
it ;  so  long,  in  fact,  as  both  parties  might  be 
contending  for  the  same  thing  under  a  different 
phraseology,  the  Church  waited  until  divines 
became  more  clear,  that  she  might  more  readily 
point  out  her  own  sense  in  the  controversy. 
And  no  sooner  was  the  subject  cleared  up  than 
Councils  and  Popes  began  to  be  explicit,  and 
they  all  spoke  in  one  direction.  An  overwhelm- 
ing majority  appeared  on  the  side  of  truth  as 
soon  as  it  was  intelligibly  put  forth.  Opposi- 
tion shrank  within  the  limits  of  a  single  school, 
chiefly  of  one  out  of  the  many  Orders  which 
flourished  in  the  Church.  Even  that  school 
maintained  the  sanctification  as  taking  place 
soon  after,  though  not  at  the  moment  of  anima- 
tion. Nor  was  this  maintained,  by  continually 
dwindling  numbers,  without  offending  the  gene- 
ral sense  of  the  Church  to  such  an  extent,  that 
the  Popes  were  compelled  to  reduce  the  opinion 
to  silence. 

We  must  then  distinguish  three  periods  in  the 
history  of  the  doctrine.  The  first  is  that  of 
simple  faith  and  tradition.  At  this  period  the 
Fathers  speak  of  it,  and  even  enlarge  upon  it 
by  figures  and  comparisons,  especially  in  the 
East,  but  do  not  apply  to  it  the  principles 
of  theological  reasoning.  This  takes  us  from 
the  apostolic  age  to  the  twelfth  century.  The 
second  period  is  that  in  which  reasoning  was 
first  applied  to  the  mystery.  And  then  ap- 
peared a  result,  that  often  has  occurred  when 
reason  is  first  applied  to  a  revealed  truth. 
Reason  had  to  labour  long,  before  it  could  make 


162  THE  VOICE  OF  THE  DIVINES. 

the  necessary  discriminations,  approximate  the 
various  principles  which  bore  upon  it,  place  the 
subject  exactly  in  its  proper  light,  adjust  its 
relations  with  truths  universally  admitted,  and 
reconcile  it  with  conclusions  worked  out  already 
in  collateral  subjects.  But  at  all  this  reason- 
ing and  counter-reasoning,  simple-hearted  faith, 
which  asked  no  reason  beyond  the  fact  that 
the  Blessed  Virgin  was  the  Mother  of  God, 
was  keenly  scandalized.  This  may  be  called 
the  period  of  ambiguous  language.  It  dates 
from  the  twelfth  to  the  fourteenth  century,  from 
St.  Anselm  to  Scotus.  Then  came  the  period 
when  theological  reason  had  pervaded  the  ques- 
tion, had  cleared  up  its  difficulties,  and  had  har- 
monized the  doctrine  with  the  general  scheme  of 
theology,  when,  in  short,  it  became  a  confirma- 
tion of  those  very  truths  which  at  first  it  had 
been  suspected  of  opposing.  And  its  acceptance 
became  a  reasonable  acceptance,  which  the  more 
learned  investigation  of  antiquity  served  still 
further  to  confirm. 

But  this  long  agitation  of  human  thought 
brought  out  lights  to  the  understanding,  which 
not  only  illuminated  the  mystery,  and  invested 
it  with  new  beauties  for  our  contemplation,  but 
also  shed  an  effulgence  on  the  several  truths 
with  which  it  stood  related.  And  how  many 
great  minds  made  their  offerings  to  the  Imma- 
culate Mother,  from  the  fruits  of  their  genius, 
not  from  the  necessity  of  defending  the  faith, 
but  as  free-will  oblations  of  their  devotion ; 
whilst  what  they  studied  more  laboriously,  and 
professed  more  generously,  and  defended  more 
ardently,  was  rewarded  more  abundantly. 


THE  VOICE  OF  THE  DIVINES.  163 

Great  virtues  were  brought  into  exercise,  and 
a  generous  faith  was  cultivated  by  the  very  dif- 
ficulties and  denials,  with  which  devotion  to  the 
mystery  was  surrounded.  And  the  faithful 
clung  more  fervently  to  the  Mother  of  God  for 
the  express  reason  that  her  great  privilege  was 
gainsayed.  Love  of  the  Blessed  Virgin  was 
increased  thereby,  for  we  love  that  excellence 
more  ardently  which  is  assailed  untruly,  as  we 
also  love  more  earnestly  what  has  cost  us  more 
dearly.  What  the  heresies  against  Mary  have 
helped  to  do  from  without  the  Church,  that  the 
opposition  to  her  Immaculate  Conception  has 
done  within  the  Church.  It  has  developed  the 
whole  theology  of  the  Blessed  Virgin. 

At  the  time  when  this  mystery  was  most 
questioned,  St.  Bridget  was  writing  her  revela- 
tions, than  which  none  since  the  Apostles,  none 
that  are  not  of  divine  faith,  have  received  more 
striking  testimonies  of  authenticity.  In  these 
revelations  the  Blessed  Virgin  is  introduced 
as  speaking  to  the  Saint : — 

"  I  know  that  my  Conception  has  not  been 
known  to  all,  for  God  so  willed  it,  that  as  the 
natural  law  and  the  voluntary  election  of  good 
and  evil  preceded  the  written  law,  and  after- 
wards came  the  written  law,  which  restrained 
every  inordinate  emotion ;  so  has  it  pleased 
God  that  even  my  friends  should  have  pious 
doubts  concerning  my  Conception,  and  that  each 
should  display  his  zeal,  until  at  the  preordained 
time  the  truth  shall  shine  forth." 


164  THE  VOICE  OF  THE  LITURGY 


CHAPTER  XVI. 


THE  VOICE  OF  THE  LITURGY  AND  THE  VOICE  OF 
THE  FAITHFUL. 

THE  Festival  of  our  Lady's  Conception  was 
celebrated  at  an  early  period  in  the  Oriental 
Church.  The  earliest  records  designate  the 
solemnity  either  as  the  Conception  of  St.  Anna 
or  as  the  Conception  of  the  Blessed  Virgin.  But 
whilst  in  the  Western  Church  this  Feast  has  been 
always  celebrated  on  the  eighth,  in  the  East  it 
was  observed  on  the  ninth  of  December.  The 
first  mention  of  it  that  has  come  down  to  us  is 
in  the  Typic  drawn  up  by  St.  Sabas,  who  flou- 
rished in  the  year  4S4.  This  Typic  was  the 
order  or  directory  for  regulating  the  divine 
office  throughout  the  year,  used  in  the  monas- 
teries of  Jerusalem.*  The  next  mention  of  the 
Feast  is  by  St.  Andrew  of  Crete,  who  was  mar- 
tyred in  the  year  761,  and  who  also  composed  a 
hymn  used  in  the  office  of  the  Festival.  George, 
Archbishop  of  Nicomedia,  who  flourished  in  880, 
has  left  three  discourses  on  the  Festival,  of  which 
two  are  entitled  "  On  the  Conception  of  the 
Mother  of  God,"  and  one  "  On  the  Conception 
of  St.  Anne,"  In  one  of  them,  he  says — that 

*  It  should,  however,  be  observed  that  this  Typic  was  found  in  a 
very  damaged  condition,  and  restored  by  St.  John  Dainascen.  Vid, 
Cave,  Historia  Literaria,  vol.  2,,  p.  146. 


AND  THE  VOICE  OF  THE  FAITHFCL.      165 

this  Festival  has  precedence  over  other  solem- 
nities by  reason  of  the  miracles  consummated 
therein,  and  that  the  mystery  is  a  basis  or 
ground-work  on  which  whatever  mysteries  have 
been  dispensed  are  gathered  as  on  their  founda- 
tion. "  It  is  fitting  then,"  continues  the  Arch- 
bishop, "  that  we  should  venerate  the  Conception 
as  the  beginning  and  cause  of  universal  blessings, 
and  celebrate  it  with  a  more  earnest  joy."* 

The  following  passages  are  extracted  by  Abbot 
Gueranger,  the  celebrated  Liturgist,  from  the 
Greek  office  on  the  Conception  of  Mary  : — "  In 
thee  was  the  fall  of  our  first  parents  arrested, 
deprived  of  its  power  to  act  against  thee."  "  In 
thee,  who  hadst  no  affinity  with  any  guilt  what- 
soever, do  1  place  my  entire  hope.  No  one  was 
ever  without  culpability  like  thee,  0  Lady,  nor 
undented  like  thee,  0  subject  to  no  stain."  j 

In  the  most  ancient  of  the  Eastern  Liturgies, 
the  origin  of  which  is  ascribed  to  St.  James,  the 
Blessed  Virgin  is  commemorated  as  : — "  J  Our 
most  holy,  immaculate,  and  most  glorious  Lady, 
Mother  of  God,  and  ever  Virgin  Mary."  And 
three  times  this  formulary  is  repeated.  In  the 
Maronite  Ritual  for  ordaining  a  Chorepiscopus, 
which  Morinus  published  from  a  very  ancient 
manuscript,  the  Blessed  Virgin  is  imprecated 
under  the  titles  of: — "Our  holy,  praiseworthy, 
and  immaculate  Lady,  the  at  all  times  Blessed 
Mary,  Mother  of  God."§  In  the  Alexandrian 

*  In  Concep.  S.  Annae. 

t  Memoire  stir  La  Question  de  L'  Immaculd  Conception,  p.  77. 
J  Bibliothec.  Max.  Patrum.  T.  2.  p.  3. 
S  De  Sacris  ordinat.  p.  313. 


166  THE  VOICE  OF  THE  LITURGY 

Liturgy  of  St.  Basil,  she  is  invoked  as : — <c  Thd 
most  holy,  most  glorious,  immaculate,  accumu- 
lated with  blessings,  our  Lady,  Mother  of  God, 
and  ever  Virgin  Mary."* 

The  word  immaculate  is  applied  so  constantly 
and  in  all  ages  as  a  title  to  the  Blessed  Virgin, 
that  it  may  be  well  to  consider  what  was  the 
precise  meaning  that  was  attached  to  it.  Hesy- 
chius  explains  it  as  signifying  pure  and  incul- 
pable.  Suidas  explains  it  as  meaning  pure  and 
without  culpability.  The  Commentary  on  the 
Psalms,  placed  among  the  works  of  St.  Chrysos- 
tom,  explains  the  word  immaculate  as  signifying 
free  from  all  vice,  crime,  and  defilement,  ivith- 
out  spot,  iniquity,  or  sin,  and  constituted  exte- 
rior to  every  spot,  iniquity,  or  sin.  St.  Ambrose 
says  of  Christ,  that  He  was  immaculate,  because 
He  was  not  denied  by  the  ordinary  conditions  of 
birth.  St.  Ephrem  says  of  Mary,  she  is  imma- 
culate and  most  alien  from  every  stain  of  sin. 
The  word  is  used  with  allusion  to  the  victims  of 
the  Old  Law,  which  were  to  be  immaculate,  that 
is  to  say,  without  fault  or  blemish,  as  they  repre- 
sented the  spotless  perfection  of  Christ.  It  is 
used  of  Christ  by  St.  Paul  as  the  immaculate  or 
spotless  Victim  ,t  and  by  St.  Peter,  when  he 
speaks  of  Christ,  as  the  immaculate  or  spotless 
Lamb.J  It  is  used  in  no  other  sense  in  the  New 
Testament,  except  when  applied  to  the  Church 
as  the  body  of  Christ,||  or  to  the  holy  members 
of  the  Church  who  possess  the  fruit  of  redemp- 

*  Renaudot.  Litnrg.  Orient.  Collec.  T.  I. 

t  Hebr.  ix.  14. 

J  I.  Pet.  i.  19. 

U  Eph.  v.  27. 


AND  THE  VOICE  OF  THE  FAITHFUL.      167 

tion  ;*  or  to  the  blessed  in  heaven.f  In  liturgi- 
cal language  it  is  limited  to  the  most  Holy 
Eucharist,  as  the  spotless  and  inculpable  victim, 
and  to  the  Blessed  Virgin,  as  the  spotless  and 
inculpable  Mother  of  God.| 

The  Feast  of  the  Conception  was  introduced 
later  into  the  Western  Church  than  in  the  East. 
The  Spaniards  have  a  tradition  that  it  was 
introduced  into  their  country  at  a  very  early 
period.  It  was  a  solemn  Festival  throughout 
Spain  in  the  10th  century,  and  Julian,  a  writer 
of  that  period,  ascribes  its  introduction  to  St. 
Ildephonsus  three  centuries  earlier.  In  the 
Mosarabic  Ritual,  as  revised  by  St.  Ildephonsus 
in  the  7th  and  approved  by  Pope  John  X.  in  the 
9th  century,  in  the  Canon  of  the  Mass  there 
occur  these  words: — "Virgin  Mother  of  God, 
whose  true  Conception  we  this  day  celebrate." 
And  in  the  blessing  for  the  people  there  are 
these  words : — "  May  He  who  preserved  His 
Mother  from  the  contagion  of  corruption,  keep 
our  heart  immaculate  from  crime."§  During  its 
most  flourishing  periods,  the  Sovereigns,  Pre- 
lates, and  people  of  Spain  were  ever  urgent  to 
obtain  a  definition  of  this  mystery,  which  has 
always  been  a  most  cherished  object  of  the  de- 
votion of  that  nation 

In  a  church  at  Naples  there  is  a  celebrated 
Calendar  engraved  on  marble  in  the  9th  century ; 

•  Eph.  i.  4.    Coloss.  i.  21. 
t  Jade  v.  24.    Apoc.  xiv.  5. 

t  See  Passaglia,  who  treats  the  subject  at  lenpth,  sec.  2.  art.  I.;  also 
the  Cursus  Completus  Theologiae,  T.  26,  p.  659,  L>e  Immaculata. 

8  Sfronduto,  Innocentia  Vindicate,  p.  49. 


168  THE  VOICE  OF  THE  LITURGY 

and  on  it  the  Conception  of  the  Holy  Virgin 
Mary  is  marked  on  the  ninth  of  December,  the 
day  on  which  it  is  celebrated  by  the  Greeks, 
from  which  Naples  seems  to  have  derived  the 
feast. 

But  it  was  from  England  that  this  Festival 
took  its  most  remarkable  rise  and  diffusion  in 
the  Western  Church.  It  is  affirmed  to  have 
originated  in  our  country  from  a  vision,  which 
appeared  to  Helsinus,  Abbot  of  Eamsey,  during 
a  storm  at  sea  in  the  time  of  William  the  Con- 
queror, Besides  the  two  letters  appended  to 
the  works  of  St.  Anselm,  in  which  the  vision  is 
described,  it  is  narrated  in  a  manuscript  of  the 
twelfth  century,  formerly  kept  at  the  great 
monastery  of  La  Trappe,  and  now  in  the  Li- 
brary of  Alen§on.  It  is  described  with  the  same 
details  in  the  Metrical  History  of  Wace,  who 
flourished  in  the  reign  following  that  in  which 
it  is  stated  to  have  occurred.  The  vision  of 
Helsinus  is  also  mentioned  in  the  Register  of 
Ramsey  Abbey,  which  is  preserved  in  the  Ex- 
chequer. I  shall  give  the  narrative  as  quoted 
from  the  above-mentioned  manuscript  of  the 
twelfth  century.* 

"  When  the  Danes  heard  that  England  had 
submitted  to  the  Normans,  they  were  indignant 
at  the  loss  of  an  island  to  which  they  pretended 
they  had  an  hereditary  right.  They  prepared 
themselves  then  for  war,  and  armed  a  fleet  for 
the  purpose  of  expelling  the  conquerors.  When 
King  William  heard  of  these  things  he  thought 
them  worthy  of  his  attention.  He  chose  a  cer- 

*  In  the  Univers.  Dec.  lath,  1854. 


