Editing Immaculate Conception (section)

==History==
===Anne, mother of Mary, and original sin===
{{Main|Original sin}}
[[Saint Anne|Anne]], the mother of Mary, first appears in the 2nd-century [[apocrypha]]l [[Gospel of James]]. The author of the gospel borrowed from Greek tales of the childhood of heroes. For Jesus' grandmother the author drew on the more benign biblical story of Hannah—hence Anna—who conceived Samuel in her old age, thus reprising the miraculous birth of Jesus with a merely remarkable one for his mother.{{sfn|Nixon|2004|p=11}} Anne and her husband, [[Joachim]], are infertile, but God hears their prayers and Mary is conceived.{{sfn|Nixon|2004|pp=11–12}} According to [[Stephen J. Shoemaker]], within the Gospel of James, the conception occurs without sexual intercourse between Anne and Joachim, which fits well with the Gospel of James' persistent emphasis on Mary's sacred purity, but the story does not advance the idea of an immaculate conception.{{sfn|Shoemaker|2016|p=57}} The author of the Gospel of James may have based this account of Mary's conception on that of [[John the Baptist]] as recounted in the [[Gospel of Luke]].<ref>{{cite book|url=https://archpitt.org/the-immaculate-conception-the-conception-of-st-anne-when-she-conceived-the-holy-mother-of-god-according-to-the-ruthenian-tradition/|title=The Immaculate Conception: The Conception of St Anne 'When She Conceived the Holy Mother of God' According to the Ruthenian Tradition|series=Byzantine Leaflet Series|publisher=[[Byzantine Catholic Archeparchy of Pittsburgh]]|access-date=6 December 2022}}</ref> The [[Eastern Orthodox Church]] holds that "Mary is conceived by her parents as we are all conceived".<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://ww1.antiochian.org/node/18597 |title=Hopko, Thomas. ''The Winter Pascha'' Chapter 9, Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese of North America |access-date=May 7, 2022 |archive-date=March 2, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210302142848/http://ww1.antiochian.org/node/18597 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

===Church Fathers===
According to church historian [[Frederick George Holweck|Frederick Holweck]], writing in the ''[[Catholic Encyclopedia]]'', [[Justin Martyr]], [[Irenaeus]], and [[Cyril of Jerusalem]] developed the idea of Mary as the New Eve, drawing comparison to [[Eve]], while yet immaculate and incorrupt{{snd}}that is to say, not subject to original sin. Holweck adds that [[Ephrem the Syrian]] said she was as innocent as Eve before [[Fall of man|the Fall]].<ref name="Holweck">{{citation-attribution|[http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07674d.htm Holweck, Frederick. "Immaculate Conception." The Catholic Encyclopedia] Vol. 7. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1910. 11 May 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=[[Mark Miravalle]]|quote=You and your mother are the only ones who are immune from all stain; for there is no spot in Thee, O Lord, not any taint in your mother.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JXy9AQAAQBAJ&pg=PA32|page=32|title=Meet Mary Getting to Know the Mother of God|year=2007|publisher=[[Sophia Institute Press]]|isbn=9781933184326|oclc=177062079}}</ref>

[[Ambrose]] asserted Mary's incorruptibility, attributing her virginity to [[Grace in Christianity|grace]] and immunity from sin. [[Severus of Antioch|Severus, Bishop of Antioch]], concurred affirming Mary's purity and immaculateness.<ref>{{cite web |author=[[Mark Miravalle]] |date=December 8, 2021 |title=What is the Dogma of the Immaculate Conception? |url=https://catholicexchange.com/what-is-the-dogma-of-the-immaculate-conception/}}</ref> [[John Damascene]] extended the supernatural influence of [[God in Christianity|God]] to Mary's parents, suggesting they were purified by the [[Holy Spirit in Christianity|Holy Spirit]] during her generation. According to Damascene, even the material of Mary's origin was deemed pure and holy. This perspective, which emphasized an immaculate active generation and the sanctity of the ''conceptio carnis'', found resonance among some Western authors. Notably, the Greek Fathers did not explicitly discuss the Immaculate Conception.<ref name="Holweck" />

===Medieval formulation===
[[File:Lusenberg-Immaculata-1876.jpg|thumb|''Altar of the Immaculata'' by [[Josef Moroder-Lusenberg|Joseph Lusenberg]], 1876, representing Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception, at Saint Antony's Church, [[Urtijëi]], Italy]]

By the 4th century the idea that Mary was free from sin was generally more widespread,{{sfn|Shoemaker|2016|p=119}} but original sin raised the question of whether she was also free of the sin passed down from Adam.{{sfn|Coyle|1996|pp=36–37}} The question became acute when the feast of her conception began to be celebrated in England in the 11th century,{{sfn|Collinge|2012|pp=209–210}} and the opponents of the feast of Mary's conception brought forth the objection that as sexual intercourse is sinful, to celebrate Mary's conception was to celebrate a sinful event.{{sfn|Boss|2000|p=126}} The feast of Mary's conception originated in the Eastern Church in the 7th century, reached England in the 11th, and from there spread to Europe, where it was given official approval in 1477 and extended to the whole church in 1693; the word "immaculate" was not officially added to the name of the feast until 1854.{{sfn|Collinge|2012|pp=209–210}}

The doctrine of the Immaculate Conception caused a virtual civil war between [[Franciscan]]s and [[Dominican Order|Dominican]]s during the Middle Ages, with Franciscan '[[Scotism|Scotists]]' in its favour and Dominican '[[Thomism|Thomists]]' against it.{{sfn|Cameron|1996|p=335}}{{sfn|Kappes|2014|p=13}}  The English ecclesiastic and scholar [[Eadmer]] ({{Circa|1060|1126}}) reasoned that it was possible that Mary was conceived without original sin in view of God's omnipotence, and that it was also appropriate in view of her role as [[Mother of God]]: ''Potuit, decuit, fecit'', "it was possible, it was fitting, therefore it was done".{{sfn|Coyle|1996|pp=36–37}} Others, including [[Bernard of Clairvaux]] (1090–1153) and [[Thomas Aquinas]] (1225–1274), objected that if Mary were free of original sin at her conception then she would have no need of redemption, making Christ's saving redemption superfluous; they were answered by [[Duns Scotus]] (1264–1308), who "developed the idea of [[preservative redemption]] as being a more perfect one: to have been preserved free from original sin was a greater grace than to be set free from sin".{{sfn|Coyle|1996|p=38}} 

In 1439, the [[Council of Basel]], in schism with [[Pope Eugene IV]] who resided at the [[Council of Florence]],{{sfn|Kappes|2014|pp=158–159}} declared the Immaculate Conception a "[[Theological notes|pious opinion]]" consistent with faith and Scripture; the [[Council of Trent]], held in several sessions in the early 1500s, made no explicit declaration on the subject but exempted her from the universality of original sin; and also affirmed that she remained during all her life free from all stain of sin, even the venial one.;<ref>Council of Trent, DG 1573. As quoted in {{cite web|author=[[John Paul II]]|title=General Audience of 19th June 1996|url=https://www-vatican-va.translate.goog/content/john-paul-ii/it/audiences/1996/documents/hf_jp-ii_aud_19960619.html?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=it&_x_tr_pto=wapp}} (at n°. 2)</ref> by 1571 the revised [[Roman Breviary]] set out an elaborate celebration of the Feast of the Immaculate Conception on 8 December.{{sfn|Reynolds|2012|pp=4–5, 117}}

===Popular devotion and ''Ineffabilis Deus''===
According to [[Patrizia Granziera]], the creation of the dogma was slow and elaborate and it was more the fruit of popular devotion than scholarly.{{sfn|Granziera|2019|p=469}} The Immaculate Conception became a popular subject in literature and art,{{sfn|Twomey|2008|p=ix}} and some devotees went so far as to hold that Anne had conceived Mary by kissing her husband Joachim, and that Anne's father and grandmother had likewise been conceived without sexual intercourse, although [[Bridget of Sweden]] ({{Circa|1303}}–1373) told how Mary herself had revealed to her that Anne and Joachim conceived their daughter through a sexual union which was sinless because it was pure and free of sexual lust.{{sfn|Solberg|2018|pp=108–109}}

In the 16th and especially the 17th centuries there was a proliferation of Immaculatist devotion in Spain, leading the Habsburg monarchs to demand that the papacy elevate the belief to the status of dogma.{{sfn|Hernández|2019|p=6}} In France in 1830 [[Catherine Labouré]] (May 2, 1806 – December 31, 1876) saw a vision of Mary standing on a globe while a voice commanded her to have a medal made in imitation of what she saw.{{sfn|Mack|2003}} [[Miraculous Medal|The medal]] said "O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee", which was a confirmation from Mary herself that she was conceived without sin. Labouré's vision marked the beginning of a great 19th-century Marian revival.{{sfn|Foley|2002|p=29}}