AND  THE  VOICE  OF  THE  FAITHFUL.  1C9 

tain  Religious,  the  Abbot  of  the  Monastery  of 
Ramsey,  and  sent  him  into  Denmark  to  inform 
himself  of  the  truth   of  these  reports.      This 
Abbot  was  an  intelligent  man,  and  having  faith- 
fully performed  his  mission,  he  re-embarked  to 
return  to  England.     His  ship  had  already  ac- 
complished more  than  half  her  passage,  when 
suddenly  there  uprose  a   tempest  which   con- 
vulsed both  sea  and  sky.     The  seamen,  exhaust- 
ed by  their  conflict  with  the  waves,  were  losing 
courage,  their  oars  were  shattered,  the  cordage 
broken,  and  the  sails  rent ;  all  hopes  of  safety 
had  abandoned  them.     Then  all  in  the  ship  com- 
mended their   souls  to   God  with   loud   cries. 
They  called  upon  the  Mother  of  God,  the  refuge 
of  the  miserable,  and  the  hope  of  the  despair- 
ing.    Suddenly  they  saw  a  man  of  venerable 
aspect,    clothed    in    pontifical    garments,    who 
seemed  to  stand  erect  on  the  waves  near  the 
vessel.     He  spoke  to  the  Abbot  Helsinus,  and 
said  :  '  Wouldst  thou  escape  the  danger  of  the 
sea  T    As  the  Abbot  said  that  with  all  his  heart 
he  wished  to  do  so,  that  august  personage  said 
to  him,  '  Know,  then,  that  I  am  sent  by  Our 
Lady,  Mary,  the  Mother  of  God,  whom  thou 
hast  so  piously  invoked.     And  if  thou  wilt  at- 
tend to  my  words  thou  shalt  be  saved  from  the 
great  peril  of  the  deep,  thou  and  thy  compan- 
ions.'    The  Abbot  promised  him  all  obedience. 
'Promise,  then,  to  God,  and  to  me/  said  the 
Angel,  <  that  thou  wilt  solemnly  celebrate,  each 
year,  the  Feast  of  the  Conception  of  the  Mother 
of  Christ,  and  that  thou  wilt  preach  the  celebra- 
tion of  this  Festival.'     Helsinus  was  a  prudent 
man,  and  he  asked,  '  On  what  day  must  this 


170  THE  VOICE  OF  THE  LITUEGY 

Feast  be  celebrated?'  'On  the  eighth  of  De- 
cember.'— '  And  what  office  shall  we  take  ?' 
The  Angel  answered :  '  The  entire  office  of  the 
Nativity  shall  be  said  on  the  Conception.'  After 
these  words  he  disappeared.  At  once  the  tem- 
pest was  appeased ;  and,  driven  forward  by  a 
rapid  wind,  the  Abbot  and  his  companions  came 
safe  and  sound  to  the  shores  of  England.  What 
he  had  heard  and  seen  Helsinus  made  known  as 
far  as  he  could,  and  he  himself  established  the 
Feast  of  the  Conception  in  the  Monastery  of 
Ramsey."* 

The  vision  is  said  to  have  taken  place  in  the 
year  1070.  After  St.  Ansehn  had  been  made 
Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  in  the  year  1093, 
he  is  said  to  have  established  the  Feast  of  the 
Conception  in  the  Province  of  Canterbury. 

In  a  council  of  that  Province,  held  in  London, 
under  Archbishop  Mepham,  in  the  year  1328, 
the  feast  was  made  of  solemn  observance.  And 
the  Archbishop  passed  a  decree  in  the  following 
terms  : — "  Adhering  to  the  footsteps  of  the 
venerable  Anselm,  our  predecessor,  who  besides 
those  other  more  ancient  solemnities  of  the 
Blessed  Virgin,  thought  it  worthy  to  superadd 
the  solemnity  of  the  Conception;  we  appoint, 
and  by  a  firm  precept  command,  that  the  Festi- 
val of  the  aforesaid  Conception  be  henceforth 
celebrated  in  a  festive  and  solemn  manner,  in  all 
our  Churches  of  the  Province  of  Canterbury."! 
Earlier  Synods  had  confirmed  the  observance 
of  the  feast,  but  not  as  one  of  solemn  precept; 

*  On  this  subject  see  Appendix,  B. 
t  Lyndwood.  Provinciate. 


AND  THE  VOICE  OF  THE  FAITHFUL.  171 

yet  in  particular  places  it  was  observed  with 
great  solemnity  before  this  time.  For  Geoffrey 
de  Gorham,  who  was  Abbot  of  St.  Alban's  from 
1119  to  1146  appointed  the  feast  to  be  cele- 
brated in  his  monastery  in  copes,  in  the  same 
manner  as  the  Ascension.*  It  continued  to  be 
solemnly  observed  in  England  down  to  the  Re- 
formation and  is  still  marked  as  a  festival  in  the 
Protestant  Calendar. 

Driven  an  exile  into  France  by  the  persecu- 
tions, first  of  Rufus,  then  of  Henry  L,  St. 
Anselm  spread  devotion  to  the  Conception  of  the 
Mother  of  God  in  that  country.  It  is  the  tradi- 
tion of  Normandy  that  he  was  the  means  of  the 
establishment  of  the  Feast  in  that  Province.  It 
is  also  asserted  that  it  was  through  his  influence 
that  it  was  first  introduced  into  Lyons.  It  was 
in  that  city  that  he  composed  his  treatise  On 
the  Virginal  Conception.  St.  Norbert  intro- 
duced the  feast  into  Belgium  about  the  year 
1 200.  Hungary  is  stated  by  Vincartius  to  have 
received  it  much  earlier. 

As  early  as  1072,  which  was  just  after  Helsi- 
nus's  vision,  John  of  Bayeux,  Archbishop  of 
Rouen,  established  a  confraternity  of  the  Imma- 
culate Conception  in  that  city.  We  must  follow 
the  history  of  this  confraternity  for  a  moment. 
In  1486,  the  Lieutenant- Governor  of  the  city, 
Peter  Dare,  instituted  a  competition  in  poetry, 
the  subject  of  which  was  the  praise  of  this 
divine  mystery,  and  henceforth  the  confrater- 
nity took  the  name  of  the  Academy  of  the 
Immaculate  Conception.  The  poet  crowned  the 

*  Matthew  of  Paris,    Vifce  Abbatum. 


172  THE  VOICE  OF  THE  LITURGY 

first  year  was  John  Chappe,  whose  poem  has  been 
preserved,  and  it  goes  into  the  whole  doctrine 
of  the  Immaculate  Conception.  The  academy- 
continued  its  existence  up  to  the  great  Revolu- 
tion. Caen  would  not  be  behind  Rouen  in 
celebrating  the  praises  of  the  Immaculate  Mother 
of  God,  and  so,  in  1527,  John  Lernercier,  a  distin- 
guished advocate,  established  a  similar  competi- 
tion in  that  city,  and  in  that  rivalry  some  of 
the  most  distinguished  scholars  of  France  were 
crowned  with  laurel  for  their  poetic  strains  in 
honour  of  Mary's  Immaculate  Origin. 

It  would  take  volumes  to  enumerate  the  con- 
fraternities and  other  pious  institutions  which 
everywhere  arose  under  the  patronage,  or  with 
an  express  view  to  promote  the  honour  of  a 
mystery  which  had  so  deep  a  hold  on  the  piety 
of  the  faithful.  It  was  to  protect  the  piety  of 
the  faithful  from  the  disedification  inflicted  upon 
them,  that  the  Popes  were  induced  to  exercise 
so  many  acts  of  repression  against  that  minority 
of  divines  who  were  disposed  to  attribute  sin  to 
Mary. 

Nor  should  the  universal  conviction  of  pious 
Catholics  be  passed  over  as  of  small  account  in 
the  general  argument.  For  that  pious  belief, 
and  the  devotion  which  springs  from  it,  are  the 
faithful  reflection  of  the  pastoral  teaching.  The 
more  devout  the  faithful  grew,  the  more  devoted 
they  showed  themselves  towards  this  mystery. 
And  it  is  the  devout  who  have  the  surest  instinct 
in  discerning  the  mysteries  of  which  the  Holy 
Spirit  breathes  the  grace  through  the  Church, 
and  who  with  as  sure  a  tact  reject  what  is  alien 
from  her  teaching.  The  common  accord  of  the 


AND  THE  VOICE  OF  THE  FAITHFUL.      1  73 

faithful  has  weighed  much  as  an  argument  even 
with  the  most  learned  divines.  St.  Augustine 
says,  that  amongst  many  things  which  most 
justly  held  him  in  the  bosom  of  the  Catholic 
Church,  was  "  the  accord  of  populations  and  of 
nations.""'  In  another  work  he  says,  "  It  seems 
that  I  have  believed  nothing  but  the  confirmed 
opinion  and  the  exceedingly  wide-spread  report 
of  populations  and  of  nations."f  Elsewhere  he 
says :  "  In  matters  whereupon  the  Scripture  has 
not  spoken  clearly,  the  custom  of  the  people  of 
God,  or  the  institutions  of  our  predecessors,  are 
to  be  held  as  law."J  In  the  same  spirit  St. 
Jerome  argues,  whilst  defending  the  use  of 
relics  against  Vigilantius.  "  So  the  people  of 
all  the  Churches  who  have  gone  out  to  meet 
holy  relics,  and  have  received  them  with  so 
much  joy,  are  to  be  accounted  foolish."§ 

We  cannot  do  better  than  listen  to  the  words 
of  the  learned  Petavius  on  this  part  of  the  sub- 
ject, for  besides  their  inherent  weight,  they 
have  been  adopted  by  the  greatest  writers  in 
treating  the  subject.  "  I  am  inclined,"  he  says, 
"  towards  the  Immaculate  Conception,  most 
especially  by  that  common  sentiment  which  is 
entertained  of  it  by  all  the  faithful,  who  have 
this  deeply  rooted  in  the  innermost  recesses  of 
their  minds,  and  by  all  the  signs  and  devotions 
in  their  power,  bear  witness  that  nothing  was 
ever  created  by  God  more  chaste,  more  pure, 

*  Contra.  Epist.  Fundamenti,  c.  4. 

t  L.  De  Utilitate  Credcndi  c.  14. 

$  Epist.  36  ad  Consulanum. 

J  L.  Contra  Vigilautium. 


174  THE  VOICE  OF  THE  LITURGY 

more  innocent,  more  alien,  in  short,  from  every 
condition  and  stain  of  sin  than  that  Virgin. 
That  she  truly  never  did  hold  anything  in  com- 
mon with  hell  and  its  ruler  the  devil,  and  there- 
fore not  with  any  offence  towards  God  or  with 
damnation.  That  very  grave  author,  St.  Paulinus 
of  Nola,  has  given  us  this  excellent  admonition: 
'  That  we  should  depend  upon  the  spoken  sense  of 
all  the  faithful,  because  the  Spirit  of  God  breathes 
on  each  believer.'  John  Fisher,  the  Bishop  of 
Rochester,  in  the  book  which  he  wrote  for  the 
king  of  England  against  Luther,  taught  how 
great  is  the  weight  of  this  universal  suffrage 
of  all  Catholics  even  when  not  called  forth  or 
demanded  by  any  precept,  but  spontaneously 
uttered.  In  the  third  chapter  he  is  disputing 
on  communion  under  both  kinds,  and  he  uses 
this  amongst  other  arguments  :— '  That  by  force 
of  no  precept,  but  by  tacit  consent  of  people  and 
clergy,  the  said  custom  grew  up.  That  it  was 
received  by  the  silent  suffrages  of  all,  before  we 
read  that  it  was  confirmed  by  any  Council.  This 
custom  grew  up  with  the  people,  that  is,  under 
the  guidance  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  For  no  one 
doubts  but  that  the  Church  is  guided  by  the 
Holy  Ghost,  unless  he  disbelieves  the  Gospel  of 
Christ,  For  in  that  Gospel  the  Holy  Ghost 
Himself  is  promised,  I  say  the  Holy  Spirit  of 
truth  is  promised,  that  He  may  abide  in  the 
Church  for  ever,  that  He  may  teach  her  and 
lead  her  into  all  truth,  and  may  declare  what  is 
of  Christ,  and  what  He  has  heard  from  Christ/ 

&c After  this   manner,"  continues  Peta- 

vius,  "it  is  to  be  believed  that  God  has  made 
manifest  to  Catholic  Christians   that  complete 


AND  THE  VOICE  OF  THE  FAITHFUL.       175 

apprehension  of  what  the  Immaculate  Virgin  is, 
and  has  inspired  that  notion  and  that  firm  per- 
suasion respecting  her." 

There  are  so  many  things  in  the  Church 
itself  which  tend  to  breathe  the  conviction  into 
the  hearts  of  the  faithful,  that  the  Mother  of 
Christ,  that  Mother  whom  Christ  gave  to  us  as  a 
Mother,  is  a  sinless  creature,  and  one  whom 
grace  created  immaculate.  They  celebrate  the 
Feast  as  a  mystery  of  grace,  and  they  know  it 
must  be  holy ;  they  hear  its  praises  from  the 
pulpits,  and  read  them  in  books  written  by  holy 
pastors ;  they  gaze  on  pictures  and  statues  in 
which  the  mystery  is  symbolized  ;  perhaps  their 
church,  their  country,  or  their  diocese,  has  been 
dedicated  to  the  mystery,  and  if  not,  they  know 
well  that  other  churches  and  other  dioceses  are, 
and  that  this  is  the  work  of  their  Bishops  ;  they 
join  in  confraternities  or  in  devotions  to  the 
Immaculate  Conception,  and  they  know  that  the 
Popes  have  granted  indulgences  to  encourage 
such  devotions ;  they  wear  holy  medals  with  the 
same  intention  ;  they  think  of  the  infinite  purity 
of  God,  how  He  turns  from  all  alliance  with  sin, 
and  they  judge  what  a  Mother  of  the  most  pure 
God  should  be ;  they  hear,  perhaps  they  know, 
of  miracles  wrought  by  invocation  of  the  Imma- 
culate; they  know  what  an  exception  Mary 
was  to  most  of  the  common  conditions  of  our 
nature;  they  know  how  Jesus  loved  her,  and 
how  she  loved  Jesus ;  they  have  never  heard  of 
her  in  the  Church  except  as  the  ever  Blessed 
Virgin,  and  as  full  of  grace ;  they  know  how 
the  Church  has  always  shrunk  from  ascribing 
sin  to  her;  and  having  their  souls  breathed 


176  THE  VOICE  OF  THE  LITURGY 

upon  by  influences  like  these,  and  aided  by  the 
Holy  Ghost,  with  the  truest  instinct  of  grace 
and  love  they  repel  all  thought  of  sin  from 
association  with  the  Mother  of  the  world's  Re- 
deemer ;  indeed,  it  is  not  in  their  power  to 
associate  sin  with  her ;  but  with  the  unerring 
logic  of  their  holy  and  humble  affections,  they 
cry  out : — Mary,  conceived  without  sin,  pray 
for  us ! 

And  what  has  produced  this  intimate  and 
universal  conviction,  but  the  analogies  of  faith  ? 
What  but  a  sense  of  its  truth,  of  its  beauty,  of 
its  fittingness,  of  that  honour  which  it  reflects 
on  Jesus,  and  of  that  glory  which  results  from 
it  to  God  ?  What  has  wrought  the  pious  con- 
viction but  that  religious  sense,  so  far  above  the 
force  of  nature,  which  tells  us  that  grace  alone 
could  have  fixed  our  minds  with  such  unwaver- 
ing firmness  of  belief  upon  a  mystery  so  heaven- 
ly and  pure,  so  free  from  the  corruptions  of  our 
nature,  and  so  far  removed  from  the  bitterness 
of  our  own  experience?  What  has  wrought 
this  universal  conviction  but  that  a  sense  of  it 
was  always  living  in  the  hearts  of  the  faithful, 
those  hearts  in  which  the  most  pure  image  of 
Mary  dwelt  ?  The  faith  of  it  moved  through 
the  living  frame  of  the  Church  before  it  was 
spoken  clearly  with  her  lips.  She  meditated  on 
the  mystery,  and  its  light  shone  on  her  features, 
long,  very  long,  before  she  reduced  it  into 
solemn  sentences,  and  imprinted  on  them  the 
seal  of  her  infallible  authority. 

The  miraculous  medal,  in  these  latter  days, 
has  been  the  favourite  symbol  of  devotion  to 
the  Immaculate  Conception.  Can  it  be  said  of 


AND  THE  VOICE  OF  THE  FAITHFUL.  177 

any  other  mystery  or  devotion  that  was  ever 
called  in  question,  that  before  the  authority  of 
the  Church  had  pronounced  upon  it,  it  was  the 
custom  of  pious  Catholics,  in  every  part  of  the 
world,  to  bear  a  symbol  of  it,  an  actual  material 
symbol  of  it,  day  and  night  upon  their  persons ; 
and  that  this  symbol  was  not  even  limited  in  its 
use  to  the  children  of  the  Church  ?  The  medal 
was  revealed  to  a  simple  and  holy  virgin  in 
Paris,  in  the  year  1830,  and  bears  upon  it  a 
representation  of  the  Immaculate  Mother  as  she 
appears  in  the  great  vision  of  the  Apocalypse. 
It  has  acquired  the  name  of  miraculous,  one  can 
scarcely  say  how,  though  it  is  easy  to  tell  why. 
But,  except  the  holy  Cross,  no  other  Christian 
symbol  was  ever  so  widely  multiplied,  or  was 
ever  the  instrument  of  so  many  marvellous  re- 
sults. It  has  been  in  use  just  a  quarter  of  a 
century,  and  countless  have  been  the  favours, 
the  graces,  the  preservations,  the  conversions, 
the  miraculous  interpositions  of  which  it  has 
been  the  occasion.  Blind,  indeed,  is  that  child 
of  the  Church  who  has  lived  through  this  period 
and  failed  to  recognize  the  benedictions  which 
have  flowed  in  upon  the  faithful  through  the 
invocation  of  this  mystery,  and  the  pious  use  of 
this  symbol.  Let  us  refer  for  a  moment  to  the 
well-known  conversion  of  Alphonse  Ratisbonne. 
He  was  a  young,  high-spirited,  and  accomplished 
Jew,  well  known,  highly  connected,  and  roost 
strongly  tenacious  of  his  Israelite  convictions. 
His  contempt  of  Christianity  had  been  deepened 
into  hatred  through  the  conversion  of  his  bro- 
ther. In  1842,  and  when  at  the  highest  con- 
tent with  his  opinions,  and  looking  forward  to 


178  THE  VOICE  OF  THE  LITURGY. 

an  early  marriage  with  an  accomplished  lady  of 
his  race,  he  is  induced  by  a  pious  Catholic  gen- 
tleman to  place  the  medal  of  Our  Immaculate 
Lady  round  his  neck.  I  need  not  say  that  the 
prayers  of  his  friend  accompanied  that  act, 
which  Ratisbonne  regarded  but  with  ridicule. 
It  was  in  Rome,  and  he  entered  a  Church  to 
•wile  away  a  few  moments  whilst  waiting  for  his 
Catholic  friend.  Suddenly  Our  Lady  appeared 
to  him.  She  spoke  not,  but  she  signed  with 
her  hand,  and  he  fell  upon  his  knees,  and  in  a 
few  moments  more  he  arose  a  changed  being. 
Judaism  had  left  him,  and  ignorant  as  he  had 
been  of  the  doctrines  of  Christianity  up  to  that 
time,  he  was  found  to  be  completely  instructed 
in  all  Catholic  doctrine,  and  burning  with  desire 
for  the  sacraments.  And  for  the  love  of  Christ 
he  renounced  all  the  brilliant  prospects  which 
life  had  opened  to  him  and  embraced  the 
cross.* 

*  See  the  account  of  his  conversion  written  by  himself. 


THE  VOICE  OF  THE  EPISCOPACY.  179 


CHAPTER  XVII. 


THE   VOICE    OF   THE   EPISCOPACY. 

I  HAVE  already  noticed  that  the  doctrine  of 
the  Immaculate  Conception  was  never  associated 
with  any  division  in.  the  Episcopacy.  No  coun- 
cil or  other  episcopal  assembly  has  ever  breath- 
ed a  word  against  it.  It  never  came  before  them 
but  they  showed  their  inclination  to  cherish  and 
protect  the  pious  belief.  If  we  except  Ricci, 
the  Bishop  of  Pistoia,  who  was  unsound  on  so 
many  points,  it  would  be  difficult  to  mention 
a  single  Bishop  who,  in  the  exercise  of  his 
authority,  has  ever  opposed  the  doctrine.  Here 
and  there  one,  who  had  passed  from  the  chair 
of  theology  to  the  mitre,  may  have  maintained 
the  contrary  opinion  as  a  private  theologian. 

The  first  council  in  which  the  doctrine  is  in- 
dicated is  that  celebrated  Synod  of  Frankfort, 
in  the  time  of  Charlemagne.  The  Bishops  of 
all  Germany,  Gaul,  and  Aquitaine,  to  the  num- 
ber of  about  three  hundred,  were  assembled 
under  the  presidency  of  two  legates  of  Pope 
Adrian,  to  condemn  the  heresy  of  Elipandus 
and  Felix  of  Urgel,  and  the  emperor  was  also 
present.  The  heresy  maintained  that  Christ 
was  not  the  natural,  but  only  the  adopted  Son 
of  God.  This  error  naturally  led  to  the  con- 


180  THE  VOICE  OF  THE  EPISCOPACY. 

sideration  both  of  the  eternal  generation  of 
Christ  from  the  Father,  and  of  His  human 
generation  from  Mary.  And  in  their  Synodal 
letter  to  the  Bishops  of  Spain,  that  passage 
occurs  which  we  have  partially  cited  in  a  former 
chapter.  The  fathers  of  the  Synod  say : — 

"  But  we  would  know  this  from  you.  When 
Adam,  the  first  father  of  the  human  race,  was 
created  of  virgin  earth,  was  he  made  in  the 
condition  of  freedom  or  of  servitude  ?  If  in  a 
condition  of  servitude,  how  then  was  he  the 
image  of  God  ?  If  in  a  condition  of  freedom, 
why  then  was  not  Christ  also  of  free  condition 
from  the  Virgin  ?  For  He  was  made  man  of  a 
better  earth,  of  animated  and  immaculate  earth, 
by  the  operation  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  as  the 
Apostle  says  :  '  The  first  man  was  made  of  the 
earth,  earthy,  the  second  was  of  the  Heaven, 
heavenly'  If  we  confess  that  the  earthly  was 
constituted  in  a  free  condition,  why  do  we  not 
much  more  confess  that  the  heavenly  was  of 
free  condition  ?  Whence  was  Adam  made  ser- 
vile unless  from  sin ;  as  the  Apostle  testifies  : 
*  He  who  commits  sin  is  the  servant  of  sin.' " 

If  the  decree  of  the  Council  of  Basle,  in  1439, 
had  not  authoritative  influence  because  of  the 
absence  of  the  Pope  or  his  legates,  it  shows  at 
all  events  that  the  assembled  Bishops,  who  dis- 
cussed it  for  so  long  a  time,  and  expressed  it  so 
clearly,  had  themselves  embraced  that  pious  be- 
lief which  they  called  upon  all  Catholics  to 
receive  and  embrace.  Spondanus  records  in 
his  annals,  that  a  dreadful  pestilence  had  been 

*  Harduin.  t.  iy.  f.  891. 


THE  VOICE  OF  THE  EPISCOPACY.       181 

raging  in  Basle,  which  ceased  on  a  sudden  when 
the  Immaculate  Conception  was  declared,  as  if 
Heaven  approved  the  doctrine,  though  not  the 
general  conduct  of  the  assembly. 

But  in  1457  a  council  was  held  in  Avignon, 
presided  over  by  two  Cardinal  Legates  of  the 
Holy  See,  in  which  the  decree  of  the  Council  of 
Basle  was  adopted  and  promulgated  in  the  fol- 
lowing terms  : — >"  We  enjoin  that  the  decree  on 
the  Conception  of  the  most  Blessed  Virgin 
Mary,  which  was  made  in  the  Council  of  Basle, 
be  inviolably  observed ;  and  we  strictly  forbid 
any  person  whatever,  under  pain  of  excommuni- 
cation, from  presuming  to  preach  or  dispute 
publicly  to  the  contrary  ;  and  if  any  so  do,  it  is 
our  will  that  he  incur  the  aforesaid  sentence  by 
the  very  fact.  And  in  the  first  Synod  to  bo 
celebrated  in  each  several  diocese,  we  ordain  that 
the  aforesaid  decree  be  promulgated,  and  that 
it  be  enjoined  on  the  curates  of  the  churches, 
to  make  it  known  to  the  people."  The  decree 
is  signed  by  the  two  Cardinal  Legates,  the 
Archbishop  of  Aix,  and  by  twelve  bishops  of  the 
Province.* 

If,  in  the  great  Council  of  Trent,  no  more  was 
actually  done  than  to  declare  the  Blessed  Virgin 
to  be  excepted  from  what  was  there  decreed 
concerning  original  sin,  yet  the  opinions  of  the 
assembled  Bishops  were  fully  brought  out  in 
the  discussions.  Pallavicini,  the  historian  of 
the  Council,  informs  us  that  more  than  two- 
thirds  of  the  Bishops  were  disposed  to  insert 
the  words,  "  who  is  piously  believed  to  have 

*  Harduin.  t.  ix.  f.  1388. 


182  THE  VOICE  OF  THE  EPISCOPACY. 

been  conceived  without  original  sin."  And  the 
Dominican  Catherinus,  who  wrote  a  treatise  in 
defence  of  the  mystery,  addressed  to  the  fathers 
of  the  Council,  and  also  assisted  at  these  dis- 
cussions, says  in  the  preface  to  his  work,  that 
many  of  the  fathers  thought  it  opportune,  and 
for  the  best,  that  a  decree  should  be  passed 
approving  and  establishing  that  sentiment  on 
the  Immaculate  Conception,  which  had  long 
been  celebrated  and  honoured  by  a  solemn  rite 
in  nearly  all  Churches,  so  that  henceforth  no 
one  should  be  free  to  hold  the  contrary.  "  This 
was  opposed  by  a  very  feiv,"  says  Catherinus, 
and  the  ground  of  that  opposition,  observes  this 
writer,  was  chiefly  the  consideration  that  they 
were  assembled  to  oppose  the  heresies  of  the 
times,  and  that  a  more  suitable  period  would  arise 
for  deciding  such  points  as  were  debated  within 
the  Church. 

In  the  seventeenth  and  eighteenth  centuries 
there  were  but  few  synods,  but  devotion  to  the 
Immaculate  Conception  continued  to  be  more 
and  more  fostered.  Perrone  gives  an  authentic 
list  of  three  hundred  Bishops  or  heads  of  reli- 
gious orders,  who,  between  1834  and  1847,  had 
applied  to  the  Holy  See  for  authority  to  insert 
the  word  Immaculate  in  the  preface  of  the  Mass 
of  the  Conception.  About  the  same  number 
applied  for  the  privilege  of  inserting  in  the 
Litany  of  Loretto  the  petition,  Queen  conceived 
without  original  sin.  Under  the  present  Pon- 
tiff we  have  witnessed  the  revival  of  Provincial 
Councils,  and  on  all  sides  they  have  re-echoed 
the  doctrine  of  the  Immaculate  Conception. 
Those,  for  example,  of  Sens,  of  Kheims,  of 


THE  VOICE  OF  THE  EPISCOPACY.        183 

Avignon,  of  Tours,  and  of  Baltimore,  -where  the 
whole  Episcopacy  of  the  United  States  made  a 
formal  declaration  of  their  faith  in  the  doctrine. 
And  during  the  same  Pontificate,  petitions  flow- 
ed in  from  prelates  in  all  parts  of  the  world, 
petitioning  the  Holy  See  to  pronounce  a  dog- 
matic decision  upon  the  mystery.  And  it  was 
after  this  ardent  desire  had  been  expressed  by 
so  great  a  number  of  the  members  of  the  Epis- 
copacy, that  Pius  IX.,  in  February  1849,  issued 
the  Encyclical  letter  from  Gaeta,  addressed  to 
all  the  Patriarchs,  Primates,  Archbishops,  and 
Bishops  of  the  Catholic  world,  in  which  the 
Pope  observes,  that  during  the  Pontificate  of  his 
predecessor,  Gregory  XVI.,  a  most  ardent  de- 
sire had  wonderfully  revived  in  the  Catholic 
world,  that  the  Apostolic  See  should  at  length 
put  forth  a  solemn  decision  to  the  effect,  that 
the  most  Holy  Mother  of  God  was  conceived 
without  original  sin.  The  Pontiff  dwells  upon 
the  number  of  illustrious  Bishops,  Chapters  and 
Religious  Orders,  including  that  of  the  Domini- 
cans, who  had  petitioned  the  Holy  See  that 
they  might  publicly  proclaim  her  immaculate, 
both  in  her  Litany  and  in  the  preface  of  the 
Mass  for  the  Festival.  He  refers  to  the  great 
number  of  Bishops  who  had  petitioned  his  pre- 
decessor or  himself,  and  had  most  urgently 
entreated  that  the  Holy  See  would  define  as  a 
doctrine  of  the  Church,  that  the  Conception  of 
the  Blessed  Virgin  was  immaculate,  and  wholly 
exempt  from  every  stain  of  original  sin.  He 
speaks  of  those  men  of  our  age,  distinguished 
for  genius,  piety,  and  learning,  who,  in  their 
laborious  writings,  have  so  illustrated  the  sub- 


184  THE  VOICE  OF  THE  EPISCOPACY. 

ject,  that  many  wondered  why  the  Holy  See 
had  not,  by  its  solemn  judgment,  decreed  to  the 
Blessed  Virgin  that  honour  which  the  piety  of 
the  faithful  had  so  earnestly  longed  to  see  ascribed 
to  her.  He  then  adds  that  he  has  appointed  a 
commission  of  distinguished  Cardinals  and  of 
learned  divines,  to  make  a  most  accurate  exami- 
nation of  the  whole  question.  He  urges  all  the 
Bishops  to  enjoin  prayers  in  their  respective 
Dioceses,  that  he  may  be  illuminated  with  hea- 
venly light  to  enable  him  to  decide  whatever  is 
most  to  the  glory  of  God,  the  praise  of  the 
Blessed  Virgin,  and  the  utility  of  the  Church. 
Finally,  he  most  earnestly  calls  upon  all  Bishops 
to  signify  to  him  each  as  early  as  practicable, 
what  the  devotion  of  the  clergy  and  people  of 
his  Diocese  is  towards  the  Immaculate  Concep- 
tion, and  how  far  they  felt  the  desire  to  see  it 
defined  by  the  Holy  See.  But  especially,  and 
above  all,  did  he  express  his  desire  that  the 
Bishops  themselves  would  convey  to  him  what 
was  their  own  sentiment  and  desire  on  the 
subject. 

This  celebrated  letter  brought  out  the  senti- 
ments of  the  entire  Catholic  Church,  and  placed 
them  before  its  supreme  visible  Head.  Never 
before  was  the  Church  so  thoroughly  searched 
through  on  a  question  of  her  doctrine  antecedent 
to  its  definition.  Letters  from  upwards  of  six 
hundred  bishops  poured  into  Rome.  Every  one, 
without  exception,  expressed  his  firm  belief  in  the 
Immaculate  Conception  of  the  Blessed  Virgin, 
and  his  devotion  towards  this  mystery  of  God's 
love  and  power.  Four  only  raised  any  objection 
to  its  being  defined.  But  fifty-two,  while  de- 


THE  VOICE  OF  THE  EPISCOPACY.  1  85 

claring  themselves  satisfied  as  to  the  sufficiency 
of  theological  reasons  for  such  a  definition,  and 
themselves  prepared  for  it,  yet  hesitated  as  to 
its  opportuneness  at  the  present  moment.  Still 
all,  whatever  might  be  their  own  opinions, 
professed  themselves  most  ready  to  obey  what- 
ever emanated  from  the  Holy  See  upon  the 
subject. 

And  here  it  may  be  well  to  say  a  word  to 
those  persons  who  imagine  that  the  assembling 
of  a  General  Council  is  essential  for  the  defini- 
tion of  an  article  of  faith.  Many  doctrines  have 
indeed  been  defined  in  those  venerable  assem- 
blies, but  many  have  also  been  defined  without 
the  form  of  a  General  Council.  Infallibility  was 
promised  by  Christ  to  the  teaching  Church, 
that  is,  to  the  Apostles  and  their  Successors  : 
and  that  for  all  days,  even  to  the  end  of  the 
world.  Infallibility,  then,  is  an  attribute  of  the 
Church  at  all  times,  and  not  merely  at  the  mo- 
ment of  a  General  Council.  A  council  is  but 
one  of  different  ways  in  which  the  teaching 
Church  expresses  its  judgment.  Great  and 
dignified,  indeed,  are  those  illustrious  assem- 
blages. But  provided  the  head  and  body  of 
the  Catholic  Episcopate  speak  with  one  accord- 
ant voice,  their  authority  is  equally  great  and 
decisive,  whether  they  be  assembled  together, 
or  speak  severally,  yet  accordantly,  from  their 
sees.  Thus  the  Pelagian  heresy  was  condemned 
without  the  assembling  of  any 'General  Council. 
Two  Provincial  Councils  in  Africa  condemned 
the  errors,  the  Sovereign  Pontiff  confirmed  the 
decision,  and  the  universal  Episcopate  accepted 
his  judgment.  And  hear  how  St.  Augustine 


186  THE  VOICE  OF  THE  EPISCOPACY. 

speaks  of  it  to  his  people.  "  Now,  on  this  cause 
the  two  Councils  have  been  sent  to  Rome,  the 
answers  also  have  come  back  from  there ;  the 
cause  is  finished."* 

And  what  does  St.  Augustine  reply  to  the 
Pelagians  when,  with  the  usual  discontent  of 
heresy,  they  cried  out  for  a  General  Council  ? 
He  exclaims,  "  What  do  they  say  ? — that,  From 
simple  bishops,  seated  in  their  own  places,  with- 
out the  assembling  of  a  Synod,  a  subscription  is 

wrested  ? that,  The  gathering  of  a  Synod 

was  required  for  condemning  a  pestilence  so 
manifest  as  this?  As  if  no  heresy  was  ever 
condemned  without  the  assembling  of  a  Sy- 
nod."f 

If,  therefore,  a  doctrine  be  pronounced,  when 
occasion  demands  it,  by  the  local  Episcopacy, 
as  in  the  case  of  the  Pelagians,  and  the  Sove- 
reign Pontiff  confirms  it  by  his  solemn  judg- 
ment, and  the  Catholic  Episcopate  accepts  and 
promulgates  it,  the  whole  teaching  Church 
has  spoken.  Or  if  the  Sovereign  Pontiff  pro- 
nounces a  solemn  judgment,  as  in  the  case  of 
the  Jansenists,  and  it  is  received  and  promul- 
gated by  the  universal  Episcopate,  the  teaching 
Church  has  spoken.  It  has  spoken,  even  as 
when  the  Fathers  of  Chalcedon,  hearing  the 
letter  of  Leo  against  the  Eutychians,  exclaimed  : 
"  Peter  has  spoken  through  Leo."  And  if  the 
Bishops  of  the  universal  Church,  each  severally, 
declare  the  doctrine  of  their  Sees,  and  that 
doctrine  is  found  to  be  unanimous,  and  the 

*  Serin.  133  De  Verbis  Apost. 
t  Contra  Duas  Epistolas  Pelag.  L.  4. 