In 1849 Pope [[Pius IX]] issued the encyclical ''[[Ubi primum (Pius IX, 1849)|Ubi primum]]'' soliciting the bishops of the church for their views on whether the doctrine should be defined as dogma; ninety percent of those who responded were supportive, although the Archbishop of Paris, [[Marie-Dominique-Auguste Sibour]], warned that the Immaculate Conception "could be proved neither from the Scriptures nor from tradition".{{sfn|Schaff|1931|p=unpaginated}} In 1854 the Immaculate Conception dogma was proclaimed with the bull ''[[Ineffabilis Deus]]''.{{sfn|Foley|2002|p=153}}{{sfn|Collinge|2012|p=209}}

<blockquote>We declare, pronounce, and define that the doctrine which holds that the most Blessed Virgin Mary, in the first instance of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege granted by Almighty God, in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the human race, was preserved free from all stain of original sin, is a doctrine revealed by God and therefore to be believed firmly and constantly by all the faithful.{{sfn|Sheed|1958|pp=134–138}}</blockquote>
 
[[Prosper Guéranger|Dom Prosper Guéranger]], Abbot of [[Solesmes Abbey]], who had been one of the main promoters of the dogmatic statement, wrote ''Mémoire sur l'Immaculée Conception'', explaining what he saw as its basis:
 <blockquote>For the belief to be defined as a [[Dogma in the Catholic Church|dogma of faith]] [...] it is necessary that the Immaculate Conception form part of [[Revelation]], expressed in Scripture or Tradition, or be implied in beliefs previously defined. Needed, afterward, is that it be proposed to the faith of the faithful through the teaching of the ordinary magisterium. Finally, it is necessary that it be attested by the liturgy, and the [[Church Fathers|Fathers]] and [[Doctors of the Church]].<ref>[https://www.catholic.org/featured/headline.php?ID=1593 "How Abbot of Solesmes Explained the Immaculate Conception", ''Zenit'', December 9, 2004]</ref></blockquote>
[[File:Virgilio Tojetti 1877 Our Lady of Lourdes.jpg|thumb|[[Our Lady of Lourdes]]'s [[Lourdes apparitions|9th apparition]], 25 February 1858, by Virgilio Tojett (1877), after [[Bernadette Soubirous]]' description.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2014-04-08 |title=Virgilio Tojetti – Adoration of the Virgin Mary in the Grotto at Massabielle near Lourdes – Dorotheum |url=https://www.dorotheum.com/en/l/3900127/,%20https://www.dorotheum.com/en/l/3900127/ |access-date=2022-07-12 |website=www.dorotheum.com |language=en-GB}}</ref> Soubirous claimed the Lady identified herself as the "Immaculate Conception".]]
Guéranger maintained that these conditions were met and that the definition was therefore possible. ''[[Ineffabilis Deus]]'' found the Immaculate Conception in the Ark of Salvation ([[Noah's Ark]]), [[Jacob's Ladder]], the [[Burning Bush]] at Sinai, the Enclosed Garden from the [[Song of Songs]], and many more passages.{{sfn|Manelli|2008|p=35}} From this wealth of support the pope's advisors singled out [[Protoevangelium|Genesis 3:15]]: "The most glorious Virgin ... was foretold by God when he said to the serpent: 'I will put enmity between you and the woman,{{' "}}{{sfn|Manelli|1994|pp=6–7}} a prophecy which reached fulfilment in the figure of the Woman in the [[Revelation of John]], crowned with stars and trampling the Dragon underfoot.{{sfn|Twomey|2008|pp=73–74}} [[Luke 1#Verse 28|Luke 1:28]], and specifically the phrase "full of grace" by which [[Gabriel]] greeted Mary, was another reference to her Immaculate Conception: "she was never subject to the curse and was, together with her Son, the only partaker of perpetual benediction".{{sfn|German|2001|p=596}}

''Ineffabilis Deus'' was one of the pivotal events of the papacy of Pius, pope from 16 June 1846 to his death on 7 February 1878.{{sfn|Hillerbrand|2012|p=250}} Four years after the proclamation of the dogma, in 1858, the young [[Bernadette Soubirous]] said that [[Our Lady of Lourdes|Mary appeared to her]] at [[Lourdes]] in southern France, to announce that she was the Immaculate Conception; the Catholic Church later endorsed [[Lourdes apparitions|the apparition]] as authentic.{{sfn|Hammond|2003|p=602}} There are other (approved) [[Marian apparitions]] in which Mary identified herself as the Immaculate Conception, for example Our Lady of Gietrzwald in 1877, Poland.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Dabrowski |first=P.M. |date=2013 |title=Multiple visions, multiple viewpoints: apparitions in a Polish-German borderland, 1877–1880 |journal=The Polish Review |volume=58 |issue=3 |pages=35–64 |doi=10.5406/polishreview.58.3.0035|jstor=10.5406/polishreview.58.3.0035 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5406/polishreview.58.3.0035|url-access=subscription }}</ref>