THE  VOICE  OF  THE  EPISCOPACY.  187 

Sovereign  Pontiff  makes  solemn  definition  of 
the  same  doctrine,  the  universal  Church  has 
spoken.  The  cause  is  finished. 

No  General  Council  ever  brought  out  so  uni- 
versal an  expression  of  the  Catholic  Episcopacy 
on  a  question  of  doctrine,  as  that  Encyclical  of 
Pius  the  Ninth  has  brought  it  to  expression  in 
our  own  times.  Each  Bishop,  calmly  seated  in 
his  diocese,  -with  its  influences  around  him, 
wrote  deliberately  down  the  tradition  of  his 
See,  the  sense  of  his  clergy  and  people,  and 
his  own  doctrinal  judgment.  And  thus,  whilst 
in  a  council  a  part  of  the  Episcopate  alone  can 
be  present  in  person,  and  the  rest  by  represen- 
tation, in  this  case  each  bishop  spoke  in  person, 
and  the  voice  of  the  Catholic  Church  was  found 
to  be  unanimous. 


188         THE  VOICE  OF  THE  HOLY  SEE. 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 


THE  VOICE  OF  THE  HOLY  SEE. 

WE  have  now  to  hear  the  voice  of  the  Su- 
preme Pastor  of  Christ's  flock,  who  sits  in  the 
Apostolic  Chair.  We  have  to  listen  to  that 
Head  and  Mother  of  all  Churches,  on  which,  as 
Tertullian  says,  "  the  Apostles  poured  out  all 
their  doctrine  with  their  blood ;"  and  to  which 
it  is  needful  that  all  the  Church  should  come  to 
receive  from  thence  the  form  of  sound  words 
and  the  seal  of  every  doctrine.  We  have  to 
give  our  attentive  ears  to  that  Roman  Church, 
"  the  place  of  Peter,  the  principal — the  ruling 
Church,  the  root  and  matrix  of  the  Catholic 
Church,"  as  St.  Cyprian  styles  the  Holy  See. 
For  to  Peter  our  Lord  said : — '  /  have  prayed 
that  thy  faith  may  not  fail :  feed  my  sheep  : 
confirm  thy  brethren. 

From  the  first  raising  of  the  controversy  to 
the  solemn  moment  at  which  the  doctrine  was 
defined,  the  conduct  of  the  Holy  See  exhibits 
a  most  beautiful  instance  of  that  wisdom,  for- 
bearance, delicacy,  and  firmness,  which  are  the 
abiding  characteristics  of  the  Sovereign  Pontiffs. 
From  first  to  last  their  acts  concerning  the 
belief  of  the  Immaculate  Conception  and  the 


THE  VOICE  OF  THE  HOLY  SEE.  189 

devotion  of  which  it  is  the  object,  though  ex- 
tending over  nearly  four  centuries,  exhibit  a 
consistency  and  unity  of  purpose  such  as  might 
have  emanated  from  some  one  perspicacious 
mind.  No  matter  from  what  school  or  from 
what  Religious  Order  a  Pontiff  was  raised  to 
the  chair  of  Peter,  he  was  still  found  extending 
favour  and  protection  to  the  sublime  privilege  of 
Mary. 

From  the  decree  of  Sixtus  IV.,  in  1476,  to 
the  present  day,  three-and-thirty  Pontiffs,  in- 
cluding every  Pope  whose  reign  was  not  too 
brief  for  many  acts  of  authority,  have  issued 
Constitutions,  either  directly  or  indirectly  favour- 
ing the  doctrine,  or  extending  encouragement  to 
the  devotion  of  the  Immaculate  Conception. 
These  Papal  Constitutions,  before  the  close  of 
the  reign  of  Pius  VI.,  had  reached  the  number 
of  seventy.* 

Towards  the  close  of  the  fourteenth  century, 
probably  under  Nicholas  III.,  the  Feast  of  the 
Conception  began  to  be  celebrated  in  Rome. 

It  was  after  Bandello  of  Castelnovo  had  pub- 
lished the  work,  in  which  he  declared  the 
doctrine  of  the  Immaculate  Conception  to  be 
heretical,  that,  to  remedy  the  scandal  it  occa- 
sioned, Sixtus  IV.  grantejd  to  the  faithful  who 
should  assist  at  a  Mass  and  Office  approved  by 
him,  which  directly  affirmed  the  Immaculate 
Conception,  the  same  indulgences  which  his  pre- 
decessors had  granted  for  the  Mass  and  Office 
of  the  Most  Blessed  Sacrament.  But  as  this 
was  not  enough  to  repress  the  boldness  of  the 

«  For  a  list  of  these  Constitutions,  see  Passaglia,  vol.  i.  sec.  i.  art.  i. 


190  THE  VOICE  OF  THE  HOLY  SEE. 

opponents,  the  Pope  issued  another  decree,  in 
which  he  strongly  reprobated  the  conduct  of 
those  who  dared  to  affirm  that  the  Roman 
Church  celebrated  the  spiritual  Conception  or 
sanctification  only,  and  not  the  real  Conception 
of  the  Blessed  Virgin.  He  excommunicated 
those  who  affirmed  that  it  was  heretical  to  main- 
tain that  Mary  was  conceived  without  sin.  And 
he  designated  the  authors  of  such  opinions  as 
rash,  perverse,  and  scandalous.  But  as  the 
doctrine  was  not  yet  denned,  he  equally,  and 
with  like  censure,  forbad  the  contrary  opinion 
to  be  held  up  as  heretical. 

Innocent  VIII.,  at  the  request  of  Elizabeth, 
the  pious  queen  of  Castille,  established  a  Reli- 
gious community  under  the  invocation  of  the 
Conception,  and  assigned  them  a  blue  habit,  as 
a  symbol  of  the  immaculate  purity  of  the  Queen 
of  Heaven. 

Leo  X.  not  only  confirmed  the  Office  of  the 
Immaculate  Conception  approved  by  Sixtus  IV., 
but  gave  the  privileges  of  a  Jubilee  on  the  Fes- 
tival to  seven  of  the  Roman  Churches. 

Adrian  VI.  confirmed  a  confraternity  in 
honour  of  the  Immaculate  Conception  at  Toledo, 
of  which  the  Emperor  Charles  V.  was  the  first 
brother. 

Pius  IV.  confirmed  the  Council  of  Trent,  in 
which  it  is  declared  that  the  Blessed  and  Imma- 
culate Virgin  Mary  was  not  included  in  what 
was  there  defined  respecting  original  sin. 

As  the  publication  of  a  corrected  Breviary 
and  Missal  for  the  use  of  the  whole  Latin 
Church  had  been  left  by  the  Council  to  the 
Sovereign  Pontiff,  Pius  V.  accomplished  this 


THE  VOICE  OF  THE  HOLT  SEE.        191 

great  work.  Hitherto  several  different  offices 
of  the  Conception  had  been  used  in  various 
parts  of  the  Church,"1  though  that  of  Nogarolis, 
so  called  from  its  author,  had  been  sanctioned, 
and  had  come  into  use  in  the  Roman  and  some 
other  Churches.  This  Office  directly  affirmed  the 
Immaculate  Conception.  But  as  an  Office  was 
now  required  for  the  use  of  the  universal 
Church,  and  as  an  injunction  to  adopt  that 
particular  Office  universally  would  have  been 
equivalent  to  a  definition,  it  was  superseded  by 
the  one  which  writers  have  often  called  the 
Office  of  Helsinus,  as  having  originated  through 
him,  and  already  in  use  in  various  Churches. 
The  Office  of  the  Nativity  was  adopted  with  the 
substitution  of  the  word  Conception  for  that  of 
Nativity.  And  thus  the  Feast  became  univer- 
sally extended,  whilst  the  mystery  was  still 
designated  in  the  Office  as  the  holy  Conception, 
and  the  most  worthy  Conception.  To  the  Fran- 
ciscans the  Pope  confirmed  the  use  of  the  Office 
of  Nogarolis.  Pius  V.  also  condemned  the  pro- 
position of  Baius,  which  maintained  that,  "  No 
one  except  Christ  is  without  original  sin ;  that 
hence  the  Blessed  Virgin  died  because  of  the 
sin  contracted  in  Adam,  and  all  her  afflictions  in 
this  life,  as  of  the  other  just,  were  the  penalties 
of  actual  or  original  sin."  And  to  stop  the  con- 
troversial preaching,  and  the  publication  of  con- 
troversial writings,  which  were  often  rash,  and 
occasioned  scandals  to  the  faithful,  Pius  V.  im- 
posed silence  on  both  sides  in  so  far  as  the  use 

*  There  were  at  least  five  offices  in  nse,  those  of  Noparolis,  of  Bernard 
de  Bustis,  of  Quiguonez,  of  liobert  Gagnini,  and  of  Ilelsinus. 


192         THE  VOICE  OF  THE  HOLY  SEE. 

of  modern  languages  was  concerned,  until  the 
question  should  be  decided  by  the  Holy  See. 
He  also  confirmed  the  decrees  of  Sixtus  IV. 
Such  were  the  protective  acts  exercised  towards 
the  pious  belief  by  a  Dominican  Pope,  trained 
in  the  school  of  St.  Thomas. 

Sixtus  V.,  in  his  Constitution  Inefabilia, 
called  the  mystery  the  most  pure  Conception. 

Clement  VIII.  raised  the  feast  to  the  rank 
of  a  Double  Major  Festival  throughout  the 
Church,  and  confirmed  the  acts  of  his  prede- 
cessors. He  also  approved  the  catechism  of 
Bellarmin,  which  expressly  teaches  that,  "  Our 
Lady  is  full  of  grace,  for  she  was  never  at- 
tainted with  the  stain  of  any  sin,  either  original 
or  actual,  mortal  or  venial." 

Paul  V.,  considering  that  "  the  opinion  which 
asserted  that  the  Blessed  Virgin  was  conceived 
in  original  sin,  gave  rise  to  great  offences 
against  God,  scandals  and  tumults,"  forbad 
that  opinion  to  be  publicly  maintained  in  any 
manner. 

Gregory  XV.,  to  put  a  stop  to  the  same 
scandals,  prohibited  even  private  discourses 
against  the  pious  belief.  And  as  one  Religious 
Order  had  continued  to  use  in  their  Office  the 
word  Sanctification,  he  enjoined  that  the  word 
Conception  should  be  everywhere  adopted. 

Alexander  VII.  declared  it  to  be  the  ancient 
sentiment  of  the  faithful,  that  the  Most  Blessed 
Virgin,  by  special  grace  and  privilege,  and  in 
view  of  the  merits  of  her  Son,  was  preserved 
exempt  from  original  sin,  and  this  at  the  mo- 
ment of  her  soul's  creation  and  of  its  infusion 
into  the  body,  and  that  almost  all  Catholics 


"TIIE  VOICE  OF  THE  HOLY  SEE.  193 

embraced  this  sentiment.  And  that  it  was  in 
this  sense  that  the  Church  celebrated  the  Festi- 
val of  the  Conception  with  her  solemn  rites. 

Benedict  XIV.  addressed  an  Encylical  Letter 
to  all  the  Patriarchs,  Primates,  Archbishops, 
and  Bishops  of  the  Church,  in  which,  recalling 
to  mind  the  approval  which  Clement  VIII.  had 
given  to  the  Catechism  of  Bellarmin,  that  cate- 
chism in  which  the  doctrine  of  the  Immaculate 
Conception  is  so  explicitly  affirmed,  he  urged 
his  brethren  in  the  episcopacy  in  the  most  vivid 
language,  to  adopt  it  for  the  instruction  of  their 
people. 

Everything  had  now  been  done  short  of  an 
actual  and  formal  decision,  and  the  implicit 
faith  of  the  Church  had  everywhere  come  out 
into  explicit  expression ;  and  during  the  Pon- 
tificate of  Gregory  XVI.,  the  Bishops,  the 
Religious  Orders,  and  the  other  great  institu- 
tions of  the  Church,  were  petitioning  the  Holy 
See  from  every  quarter,  and  urging  for  a  final 
definition.  This  ardent,  this  vehement  desire, 
became  yet  more  widely  manifested  when  the 
present  Pontiff  ascended  the  Chair  of  Peter. 

Moved  by  so  many  entreaties,  and  by  his 
own  veneration  and  love  towards  the  Mother 
of  God,  says  an  authentic  document,  *  Pius 
IX.,  at  the  commencement  of  his  Pontificate, 
confided  to  twenty  of  the  most  eminent  theolo- 
gians taken  from  the  secular  and  regular  clergy, 
the  commission  of  studying  the  question  of  the 
Immaculate  Conception  with  the  greatest  care, 

*  Narratio  Actornm  Sanctissimi  Domini  Nostri  Pii  IX.  Pont.  Max.  super 
arjjumento  de  immaculate   Deiparse  Virginia  Conceptu.     Publisliwi  at 
Rome  by  order  of  the  Sovereign  Pontiff. 
13 


194  THE  VOICE  OF  THE  HOLY  SEE. 

and  of  stating  their  opinions  in  writing.  For 
the  same  object  he  also  instituted  a  commission 
of  Cardinals  to  the  number  of  two-and-twenty 
of  that  illustrious  body. 

Forced  by  well-known  events  to  remove  from 
his  See,  the  Holy  Pontiff  issued  from  Gaeta 
that  Encyclical  Letter,  in  which  he  demanded 
of  the  Bishops  of  the  Catholic  world,  that  they 
would,  in  the  most  clear  and  explicit  terms, 
make  known  what  was  the  piety  of  their  faith- 
ful diocesans  towards  the  Immaculate  Concep- 
tion of  the  Mother  of  God,  and  what  above  all 
was  their  own  opinion  and  desire :  and  invited 
them  to  order  public  prayers  to  God,  that  He 
would  deign  to  shed  upon  them  the  light  of  His 
Holy  Spirit. 

The  theological  consultors  went  on  with  their 
labours,  and  from  the  development  of  Holy 
Scripture,  the  testimony  of  Fathers,  tradition, 
the  acts  of  the  Church,  and  of  the  Sovereign 
Pontiffs,  as  also  from  the  well-known  declaration 
of  the  Council  of  Trent  in  its  decree  relative  to 
original  sin,  they  came  to  the  conclusion  that  the 
Immaculate  Conception  of  the  Mother  of  God 
could  be  denned,  and  that  the  definition  was 
opportune. 

In  the  meantime,  knowing  perfectly  the  gra- 
vity of  the  question,  and  ardently  desiring  to 
proceed  with  all  the  maturity  possible,  says  the 
document  which  I  am  continuing  to  quote,  the 
Sovereign  Pontiff  judged  that  he  should  spare 
no  pains  and  omit  no  counsel  that  might  be 
taken,  in  order  that  the  question  might  be 
examined  under  every  aspect  and  in  all  its  bear- 
ings, and  that  with  the  greatest  and  most  scru- 


THE  VOICE  OF  THE  HOLY  SEE.  195 

pulous  care.  After  he  returned  to  the  city, 
he  therefore  appointed  a  special  commission, 
composed  of  a  select  number  of  the  same  theo- 
logians, under  the  presidency  of  the  late  learned 
and  illustrious  Cardinal  Fornari.  That  Special 
Commission  held  many  sittings  in  the  course 
of  the  years  1852  and  1853,  in  which  it  weighed 
anew,  and  with  the  utmost  exactness  and  care, 
the  arguments  from  all  the  sources  above  enu- 
merated, calculated  to  demonstrate  the  Immacu- 
late Conception  of  the  Virgin  Mother  of  God, 
and  to  resolve  all  the  difficulties  that  had  at 
any  time  been  raised  against  it.  They  finally 
drew  up  a  summary  of  their  labours  which  was 
unanimously  approved  both  by  the  theologians 
who  formed  the  Commission,  and  by  the  Cardi- 
nal who  presided  over  it.  They  then  demanded 
the  opinion  of  a  particular  Council  of  Cardinals, 
to  the  number  of  twenty-one,  who  having  assem- 
bled together,  after  a  searching  and  thorough 
examination  of  all  things,  judged  in  their  wis- 
dom that  it  was  possible  and  fitting  to  define 
the  doctrine  of  the  Immaculate  Conception  of 
the  Most  Glorious  Virgin.' 

In  the  meantime,  those  six  hundred  and  three 
replies  from  Bishops  were  received  from  time  to 
time,  according  to  the  distance  of  the  country 
from  which  they  were  written.  And,  by  order 
of  the  Sovereign  Pontiff,  these  replies  were 
printed  in  nine  volumes  with  an  appendix,  with 
which  were  also  included  letters  from  Ecclesi- 
astical bodies,  Religious  Orders,  Sovereigns, 
municipal  corporations,  and  other  associations, 
humbly  petitioning  for  the  declaration  of  the 
doctrine.  Sundry  able  treatises,  written  with 


196         THE  VOICE  OF  THE  HOLY  SEE. 

the  same  view,  were  also  added  in  this  volumi- 
nous collection. 

From  this  summary  statement  of  the  facts, 
every  person  can  easily  comprehend  what  care 
and  mature  deliberation  the  Sovereign  Pontiff 
has  employed  in  the  examination  of  this  ques- 
tion ;  what  eagerness  the  Catholic  Episcopate 
have  testified  for  the  definition,  and  what  ardent 
piety  the  faithful  of  the  entire  world  have  con- 
fessed for  the  holy  mystery  which  is  its  object. 

After  all  these  preparations,  and  after  sacri- 
fices and  prayers  had  been  offered  up  from 
every  part  of  the  earth,  his  Holiness  invited  a 
certain  number  of  Prelates  from  each  country 
to  Rome,  as  representatives  of  the  hierarchy, 
•whilst  he  expressed  his  readiness  to  welcome  as 
many  other  Bishops  as  could  conveniently  come. 
A  hundred  and  fifty  Archbishops  and  Bishops 
responded  to  the  call,  among  which  number 
were  representatives  of  many  of  the  most  ancient 
and  illustrious  Sees  and  Hierarchies  in  the  world. 
There  were  others  who  represented  hierarchies 
that  had  been  either  revived  or  established  in 
our  own  day.  From  Asia  and  the  East  to 
North  America  and  the  far  West,  from  the 
shores ^of  the  Baltic  to  Australia,  and  the  Isles 
of  the  Great  Pacific,  the  Church  was  there  in 
her  chief  pastors  assembled  around  the  supreme 
Head  of  the  Church,  and  the  Chair  of  Catholic 
unity. 

On  four  several  days  this  venerable  assem- 
blage of  Bishops  met,  under  the  presidency  of 
three  distinguished  and  learned  Cardinals,  and 
the  Papal  Bull,  drawn  up  and  prepared  for  its 


THE  VOICE  OF  THE  HOLY  SEE.         197 

final  revision,  was  laid  before  them,  and  every 
part  of  it  was  freely  discussed. 

After  the  episcopal  deliberations  on  the  form 
of  this  momentous  document  were  concluded, 
the  Pope  conferred  upon  it  in  secret  Consistory 
with  his  Cardinals,  who  constitute  his  own  espe- 
cial Council. 

All  was  now  ready,  and  on  the  eighth  of 
December,  the  Festival  of  the  Immaculate  Con- 
ception, in  the  ever-memorable  year  1854,  dur- 
ing the  celebration  of  a  solemn  Mass  which  the 
Supreme  Pontiff  offered  up,  surrounded  by  a 
hundred  and  fifty-two  mitred  Bishops,  fifty- 
three  Cardinals,  more  than  two  hundred  pre- 
lates of  an  inferior  order,  a  vast  body  of  clergy 
from  many  countries,  and  some  thirty  or  forty 
thousand  people,  who  crowded  the  vast  Basilica 
of  St.  Peter's ;  Cardinal  Macchi,  the  Dean  of 
the  Sacred  College,  advanced  to  the  Pontifical 
throne,  accompanied  by  an  Archbishop  of  the 
Greek  rite,  and  an  Archbishop  of  the  Armenian 
rite,  and  by  twelve  of  the  senior  Archbishops  of 
the  Western  Church,  as  witnesses  and  sup- 
porters, and  addressed  to  the  Pope  these 
words : — 

"  For  a  long  time,  Most  Blessed  Father,  has 
the  Catholic  Church  most  ardently  wished  and 
entreated  with  all  her  desires,  that,  in  your 
supreme  and  infallible  judgment,  you  would  de- 
fine the  Immaculate  Conception  of  the  Most 
Holy  Virgin  Mary,  Mother  of  God,  for  the 
increase  of  her  praise,  glory,  and  veneration. 
In  the  name  of  the  Sacred  College  of  Cardinals, 
of  the  Bishops  of  the  Catholic  world,  and  of  all 
the  faithful,  we  humbly  and  earnestly  entreat  of 


198         THE  VOICE  OF  THE  HOLY  SEE. 

you,  that,  on  this  solemnity  of  the  Conception 
of  the  Most  Blessed  Virgin,  our  common  vows 
may  be  fulfilled. 

"  In  the  midst,  then,  of  this  oblation  of  the 
august  and  unbloody  Sacrifice,  in  this  temple, 
sacred  to  the  Prince  of  the  Apostles,  surrounded 
by  this  solemn  assemblage  of  the  Sacred  College, 
the  Bishops  and  the  people,  deign,  Most  Blessed 
Father,  to  lift  up  your  apostolic  voice,  and  to 
pronounce  the  dogmatic  decree  of  the  Immacu- 
late Conception  of  Mary,  at  which  there  will 
be  joy  in  heaven,  and  great  exultation  on  the 
earth." 

To  these  words  the  Pontiff  answered,  that  he 
willingly  received  the  prayers  of  the  Sacred 
College,  the  Bishops,  and  the  people,  but,  that 
they  might  be  heard,  it  was  necessary  to  invoke 
the  Holy  Ghost.  Then  the  Veni  Creator 
jSpiritus  was  entoned,  and  taken  up  by  the 
immense  assemblage  of  the  people.  And  after 
the  sublime  supplication,  thundered  from  thirty 
thousand  voices,  had  died  away,  there  was  a 
breathless  silence,  and  the  Pope  most  deeply 
moved,  and  with  his  face  bathed  in  tears,  read 
to  that  silent  but  agitated  assembly,  the  decree 
of  the  Immaculate  Conception,  and  solemnly 
defined,  that: — 

11  IT  IS  A  DOGMA  OP  FAITH  THAT  THE  MOST 
BLESSED  VIRGIN  MARY,  IN  THE  FIRST  INSTANT  OF 
HER  CONCEPTION,  BY  A  SINGULAR  PRIVILEGE  AND 

GRACE    OF     GOD,    IN    VIRTUE    OF    THE    MERITS     OP 

JESUS  CHRIST,  THE  SAVIOUR  OF  THE  HUMAN  RACE, 

WAS  PRESERVED  EXEMPT  FROM  ALL  STAIN  OF 
ORIGINAL  SIN." 

Such  is  the  solemn  definition  for  which  so 


THE  VOICE  OF  THE  HOLY  SEE.  199 

many  prayers  and  entreaties  had  been  sent  to 
Rome,  and  for  which  the  whole  Catholic  Epis- 
copacy had  been  interrogated.  And  such  is  the 
wisdom,  patience,  care,  diligence,  deliberation, 
attention  to  the  sentiments  of  the  Episcopacy, 
and  even  of  the  people  of  the  Catholic  world, 
the  ripeness  of  council,  and  the  earnestness  of 
prayer,  with  which  the  Holy  See  proceeds  be- 
fore denning  a  doctrine. 


200  CONCLUSION. 


CHAPTER  XIX. 


CONCLUSION. 

THE  sum  and  conclusion  which  results  from 
this  exposition  is,  that  the  Immaculate  Concep- 
tion of  the  Mother  of  our  Redeemer  is  as  ancient 
as  the  mystery  of  the  Redemption.  It  forms  a 
component  part  of  that  grand  scheme  of  human 
reparation  disposed  before  the  ages  in  the  all- 
conceiving  mind  of  Eternal  Wisdom.  The  first 
intonations  of  the  mystery  reach  our  ears  from 
the  earthly  Paradise.  The  words  of  the  Al- 
mighty resound  across  the  ages  from  the  Book 
of  Genesis.  And  amidst  the  cries  of  woe  and 
distress  from  our  apostate  progenitors,  amidst 
God's  terrible  denunciations  of  their  crime, 
amidst  the  tempest  of  maledictions  which  come 
pouring  on  the  world,  amidst  the  awful  curses 
with  which  the  wrath  of  the  Eternal  overwhelms 
the  infernal  author  of  our  ruin,  there  breathe 
tender  notes  of  His  love  for  man,  which  prelude 
the  solution  of  the  world's  catastrophe.  They 
announce  the  coming  of  a  new  Mother,  a  Mother 
of  life,  a  Mother  who,  as  well  as  her  offspring, 
shall  be  victorious  over  the  devil,  and  shall  pass 
untouched  by  his  evil  powers  to  the  fulfilment  of 


CONCLUSION.  201 

her  great  office,  And  the  first  intimation  of  the 
Gospel  of  peace  is  the  proclamation  of  that  Im- 
maculate Mother. 

And  as  the  Old  Testament  begins  by  pro- 
claiming her,  so  the  New  Testament  begins  with 
words  addressed  to  her  from  Heaven  : —  Hail, 
full  of  grace.  The  Lord  is  with  thee.  That 
is,  as  an  ancient  Father  writes,  "  Hail,  formed 
in  grace."""  Hail,  in  whom  God  always  dwells. 
Hail,  whose  grace  is  coextensive  with  thy 
nature.  And  thus  from  the  beginning  the 
truth  was  sown  both  in  the  minds  of  the  Fathers 
and  in  the  hearts  of  the  faithful.  But  there 
were  some  doctrines,  which,  for  the  attaining 
of  the  mystery  of  salvation,  shone  forth  at 
once,  like  the  sun  in  the  mid-day,  through  the 
preaching  of  the  Church.  Others  remained  in 
the  consciences  of  pastors  and  people,  like  en- 
folded and  half-opened  buds,  to  flower  out  and 
bloom  in  all  their  beauty,  as  a  universally  and 
joyously  proclaimed  belief,  when  the  moment 
should  arrive  for  the  greater  glory  of  God  and 
the  consolation  of  the  elect. 

For  from  the  very  limitation  of  the  human 
soul,  and  the  nature  of  the  faculties  which  are 
the  recipients  of  truth,  and  which  are  not  de- 
stroyed or  fettered,  but  animated,  exalted  and 
freed  by  the  gifts  of  grace ;  and  from  the 
limited  and  mysterious  mode  in  which  the 
light  of  truth  is  communicated  to  the  soul ; 
the  result  is,  that  truth  dwells  not  in  us  with 
the  unchangeableness  of  death,  but  with  the 
expansiveness  of  life.  That  light  of  truth  leads 

*  Inter  Opera  Origenis. 


202  CONCLUSION. 

to  the  rejection  of  profane  novelties  exterior 
to  what  is  already  believed  and  established,  but 
hinders  not  such  progress  as  successive  explica- 
tions of  its  own  principles  would  give,  whilst 
leaving  those  principles  always  one  and  the  same. 
"  He  must  be  an  enemy  of  God  and  men,"  says 
St.  Vincent  of  Lerins,  "  who  denies  that  ad- 
vancement can  be  made  in  the  knowledge  of 
religion.  But  to  advance  in  faith  is  not  to 
change  the  faith.  For  to  perfect  anything,  it 
must  abide  in  its  own  nature  whilst  it  receives 
some  increase ;  and  it  is  not  a  progress,  but  a 
change,  when  anything  ceases  to  be  what  it  was 
in  order  to  become  some  other.  Let  a  holy  emu- 
lation animate  the  individual  members  as  well  as 
the  whole  body  of  the  Church :  that  each  age 
may  arise  above  the  one  preceding  in  the 
science,  the  intelligence,  and  the  relish  of  divine 
things,  yet  without  departing  from  the  same 
sense,  from  the  same  faith,  and  the  same  unal- 
terable dogmas,  The  human  body  grows  and 
strengthens  with  years,  but  it  always  continues 
to  be  one  and  the  same  body.  Yet  great  is  the 
difference  in  the  same  man  between  his  youth 
and  his  matured  age.  The  condition  of  his 
state  is  changed,  but  not  the  substance  of  his 
nature.  If  portions  of  the  body  gather  growth 
with  time,  that  growth  was  comprised  in  the 
vital  principles  from  their  origin,  so  that  no- 
thing new  has  made  its  appearance  in  the  man, 
but  it  was  really  in  him  in  his  youth,  though  hid- 
den. Wherefore  the  rule  and  measure  of  grow- 
ing to  perfect  proportions  is,  age  insensibly 
unfolding  the  various  parts  which  the  wisdom 
of  the  Creator  has  formed  in  the  child.  And 


CONCLUSION.  203 

the  doctrines  of  the  Christian  religion  must 
follow  the  same  laws  of  increase ;  with  years 
they  must  be  consolidated,  with  time  they  must 
be  expanded,  -with  ages  they  must  be  exalted ; 
yet  so  that  they  remain  uninjured  and  uncor- 
rupted,  and  retain  a  full  and  perfect  harmony 
in  all  their  parts,  without  diminution  of  their 
sense,  or  change  of  their  properties,  or  altera- 
tion of  what  has  been  decreed."  Thus  in  the 
year  434,  spoke  Saint  Vincent  of  Lerins  in  his 
famous  Commonitorium  against  heresies,  writ- 
ten chiefly  in  defence  of  the  decree  of  Ephesus, 
which  had  proclaimed  Mary  to  be  the  Mother 
of  God.  And  the  reader  will  not  fail  to  see 
that  every  word  of  this  beautiful  exposition 
applies  as  freshly  to  the  decree  of  her  Immacu- 
late Conception  as  they  did  fourteen  hundred 
years  ago  to  that  of  her  divine  Maternity. 

When  the  Council  of  Ephesus  decreed  that 
in  Christ  there  is  but  one  sole  person,  when 
that  of  Chalcedon  decreed  that  in  the  same 
Christ  there  are  two  natures,  and  when  the  third 
Council  of  Constantinople  defined  that  Christ 
had  two  wills ;  these  were  not  new  doctrines, 
though  they  were  new  as  dogmatical  defini- 
tions. They  were  only  the  developments  of 
that  article  of  faith,  that  Christ  is  true  God 
and  true  Man,  and  the  only  begotten  Son  of 
the  Father.  And  the  explication  of  this  leads 
necessarily  to  our  saying,  that  there  is  but  one 
personality  in  Christ — that  of  the  divine  Word  : 
two  natures — the  divine  and  the  human;  and 
consequently,  two  wills  —  one  proper  to  the 
divine  nature,  the  other  resulting  from  the 
human  nature. 


204  CONCLUSION. 

And  so  in  the  doctrine  of  the  Immaculate 
Conception  of  Mary.  It  is  nothing  new.  It 
is  but  an  explication  of  the  grace,  and  of  the 
supereminent  purity  which  the  Church  has 
always  attributed  to  the  Blessed  Virgin.  It  is 
but  an  explication  of  that  high  sense  in  which 
she  was  ever  Blessed  and  ever  Virgin.  For 
the  Immaculate  Conception  is  but  the  expres- 
sion of  the  ever  virginal  integrity  of  her  soul. 
If  the  Church  had  said  anything  tending  to 
diminish  the  idea,  which  she  has  ever  enter- 
tained of  the  sanctity  of  that  sublime  creature, 
then  she  would  have  uttered  something  new ; 
but  what  she  has  spoken  is  contained  in  that 
idea,  as  a  consequence  is  contained  in  its  prin- 
ciple, or  as  a  particular  in  its  universal. 

It  was  always  held  implicitly  or  of  pious 
belief, — it  is  now  held  explicitly  and  proclaimed 
of  Catholic  faith.  In  the  former  ages  it  was 
believed  with  the  heart  unto  justice,  but  in  our 
own,  confession  of  it  is  made  with  the  mouth 
unto  salvation.  For  in  the  ages  past,  faith  in 
the  great  grace  of  Mary  had  bloomed  into  the 
light  out  of  the  great  heart  of  the  Church, 
in  prayers,  devotions,  festivals,  and  God  had 
answered  them  by  graces,  protections,  miracles; 
and  that  faith  was  all  but  formally  denned. 
Pius  IX.  has  simply  proclaimed  that  the  Church 
believes,  what  she  does  believe.  And  all  that 
is  new  is  the  gladness  with  which  the  children 
of  the  Church  behold  that  their  faith  in  their 
Mother's  privilege  has  obtained  its  becoming 
position  in  the  formulary  of  faith.  "  And  in 
very  truth,"  says  the  Sovereign  Pontiff,  in  his 
Apostolic  Letter,  proclaiming  the  definition, 


CONCLUSION.  205 

"  through  the  most  deeply  rooted  sense  of  the 
Church,  through  her  authoritative  teaching, 
zeal,  science  and  wisdom,  the  doctrine  of  the 
Immaculate  Conception  of  the  Blessed  Virgin 
is  every  day  more  magnificently  explained, 
declared,  confirmed,  and  propagated  to  all  the 
people  of  the  Catholic  world  and  to  the  nations 
at  large.  Whilst  the  illustrious  monuments  of 
venerable  antiquity  of  the  Eastern  and  Western 
Church  most  strongly  bear  witness,  that  it  has 
always  existed  in  the  Church  as  received  from 
those  who  preceded,  and  is  stamped  with  the 
character  of  a  revealed  doctrine.  For  the 
Church  of  Christ,  the  careful  guardian  and 
assertor  of  the  doctrines  deposited  in  her  keep- 
ing, changes  nothing  in  them  at  any  time, 
diminishes  nothing,  adds  nothing :  but  with  all 
industry,  by  faithfully  and  wisely  treating 
ancient  things,  delivered  down  from  antiquity, 
and  spread  abroad  by  the  faith  of  the  Fathers, 
she  studies  so  to  eliminate  and  burnish  them, 
that  those  ancient  dogmas  of  celestial  doctrine 
may  receive  evidence,  light,  distinctness,  whilst 
they  retain  their  fulness,  integrity,  propriety, 
and  may  grow  only  in  their  own  kind,  that  is, 
in  the  same  doctrine,  the  same  sense,  and  the 
same  belief." 

Mary  is  the  Immaculate,  as  she  is  the  Virgin 
and  the  Mother  of  God.  As  the  two  latter 
designations  mark  her  position  in  the  scheme  of 
Redemption,  so  the  former  denotes  her  position 
in  the  scheme  of  grace.  And  the  whole  of 
God's  plan  for  raising  human  sanctification  to 
its  highest  term,  in  a  crowning  example  and  a 
masterpiece  of  redeeming  power,  comes  out  to 


206  CONCLUSION. 

view.  The  ascending  scale  of  sanctities  is  com- 
pleted. That  mystical  ladder  ascends  from  the 
earth  in  Jacob's  vision,  and  the  angels  ascend 
and  descend  upon  it,  and  God  Himself  is  lean- 
ing on  it,  and  on  its  topmost  degree,  above 
the  ascent  of  every  other  created  sanctity,  is 
placed  the  Immaculate  Mother  of  God.  The 
interval  between  the  thrones  of  the  Saints, 
and  the  throne  of  Jesus,  is  filled  up.  The 
Psalm  sings  of  Christ  in  His  glorious  king- 
dom, that  "  The,  Queen  stood  at  His  right 
hand  in  a  garment  of  gold,  encircled  with 
variety."  She  occupies  the  first  of  the  many 
mansions  which  her  Son  went  up  to  Heaven  to 
prepare.  Most  truly  she  is  but  a  creature,  and 
Jesus  is  her  Creator.  But  what  a  creature  ! — 
Founded  in  original  grace  and  the  Mother  of 
her  Creator.  All  the  saints  were  sinners  once, 
but  Mary  was  always  the  dear  child  of  God. 
By  her  formation  in  grace,  above  the  saints; 
by  her  maternity,  above  the  angels ;  her  posi- 
tion in  the  universe  is  clearly  defined,  its  causes 
understood,  her  influence  explained. 

If  the  first  of  her  glories  in  point  of  time  is 
the  last  pronounced,  it  is  because  it  was  not  so 
essential  as  those  of  her  virginity  and  maternity 
for  explaining  the  fundamental  dogma  of  the 
Incarnation.  Yet  what  an  illumination  does  it 
throw  upon  all  the  mysteries  of  grace,  as  upon 
all  the  truths  of  faith.  And  how  it  advances  a 
shield  of  light  against  the  perverse  deniers  of 
the  mystery  of  sin.  For  what  does  it  show  us  ? 

First,  it  beams  upon  us  rays  reflected  from 
the  infinite  holiness  of  Jesus.  Then  it  reveals 
the  wonderful  care  with  which  the  way  was 


CONCLUSION.  207 

kept  pure  and  prepared  for  His  coming  into  the 
world.  Again,  it  shows  how  God  abhors  that 
culpable  contamination  in  which  the  human  race 
derives  its  origin.  The  Holy  Spirit  would  not 
work  the  mystery  of  the  Incarnation  in  one  who 
had  been  infected  by  its  venom.  Nor  would  the 
Son  of  God  take  flesh,  or  maternal  guidance  in 
His  youth,  from  one  who  had  known  that 
hideous  defilement.  Mary  is  "  the  bridge  from 
God  to  man"  across  the  unclean  gulf.  Jesus 
would  call  no  one  His  Mother  who  had  emerged 
from  that  gulf,  or  who  bore  upon  her  the  re- 
membrance of  dishonour. 

Then  her  primal  grace  is  a  light  from  the 
infinite  purity  and  sanctity  of  God.  For  inex- 
haustible as  are  His  mercies  for  sinners  ;  rich  as 
are,  beyond  our  comprehension,  His  rewards  for 
the  regenerated  and  the  just ;  ineffable  as  are 
the  ways  in  which  He  gives  Himself  to  the 
saints,  yet  she  in  whom  He  is  to  take  His 
earthly  life,  she  in  whom  He  is  to  hear  and 
obey  the  will  of  His  Father,  must  have  a  sanc- 
tity such  that  a  greater  cannot  be  imagined 
in  a  mere  creature,  a  sanctity  coextensive  with 
existence,  and  a  purity  on  which  the  shadow 
of  ungodliness  cannot  rest  even  for  a  moment 
of  time,  or  of  any  culpability,  whether  original 
or  actual,  mortal  or  venial. 

Then  the  light  from  the  mystery  shows  from 
a  new  point  of  view,  how  the  Son  of  that  Imma- 
culate Mother  was  perfect  God  yet  perfect  man. 
For  He  broke  down  the  universal  laws  of  death 
and  sin  in  the  fallen  human  race,  and  reversed 
the  conditions  of  the  divine  decree  by  a  most 
singular  exception  from  its  tendencies,  that  He 


208  CONCLUSION. 

might  obtain  most  pure  flesh  from  a  pure 
source.  For  the  primitive  integrity  of  human 
nature  was  not  transmitted  to  her,  but  He  re- 
established it  in  her,  that  she  might  be  a  most 
pure  mansion  for  His  Godhead.  Her  sacred 
Conception,  then,  is  a  light  from  His  divine 
personality  as  from  His  united  natures. 

Then  what  an  illumination  streams  forth  to 
gladden  us  from  her  glorious  redemption.  It 
lifts  up  our  faith  to  higher  knowledge  of  the 
virtues  of  the  Cross.  It  shows  us  that  Christ 
has  effected  a  richer  redemption  than  comes 
within  our  own  experience. 

Again,  Mary's  Conception  throws  a  light  for 
us  upon  the  freedom  of  Almighty  God  from 
necessity.  What  is  a  law  of  necessity  in  fallen 
man  is  no  necessity  with  his  Creator.  Neither 
the  act  of  Adam  nor  the  act  of  Satan  can 
restrain  His  graces  or  His  favours.  He  can 
consult  His  goodness  rather  than  His  justice. 
He  can  arrest  corruption  as  He  wills,  and  make 
it  fly  before  His  face.  Nor  is  there  anything  in 
the  fallen  creature,  at  whatever  moment  of 
existence,  to  which  the  grace  of  Christ  cannot 
have  access  where  He  so  wills  it,  and  His 
honour  is  concerned.  And  in  one  glorious  ex- 
ample He  has  put  before  us  the  height  and 
depth,  the  length  and  breadth  of  His  generosity, 
and  displayed  the  full  extent  of  the  munificence 
with  which  He  can  protect  and  save. 

Then  again,  from  Mary's  innocence  how  does 
light  flow  back  to  the  primal  innocence  of  Para- 
dise. The  second  Mother  is  created  in  innocence 
as  the  first.  But  her  graces  are  drawn  from  the 
deep  rich  fountains  of  her  Son  and  Saviour's 


CONCLUSION.  209 

blood.  And  Satan  has  not  power  even  to  touch 
her  with  a  finger.  Incomparably  more  holy  is 
the  Mother  of  the  living-  than  was  that  mother 
of  the  dead.  Wonderful  reparation  !  Adam  is 
created  a  living  soul,  and  from  his  innocent  side 
Eve  is  drawn  forth,  living  and  innocent,  and  she 
becomes  the  cause  of  his  destruction.  Mary  is 
created  in  life  from  the  side  of  Jesus  ere  He  is 
conceived  in  her  womb,  and  she  becomes  the 
Mother  of  Salvation  to  Adam  and  all  his  race. 

To  what  region  of  faith  can  we  turn  our  eyes, 
but  from  the  Immaculate  Mary  a  new  light  is 
reflected  on  them  ?  Sometimes  it  is  a  light 
direct,  sometimes  a  light  by  contrast.  The 
sacraments  spring  from  the  Body  of  Christ,  and 
that  very  Body  is  the  greatest  of  the  sacra- 
ments. But  the  body  of  Christ  sprang  from 
Mary.  Yet  she  receives  the  fruits  of  the  sacra- 
ments before  they  are  instituted,  and  in  a  man- 
ner altogether  preeminent.  For  baptism  she 
receives  the  gift  of  original  justice,  and  of  sanc- 
tifying grace.  And  the  Holy  Ghost  confirmed 
her  then  with  His  enduring  gifts.  She  is  thus 
prepared  to  possess  the  body  of  the  Lord,  a 
Eucharist  indeed,  through  which  she  renders 
incessant  thanks  to  God.  But  first  come  those 
divine  espousals,  that  union  with  the  Holy 
Spirit,  which  sheds  light  upon  all  pure  and 
divine  unions  whereby  Christ  is  brought  forth 
in  the  soul.  And  in  that  most  pure  creature,  as 
in  His  sanctuary,  did  the  great  High  Priest 
make  the  first  oblation  of  Himself  unto  His 
Father.  And  here  is  a  light  of  contrast  for  our 
humiliation.  Penance  she  needed  none;  for 
the  unction  from  the  Holy  One  did  ever  anoint 
14 


210  CONCLUSION. 

and  sanctify  each  power  of  her  nature  from  the 
moment  of  her  animation  to  the  instant  of  her 
expiration. 

Whether,  then,  we  would  consider  the  power 
of  Jesus  over  creation,  sin,  death,  or  the  devil, 
we  shall  find  the  highest  example  of  its  exercise 
in  Mary.  Or  whether  we  would  consider  His 
condescension,  love,  and  goodness  to  His  crea- 
tures, we  have  still  the  most  beautiful  instance 
in  Mary.  Or  whether  we  would  consider  the 
depths  of  the  riches  which  He  won  upon  His 
Cross,  and  the  generosity  with  which  He  pours 
out  those  inexhaustible  treasures,  we  shall  find 
their  most  profuse  expenditure  was  on  His  Im- 
maculate Mother.  Or  whether  we  search  the 
conditions  of  union  with  Jesus,  we  can  contem- 
plate them  here  in  their  most  rare  and  absolute 
perfection.  For  to  Mary  alone  of  all  saints  can 
we  add  a  perfecting  clause  to  the  Psalmist's 
words: — With  the  holy  Thou  shalt  be  Holy, 
and  with  the  elect  Thou  shalt  be  elected,  and 
with  the  immaculate  Thou  shalt  be  immaculate. 
Or  if  we  would  contemplate  the  final  end  of  all 
God's  works,  His  praise  and  glory  in  His  saints, 
it  is  Mary  who  renders  Him  the  greatest  praise 
and  glory,  and  her  primal  graces  are  the  deep 
foundation  from  which  that  towering  glory 
springs. 

In  short,  the  Immaculate  Conception  of  Mary 
is  a  summary  of  all  the  truths  of  the  Gospel, 
displays  all  the  graces  of  her  Son,  strikes  down 
countless  errors,  and  puts  sin,  and  the  author  of 
sin,  beneath  her  stainless  feet. 

Who,  then,  could  have  faith  and  understand- 
ing, and  yet  ask,  Why  at  length  the  doctrine 


CONCLUSION.  211 

has  been  defined  ?  The  general  prayer  of  the 
Church  for  the  definition  is  the  profoundest 
answer  to  the  question.  When  the  Church  is 
moving  through  its  length  and  breadth  with 
desire  to  see  a  doctrine  of  faith  exalted,  the 
Holy  Ghost  is  stirring  in  the  Church.  And  of 
this  we  may  be  certain,  both  the  principles  of 
faith,  and  the  facts  of  history  will  bear  it  out, 
that  the  Church  never  rises  to  a  loftier  profes- 
sion of  her  doctrine,  or  gives  a  greater  expan- 
sion to  her  devotion,  but  it  brings  within  her 
bosom  a  vast  increase  of  grace,  and  great  inter- 
ventions of  that  Providence  which  rules  her 
destinies.  The  Blessed  Leonard  of  Porto  Mau- 
rizio,  in  a  celebrated  letter  which  shaped  out 
the  whole  way  in  which  this  definition  has  been 
brought  about,  records,  that  he  once  said  to  Bene- 
dict XIV.  that  whoever  should  define  the  Im- 
maculate Conception  would  immortalize  himself 
in  this  world,  and  gain  a  great  crown  of  glory 
in  Heaven.  "But,"  said  the  servant  of  God, 
"  of  necessity  there  must  first  be  a  ray  of  light 
descending  from  on  high.  And  if  that  ray  of 
light  does  not  descend,  it  is  a  sign  that  the  time 
marked  out  by  Providence  has  not  arrived,  and 
we  must  still  bear  with  patience  a  most  grievous 
embroilment  of  the  world." 

That  we  have  reached  a  turning  point  in  the 
Church's  history,  no  thoughtful  Catholic  for  a 
moment  doubts,  but  what  her  future  shall  be, 
is  the  secret  of  the  Heavens.  Yet,  when  the 
Church,  uncompelled  by  any  new  error,  bursts 
forth  spontaneously  with  the  solemn  profession 
of  one  of  her  sublimest  mysteries,  it  is  a  sure 


212  CONCLUSION. 

sign  that  a  renewed  vigour  is  animating  her 
and  strengthening  her  interior  life. 

If  the  decree  be  not  directed  against  any 
novel  heresy,  it  strikes  at  old  heresies  which 
were  never  so  rife,  so  active,  or  so  malignant, 
as  at  present.  When  it  was  denned  that  Mary 
is  Mother  of  God,  it  was  to  oppose  heresies 
respecting  the  Incarnation.  The  evil  which 
now  spreads  like  a  cancer  in  the  world  beyond 
the  Church,  is  ignorance  or  heretical-  denial 
about  that  tremendous  fact  on  which  the  neces- 
sity of  the  Incarnation  rests.  Disbelief  in  ori- 
ginal sin  is  one  of  the  developments  of  Protes- 
tantism. In  our  own  country  it  is  a  tendency, 
on  the  Continent  it  is  an  accomplished  deed. 
But  even  here,  the  grasp  of  opinion  on  that 
awful  fact  in  human  nature,  for  it  is  but  opinion, 
is  feeble.  Its  nature  is  not  appreciated,  its 
fruits  are  not  understood,  unless  it  be  by  a 
small  minority  who  shrink  from  the  name  of 
Protestant,  though  they  cannot  escape  from  Pro- 
testant communion.  Formal  rejection  of  regene- 
ration, through  the  rejection  of  the  one  means 
appointed  for  its  attainment,  is  a  clear  indication 
of  deep  errors  respecting  the  character  of  that 
disease,  for  which  Christ  has  appointed  the  one 
sole  remedy  of  baptism.  What  is  born  of  flesh  is 
flesh,  says  the  Son  of  God.  You  must  be  born 
again.  Unless  a  man  be  born  of  water  and 
of  the  Holy  Ghost  he  cannot  enter  into  the 
kingdom  of  God. 

A  religionism  self-righteous  and  self-sufficient, 
steeped  in  the  bitters  of  its  own  spirit,  like  the 
souls  of  the  Pharisees, — its  votaries  living  on 
the  sentimentalities  supplied  by  the  emotions  of 


CONCLUSION.  213 

excited  nature,  .and  sinking  helplessly  when  they 
subside  and  reaction  sets  in  ;  self-deluded  all  the 
while  by  a  use  of  Scripture  language  and  of 
Scripture  imagery,  in  which,  not  the  sense  of 
God,  but  their  own  is  clothed ; — this  religion- 
ism has  generated  a  spiritual  pride  more  dan- 
gerous and  self-worshipping  than  any  other 
kind  of  pride,  whether  sensuous  or  intellectual, 
for  it  seizes  upon  the  very  essence  of  man,  and 
holds  its  dwelling  in  his  inmost  conscience. 
Emotion,  springing  from  the  fountains  of  senti- 
mentality, the  self  enjoyment  of  that  interior 
sensuousness,  and  the  use  of  the  words  of  the 
Bible  as  an  organ  for  its  development, — this 
constitutes  the  inward  essence  of  Evangelical 
religionism,  whilst  its  out \vard  works  all  indi- 
cate the  interior  craving  for  the  like  senti- 
mental excitement  and  self-indulgence.  Now, 
this  spirit,  which  finds  all  within,  and  asks  for 
nothing  from  without,  which  confounds  its  own 
emotions  with  personal  inspiration — terrible 
source  of  spiritual  pride,  cannot  admit  of  ex- 
terior means  of  grace.  It  cannot  admit  of 
the  healing  medicines  of  humility,  of  the  very 
nature  of  which  it  is  ignorant.  To  bend  to 
an  exterior  authority,  to  believe  that  God  has 
established  such  an  authority  in  any  real 
sense,  to  obey  it,  to  humble  the  heart  to  re- 
ceive grace  from  objective  channels,  to  obtain 
a  sacred  strength  from  Christ  through  the 
ministry  of  His  Church,  that  very  provision 
which  He  has  made  for  securing  the  needful 
preparation  of  humility  and  obedience,  how  can 
this  be  in  those  who  cannot  see  that  God  has 


214  CONCLUSION. 

ordained  anything  good  which  is  exterior  to 
themselves? 

And  as  old  traditions  die  away  for  want  of  vital 
nourishment,  this  self-sufficient  spirit  developea 
itself  unchecked  to  its  natural  consequences.  He 
who  draws  his  spiritual  resources  from  within 
himself,  will  have  subjective  tendencies,  and  will 
be  continually  confounding  the  lights  of  Heaven 
with  his  own.  It  was  to  remedy  this  danger 
that  God  provided  those  outward  means  of  sane* 
tification,  and  required  our  submission  to  them. 
The  instincts  of  pride  are  confounded  with  th$ 
inspirations  of  God.  And  the  next  step  will  be- 
to  take  our  resources  as  if  really  our  own.  And 
so  comes  the  blind  conclusion,  that  our  origin 
was  not  sinful  but  innoxious. 

Sound  knowledge  of  the  remedy  implies  sound 
knowledge  of  the  disease.  And  the  rejection  of 
regeneration  by  baptism  will  lead  to  the  rejec- 
tion of  original  sin,  a  doctrine  which  is  already 
sapped  and  undermined  in  almost  all  the  sects 
of  Protestantism.  And  that  doctrine  is  the 
foundation  which  underlies  the  whole  struc- 
ture of  Christianity. 

And  what  has  the  Church  done  ?  She  has 
proclaimed  as  a  fact  laid  up  in  the  deposit  of 
her  faith,  that  one,  and  only  one,  and  that  one 
the  Mother  of  God,  by  a  most  singular  miracle 
of  grace,  and  a  prodigious  act  of  redeeming 
power,  was  exempted  from  the  stain  of  original 
sin.  And  by  that  decree  she  has  given  the 
most  striking  proof  and  confirmation  that  could 
be  given  to  her  doctrine  of  the  universality  of 
original  sin,  and  of  that  degeneration,  injustice, 


CONCLUSION.  215 

and   separation  from  God   of  which  it  is   the 
cause. 

Peter  lives  in  Pius.  And  if  he  knows  the 
Church,  her  aspirations,  and  her  wants,  he  also 
knows  the  world,  its  diseases  and  necessities, 
better  than  the  world  knows  its  own.  And  it  is 
not  by  diminishing  truth,  but  by  increasing  its 
light,  that  he  meets  the  difficulties  he  has  to 
encounter.  Nor  does  he  look  to  the  moment 
only,  but  to  God,  and  to  all  time  to  come,  for 
his  reply. 

When  the  Church  declares  that  Mary  was 
without  sin,  she  also  declares  that  she  would 
have  been  under  sin  if  Christ  had  not  saved  her 
from  it;  and  she  emphatically  proclaims  that 
her  case  was  most  singular,  and  that  all  besides 
her  are  born  beneath  its  dire  infliction.  That 
all  have  sinned,  even  the  child  of  one  day  upon 
the  earth.  And  that  all  stand  in  need  of  re- 
generation, and  of  a  regeneration  so  unmistake- 
able  as  to  the  time  and  mode  and  authority  of 
its  application,  and  so  sure  in  its  effects,  that  no 
one  may  be  haunted  with  the  terrors  of  doubt 
as  to  whether  they  have,  or  have  not,  received 
its  benefits. 

Mary,  arising  into  the  creation  in  unclouded 
purity,  is  the  one  bright  star  which  makes  more 
visible  the  darkness  of  the  universal  night  of 
human  conceptions.  And  the  appearance  of 
that  Blessed  one,  illuminating  by  her  immacu- 
late light  the  unclean  gulf  of  original  sin,  is 
greeted  with  clamours  and  cries  from  the  en- 
feebled sects  of  Protestantism.  It  is  as  if  they 
had  been  struck  by  a  terrible  blow.  Pride  is 
offended  that  one  so  lowly  should  be  so  great, 


2 1  6  CONCLUSION. 

and  that  humility  should  be  so  supremely  ex- 
alted. Nature,  poor  fallen  thing,  is  indignant 
and  disgusted  in  its  self-sufficiency  at  such  a 
revelation  of  grace.  And  the  spectacle  of  its 
anger  is  as  painful  as  it  is  instructive  to  con- 
template. May  God  give  to  that  erring  hu- 
manity the  light  to  see  those  sacred  truths 
of  which  this  beautiful  mystery  is  the  last  ex- 
pression. 

Meanwhile  German  rationalism  has  charged 
Protestant  evangelicalism  with  its  inconsisten- 
cies, as  exhibited  in  these  outcries  against  the 
definition.  The  Protestant  Ecclesiastical  Ga- 
zette, of  December  9th,  1854,*  remonstrates 
with  it  in  the  following  terms  : — "  Why  all  this 
clamour  on  the  part  of  orthodox  Protestants? 
This  belief  is  but  the  necessary  and  very  natural 
consequence  of  their  own  principles,  and  it  is 
surprising  that  the  definition  did  not  take  place 
sooner,  and  that  orthodox  Protestantism  had 

not  long  since  proclaimed  it The  roots  of 

the  dogma  of  the  Immaculate  Conception  of 
Mary  extend  in  fact  into  the  very  depth  of  the 
substance  of  their  own  dogmatic  system,  and 
show  both  the  weak  sides  and  the  corruption  of 
the  Evangelical  Church.  In  substance  it  is  a 
question  on  the  historical  fact  of  the  holy  and 

immaculate   personality   of  Jesus   Christ if 

they  are  not  disposed  to  revise  from  top  to  bot- 
tom the  theory  of  original  sin,  and  our  ortho- 
dox now  desire  it  less  than  ever,  there  is 
no  other  part  to  take  but  to  imitate  the  Catho- 
lics, and  to  deny  the  influence  of  original  sin  oa 

*  From  the  Univers  of  January  26th,  1855. 


CONCLUSION.  217 

the  human  nature  of  Christ ;  this  will  also  lead 
to  the  liberating  of  His  Mother,  that  is  to  the 
asserting;  that  she  was  conceived  without  original 
stain.  This  is  what  the  Roman  Church  has 
done  in  our  days,  not  arbitrarily,  but  pushed  on 
by  the  force  of  a  necessary  consequence.  Thus 
it  is  not  possible  to  believe  that  Rome  could 
refuse  her  sanction  to  the  dogma  of  the  Imma-r 
culate  Conception.  These  things  seem  at  this 
moment  to  have  no  direct  influence  on  the  Evan-  * 
gelical  Church,  but  before  long  we  shall  see  the 
theologians  of  orthodox  Protestantism  driven  at 
last  to  the  necessity  of  acknowledging  what  is 
contained  in  their  own  principles,  of  which  the 
Roman  Church  has  done  nothing  but  recognize 
a  consequence,  and  sooner  or  later  it  will  bring 
the  orthodox  to  venerate  the  Virgin." 

But  behind  religionism  is  philosophism,  upon 
which,  as  truths  are  diminished  from  the  chil- 
dren of  men,  they  in  a  sort  of  despair  fall  back; 
and  faith  in  the  phosphorescent  lights  of  cor- 
rupted nature  is  held  to  be  a  better  thing  than 
faith  in  Christ.  With  the  rationalists  all  men 
are  born  just,  and  with  inherent  powers  for 
accomplishing  their  perfection.  There  is  less 
of  this  misery  with  us  than  on  the  Continent, 
but  it  is  the  growing  evil.  With  this  class,  as 
all  are  considered  to  be  born  in  innocence,  it 
is  taken  as  an  insult  to  human  nature  to  pro- 
claim, that  one  alone  is  created  innocent.  But 
what  is  their  grand  philosophic  cry?  The 
perfectibility  of  man: — the  pagan's  confidence 
in  human  resources  for  human  happiness.  This 
is  upsetting  religion,  law,  and  policy,  wherever 
it  conies.  Perfection  is  to  be  reached,  and 


218  CONCLUSION. 

even  equality  of  perfection,  not  through  God's 
grace  but  by  men's  efforts — by  combinations  of 
their  energies,  by  working  in  the  products  of 
nature,  by  commerce  in  them,  by  ne\v  social 
arrangements  to  come  out  of  the  conflict  of 
opinions  or  of  weapons,  by  enlightenment,  that 
is,  by  the  rejection  of  traditional  wisdom,  by 
fitting  religion  to  each  man's  natural  tastes,  and 
so  rejecting  authority,  priesthood,  sacraments, 
and  dogmas,  by  systems  of  secular  education, 
by  philanthropy,  and  social  benevolence  under 
mechanical  arrangements.  And  out  of  some  of 
these,  or  all  of  them,  there  is  to  come  a  regene- 
ration of  society,  and  out  of  the  regeneration  of 
society  there  is  to  come  a  regeneration  of  the 
individual  man.  From  what  does  all  this  arise 
but  from  faith  in  fallen  human  nature  ? — from 
the  belief  that  man  contains  within  himself,  or 
draws  from  the  natures  around  him,  the  sources 
of  his  own  perfectibility  ?  Let  us  ask,  perfecti- 
bility in  what  image  ?  Surely  not  in  the  image 
of  God. 

But,  behind  all  this,  there  is  a  deeper  cause, 
a  disease  profoundly  seated.  It  began  in  Pro- 
testantism— it  ends  in  this  rationalism.  Opinion 
has  pushed  away  truth.  Those  sinking  heresies 
no  more  understand  the  nature  of  truth  than 
they  understand  the  nature  of  perfection.  Truth 
is  one  and  unchangeable.  It  is  to-day  as  it  was 
in  the  beginning.  It  resides  in  God,  it  is  given 
to  us.  It  changes  at  no  man's  will,  it  bends  to 
no  man's  inclination.  It  can  no  more  grow 
from  the  mind  which  beholds  it  than  the  land- 
scape can  grow  from  the  eye  which  looks  upon 
it.  Man  receives  it  from  above,  and  although 


CONCLUSION. 


219 


by  his  words  he  may  awaken  the  minds  of 
others  to  behold  it,  he  does  not  originate  it 
from  himself.  It  is  not  in  the  senses,  it  is 
not  in  the  instincts,  it  is  not  in  the  imagi- 
nation, it  is  in  the  light  of  God,  and  in  His 
light  ive  see  light.  It  is  a  deposit.  "  And 
what  is  this  deposit?  It  is  confided  to  thee, 
it  is  not  invented  by ;  thee ;  thou  hast  receiv- 
ed it,  thou  hast  not  devised  it;  it  comes  not 
of  genius  but  of  teaching ;  it  is  not  of  private 
usurpation,  but  of  public  tradition ;  it  is 
brought  to  thee,  not  produced  by  thee  ;  thou 
art  not  its  author  but  its  keeper  ;  not  its  guide 
but  its  follower ;  not  its  master  but  its  ser- 
vant.""* It  searches  the  conscience,  and  claims 
the  undivided  homage  of  the  heart.  It  gives 
consent  to  the  humble,  but  repels  the  proud,  for 
it  demands  an  absolute  obedience  and  submis- 
sion to  its  dominion,  yet  when  it  has  entered 
the  soul  it  sets  her  free,  and  fructifies  our 
reason  with  its  light.  It  is  the  most  positive 
of  all  things,  and  it  must  be  believed  before 
it  can  be  fully  received,  for  it  is  the  reason  of 
God  and  will  not  be  proudly  questioned,  but 
obeyed.  Grace  is  a  necessary  condition,  for  it 
raises,  quickens  and  illuminates  the  inward  pow- 
ers to  see  and  hold  the  truth.  But  grace  is  not 
given  beyond  a' certain  measure,  and  that  mea- 
sure not  the  same  to  all,  unless  we  invoke  it  by 
devoted  and  generous  prayer,  by  self-sacrifice, 
and  by  denial  of  its  enemy  the  flesh. 

Man,  when  he  comes  into  the  depths,  despises. 
These  are  the  words  of  Truth.    When  he  dwells 

*  S.  Vincent.  Lerin.  Commonitorium. 


220  CONCLUSION. 

in  the  depths  of  his  corrupted  nature,  he  de- 
spises Truth.  And,  mysterious  blindness, — the 
more  he  sinks  into  the  degradation  of  his  na- 
ture, and  the  more  he  confides  in  the  poverty 
of  his  unassisted  reason,  so  much  the  less  does 
he  see  of  that  degradation  and  nakedness.  He 
cannot  read  the  facts  within  his  conscience, 
though  written  in  fire.  For  pride  is  only  made 
visible  to  its  possessor  in  proportion  as  it 
begins  to  pass  away,  and  humility  is  on  the 
dawn. 

Now  Mary  is  the  highest  example  of  human 
perfection  and  happiness.  And  this  great  fact 
strikes  down  a  thousand  theories.  In  every 
earthly  sense  of  the  word,  she  is  weak,  as 
she  is  also  lowly,  poor,  and  humble ;  and 
yet  she  is  perfect  as  no  one  else  ever  was 
perfect.  And  her  perfection  is  the  work  of 
a  sublime  grace,  which  puts  her  nature  in 
order,  and  sets  her  higher  powers  free  in 
God.  The  Immaculate  Conception  is  the 
mystery  of  God's  strength  in  weakness,  of  His 
height  in  humility,  of  His  glory  in  purity. 
And  when  we  contemplate  that  glorious  crea- 
ture, in  whom,  from  the  first  instant  of  her 
creation,  the  image  of  God  was  so  beautiful,  in 
whom  grace  found  no  resistance,  whose  aspira- 
tions grew  ever  more  divine ;  when  we  contem- 
plate that  living  shrine  of  the  Holy  Spirit's  fire ; 
when  we  look  up  to  that  animated  temple  of  the 
Divinity,  and  behold  her  immaculate  brightness, 
as  clothed  with  the  sun  and  crowned  with  the 
stars,  and  seated  next  her  Son  above  Cherub 
and  Seraph;  and  when  we  hear  her  truthful 
lips  proclaim : — The  Lord  hath  looked  down 


CONCLUSION.  221 

upon  the  humility  of  His  handmaid :  He  hath 
lifted  up  the  lowly ;  our  pride  sinks  down  re- 
buked, our  false  ambition  stands  reproved,  our 
sensuous  strength  betrays  the  weakness  of  its 
origin,  and  our  confidence  in  the  perfection  of 
our  nature  is  discovered  to  be  that  broken  reed 
of  which  we  had  so  often  heard  in  vain.  The 
condition  of  perfection  is  chaste  humility,  and 
the  source  of  perfection  is  the  grace  of  Christ. 
And  that  grace  must  come  to  us  as  Christ  pre- 
scribes, and  riot  as  we  choose. 

How  does  her  Immaculate  Conception  throw 
light  into  the  words  of  Scripture  concerning 
Mary.  When  the  Archangel  came  to  her  on  that 
embassy  from  God,  he  did  not  greet  her  by  any 
human  title,  but  he  described  her  privilege.  He 
did  not  say,  Hail  Mary,  or  Hail  Virgin,  or  Hail 
daughter  of  David  ;  but  he  said — Hail,  full  of 
grace.  The  Lord  is  with  thee.  And  when 
Elizabeth  saluted  her  arrival  -with  inspired 
words,  she  did  not  say,  Blessed  Mary,  or  Blessed 
Cousin ;  but — Blessed  art  thou  amongst  women. 
That  is,  farther  removed  from  the  curse  art  thou 
than  all  women.  And  when  Mary  sang  her  can- 
ticle in  the  joy  of  her  heart,  she  sang  of  all  her 
graces.  She  sang  of  her  divine  maternity,  but 
also  of  all  her  earlier  blessings.  For  what  hymn 
to  the  grace  of  the  Immaculate  Conception  can 
equal  this  ? — 

My  soul  doth  magnify  the  Lord.  And  my 
spirit  hath  rejoiced  in  God,  my  Saviour.  The 
Lord  had  magnified  her  soul,  that  her  soul  might 
thus  magnify  its  Lord.  God  is  pre-eminently 
her  Saviour,  for  He  has  saved  her  from  the  first 
touch  of  the  curse. 


222  CONCLUSION". 

Because  Tie  hath  regarded  the  humility  of  his 
handmaid.  For,  behold  from  henceforth  all 
generations  shall  call  me  blessed.  God  looked 
on  her  humility,  because  the  measure  of  her 
humility  was  the  measure  of  His  grace.  And 
blessed  indeed  shall  she  be  called,  because  never 
under  the  curse. 

For  he  that  is  mighty  hath  done  great  things 
to  me  ;  and  holy  is  his  Name.  Not  one  great 
thing,  but  great  things.  And  He  has  done  them 
to  me,  for  to  her  alone  they  are  done.  And  in 
what  He  has  done  for  her,  He  has  demonstrated 
that  He  is  both  holy  and  mighty. 

And  his  mercy  is  from  generation  to  genera- 
tion to  them  that  fear  him.  The  Mother  of 
Mercy  breathes  the  inspirations  of  that  mercy. 
From  her  greater  gifts  she  inspires  hope  in  those 
who  have  had  less  experience  of  the  grace  and 
the  goodness  of  God. 

He  hath  shewed  might  in  his  arm :  he  hath 
scattered  the  proud  in  the  conceit  of  their  heart. 
Let  us  remember  that  we  are  listening  to  her 
whom  St.  John  saw  in  the  heavenly  vision.  She 
is  THE  WOMAN,  bearing  THE  man  child  in  her 
womb.  And  in  her  prophetic  inspiration  sho 
glances  back  to  the  conflict  in  Heaven.  She 
sees  the  arm  of  God  put  out  against  the  proud. 
She  sees  Satan  hurled  down  from  his  high  place 
beneath  her  feet.  She  glances  back  to  Paradise, 
and  hears  of  the  crushing  of  his  head.  She  sees 
him  lying  in  wait  for  her  heel  at  her  conception, 
and  beholds  him  baffled  of  his  prey.  She  sees 
him,  king  over  all  the  children  of  pride,  reigning 
in  the  hearts  of  mighty  ones,  who  afflict  the 
earth,  oppose  the  truth,  dishonour  God ;  and  she 


CONCLUSION.  223 

sees  God  turning  the  deceits  of  their  heart,  their 
fondly  cherished  schemes  to  their  destruction. 

He  hath  put  down  the  mighty  from  their  seats, 
and  hath  exalted  the  humble.  And  if  He  has 
exalted  the  humblest  to  the  highest  seat,  Mary 
to  a  seat  above  the  empty  throne  of  Lucifer,  so 
will  He  lift  up  each  humble  one  in  his  degree. 

He  hath  filled  the  hungry  with  good  things  : 
and  the  rich  he  hath  sent  empty  away.  The 
just  hunger  still  for  greater  justice,  and  grace 
calls  for  grace.  But  they  who  are  full  of  them- 
selves and  rich  in  their  own  conceits,  are  empty 
of  God. 

He  hath  received  Israel,  his  servant,  being 
mindful  of  his  mercy,  as  he  spoke  to  Abraham, 
and  to  his  seed  for  ever.  He  fulfilled  His  pro- 
mise to  Abraham,  He  received  Israel,  when  He 
received  thee,  and  kept  thee  pure,  and  dwelt  in 
thee,  0  Immaculate  Mother  of  God.  He  made 
the  Gentiles  Abraham's  children,  when  He  made 
Himself  their  brother,  and  thee  their  Mother, 
0  powerful  intercessor  for  thy  children.  He 
taught  us  to  despise  the  flesh,  resist  the  world, 
and  reject  the  devil,  when  He  kept  thee  so  pure 
from  the  corruption  of  the  flesh,  from  the  pride 
of  the  world,  and  from  the  influence  of  the  devil, 
that  thou  mightest  have  power  with  Him. 

0  Immaculate  and  Most  Blessed  Virgin,  Mo- 
ther of  the  Lord  of  our  Salvation,  pray  to  Him 
for  us,  thy  children,  who  have  recourse  to  thee. 


224  APPENDIX. 


APPENDIX  A. 

After  I  had  written  the  fifth  chapter,  in  which 
the  perfection  of  the  type  of  the  species  is  ap- 
plied as  a  principle  to  the  Immaculate  Concep- 
tion. I  found  out  to  my  surprise  and  gratification 
that  St.  Bonaventure  had  used  the  argument 
before  me.  Indeed,  it  would  appear  to  have 
finally  decided  him  for  the  doctrine.  It  forms 
the  first  part  of  his  second  Sermon  on  the 
Blessed  Virgin,  and  is  followed  by  the  declara- 
tion of  the  doctrine,  quoted  in  the  fifteenth 
chapter.  In  the  Venice  edition  of  1755,  a  doubt 
of  its  genuineness  is  raised,  but  on  no  other 
ground  than  that  it  asserts  the  Immaculate  Con- 
ception. But  no  one  acquainted  with  the  Saint's 
peculiar  style  and  method  can,  I  think,  doubt  of 
its  being  from  the  pen  of  the  Seraphic  Doctor. 
I  subjoin  the  passage  divested  of  that  termino- 
logy of  the  schools,  which  would  have  made  it 
unintelligible  to  the  ordinary  reader. 

"  Hail,  full  of  grace,  the  Lord  is  with  tliee.  There 
can  be  no  addition  to  the  perfect.  For  that  is  not 
perfect  to  which  addition  can  still  be  made.  How 
can  a  house  be  said  to  be  perfect  when  something 
yet  remains  to  be  done  to  it?  As,  then,  the  works 
of  God  are  perfect,  it  must  be  admitted  that  every 
kind  of  creature,  however  vile,  has  its  perfect  mode 
of  being,  to  which  you  can  add  nothing  without 
changing  its  nature,  and  from  which  you  can  take 


APPENDIX.  225 

nothing  without  injury  to  its  perfection.  For  if 
you  could  add  to  what  is  made  most  perfect  in  each 
kind,  God  would  not  have  made  anything  perfect, 
and  would  not  appear  from  His  work  to  be  the 
supremely  perfect  workman.  Not  that  God  could 
not  make  additions  so  far  as  His  infinite  power  is 
concerned,  but  because  the  creature  has  reached  the 
limit  of  its  capacity,  for,  from  the  fact  of  its  being  a 
creature  God  has  created  it  in  number,  weight,  and 
measure.  For  if  the  creature  were  always  capable 
of  greater  good  than  it  contained,  it  could  never 
cease  to  ascend  to  greater  good,  and  so  could  never 
be  perfect,  for  it  would  always  be  aspiring  higher. 
That  the  divine  works  might  therefore  be  perfect  in 
their  kind,  a  certain  limit  is  fixed  to  each  creature, 
which  it  cannot  in  its  nature  exceed.  Hence  there 
are  certain  limits  to  the  growth  of  plants  and 
animals.  But  though  every  creature  be  constituted 
on  this  law,  yet  the  rational  nature  is  of  all  natures 
the  highest  in  dignity,  because  it  is  designated  for 
beatitude.  And  amongst  all  kinds  of  creatures  it  is 
the  most  perfect,  because  the  rest  are  made  for  its 
sake,  as  all  the  Scriptures  attest.  But  it  must  be 
noted,  that,  for  the  perfection  of  each  kind  of  crea- 
ture it  is  required,  that  the  individual  examples  of 
the  kind  be  varied,  so  that,  in  the  whole,  the  indi- 
vidual instances  either  exceed  or  are  exceeded  one 
by  another.  For  if  all  were  equal  all  would  be  in 
vain.  If  all  the  luminaries  of  Heaven  were  the  sun, 
where  would  be  the  moon,  and  the  stars,  and 
the  other  planets?  If  all  men  were  kings,  who 
would  be  the  subjects?  There  could  be  no  command 
if  men  were  all  equal.  And  if  in  the  body  all  the 
members  were  the  eye,  where  would  be  the  hearing 
and  the  touch  and  the  taste?  In  this  case  there 
would  be  no  human  body.  The  individuals  of  the 
human  race  differ  therefore  from  each  other,  and 


226  APPENDIX. 

have  gradations  in  nature,  and  even  in  grace,  and  in 
all  the  several  gifts  of  God.  Yet  so  that  all  are 
accumulated  in  some  one,  though  distributed  and 
possessed  in  part  in  the  rest  severally.  Hence, 
according  to  the  Philosopher,  that  horse  is  the  best 
which  has  all  the  good  in  him  which  belongs  to  the 
rest  of  his  kind. 

"  Therefore,  as  in  the  Queen  of  the  world  all  the 
gifts  of  God  are  accumulated,  which  are  distributed 
in  portions  to  other  saints,  she  is  the  supreme  indi- 
vidual in  human  nature.  Wherefore,  amongst  mere 
creatures  she  is  the  sum  of  created  perfection,  and  is 
in  nothing  defective.  Hence  St.  Jerome  says: — 
4  Grace  was  given  to  the  other  saints  in  portions,  but 
in  Mary  was  the  complete  fulness  of  grace  infused.' 
And  from  the  authorities  of  St.  Anselm  and  St. 
Bernard,  it  is  evident  that  in  her  so  great  was  the 
grace,  and  so  great  the  wisdom,  that  in  any  creature 
not  united  with  divinity,  a  greater  could  not  be 
presented  to  the  intelligence.  What  more  could  a 
creature  receive  than  to  have  God  subject  to  her  as 
a  Son?  Is  not  this  so  wonderful  and  stupendous 
that  it  almost  exceeds  created  limits?  Hence  St. 
Bernard  exclaims: — 'Stand  in  wonder  at  both,  and 
chose  at  which  to  wonder  most  : — at  that  most 
benignant  condescension  of  the  Son,  or  at  that  most 
eminent  dignity  of  the  Mother.  Both  astound  us, 
and  each  is  a  miracle.  For  that  God  should  obey  a 
woman  is  humility  without  example;  and  that  a 
woman  should  guide  the  will  of  God  is  sublimity 
without  a  parallel.'  Because  of  this  perfection, 
therefore,  we  say,  Hai/,  full  of  grace:  by  which 
words  her  supreme  perfection  is  designated.  For 
supreme  perfection  consists  in  two  things,  in  the 
removal  of  all  evil,  and  in  the  fulness  of  all  good. 
For  the  presence  of  all  good  could  not  make  any 
one  blessed  without  the  absence  of  all  evil.  For 


APPENDIX.  227 

the  absence  of  all  evil  is  signified  by  the  word  //ai7, 
and  the  presence  of  all  good  by  the  words,  full  of 
grace.  For  a  vessel  is  then  full  when  no  vacancy  is 
left,  and  where  if  any  more  were  added  it  could  not 
be  received.  We  say,  therefore,  Hail,  full  of  grace. 

"  Though  it  is  here  to  be  noted,  that  though  Our 
Lady  was  full  and  overflowing  with  grace,  yet  she 
had  four  kinds  of  grace  especially.  First,  Our  Lady 
was  full  of  prevenient  grace  in  her  sanctification,  of 
grace  preservative  against  the  turpitude  of  culpabi- 
lity. Secondly,  of  fertilizing  grace  in  the  Concep- 
tion of  the  Son  of  God  in  virginal  integrity. 
Thirdly,  of  grace  adorning  the  beauty  of  her  life 
and  conversation,  Fourthly,  of  grace  consummating 
her  glorification,  a  grace  yet  more  perfecting  because 
of  her  eminence  of  glory  both  in  soul  and  in  body. 

"  I  say,  in  the  first  place,  that  Our  Lady  was  full 
of  prevenient  grace  in  her  sanctification,  that  is,  of 
grace  preservative  against  the  foulness  of  original 
sin,  which  she  would  have  contracted  from  the  cor- 
ruption of  nature,  had  she  not  been  prevented  and 
preserved  by  special  grace.  For  only  the  Son  of 
the  Virgin  was  exempt  from  original  sin,  and  His 
Virgin  Mother.  For  it  is  to  be  believed  that  by  a 
new  kind  of  sanctification,  the  Holy  Spirit  redeemed 
her  in  the  beginning  of  her  conception  from  original 
sin,  (not  that  it  was  within  her,  but  that  it  might 
have  been  within  her,)  and  that  He  preserved  her 
by  a  singular  grace." 


228  APPENDIX. 


APPENDIX  B. 

THE  narrative  of  the  vision  of  Helsinus  is 
published  by  Gerberon  in  the  Appendix  to  St. 
Anselm's  works,  as  found  in  various  MSS., 
in  some  of  which  the  story  passes  under  St. 
Anselm's  name  as  author,  but  without  any  good 
foundation  for  attributing  it  to  him. 

Gerberon  raises  some  historical  objections  to 
the  narrative,  on  account  of  which  he  denies  that 
any  credit  can  be  given  to  the  tradition,  viz.: 
that  there  is  no  mention  in  any  history  of  "W  il- 
liam  the  Conqueror  having  sent  the  Abbot  Hel- 
sinus on  a  mission  to  the  Danes  : — that  if  he  had 
received  any  such  information  of  their  intended 
expedition,  they  would  not  have  come  upon  him 
unprepared  as  he  was : — that  Helsinus  was  not 
elected  Abbot  of  Ramsey  till  1080,  and  the  al- 
leged vision  occurred  ten  years  before : — that 
one  of  the  narratives  represents  Helsinus  as  a 
monk  of  St.  Augustine's,  till  he  was  made  Abbot 
of  Ramsey,  and  at  the  time  of  the  Conquest  the 
Abbot  of  St.  Augustine's  was  Egelsinus.  He  is 
stated  in  Thorn's  Chronicle  to  have  joined  Arch- 
bishop Stigand  in  raising  the  men  of  Kent,  and 
leading  them  against  the  Conqueror.  By  this 
proceeding  they  drew  his  resentment  upon  them, 
and  in  consequence  Stigand  was  deprived  of  his 
Archbishopric,  and  Egelsinus  made  his  escape  to 
the  Danes  and  was  never  heard  of  again. 


APPENDIX.  229 

In  reply  to  these  objections,  it  appears  that 
Egelsinus,  Abbot  of  St.  Augustine's,  was  ap- 
pointed by  King  Edward  to  the  care  of  Ramsey 
Abbev,  on  account  of  the  infirmity  of  the  Abbot.* 
Thorn's  story  of  the  men  of  Kent  is  considered 
doubtful  by  Lingard,  yet  Egelsinus  certainly 
seems  to  have  lost  his  Abbey,  and  to  have  been 
succeeded  by  Scotland,  a  Norman,  in  the  year 
1068  or  69.  If  his  voyage  to  Denmark  was  a 
flight  instead  of  a  mission,  he  may  have  gained 
information,  that  he  turned  to  account  with 
William.  Lingard  says,  the  King  had  been 
made  "  acquainted  with  the  menaces  of  the  Danes, 
and  had  made  preparations  adequate  to  the  dan- 
ger." Egelsinus  may  then  have  been  allowed  to 
retire  to  Ramsey  till  he  was  actually  elected 
Abbot  of  that  monastery  in  1080. 

A  further  difficulty  not  noticed  by  Gerberon 
nrises  from  the  date  alleged  for  the  vision  being 
1070,  and  the  invasion  of  the  Danes  having 
taken  place  the  year  before.  But  this  date  1070 
is  only  given  in  the  margin,  not  in  the  body  of 
the  narrative. 

On  the  whole,  there  appears  nothing  in  the 
narrative  that  may  not  be  reconciled  with  the 
facts  of  history,  as  far  as  they  are  known  to  us. 
And  the  corroborative  testimonies  mentioned  in 
the  text  are  strong  presumptions  in  favour  of 
the  truth  of  the  tradition. 

»  Hist.  Abb.  Rams.  Gale's  Scriptores,  vol.  i.  p.  461. 


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