150th Anniversary of the Proclamation of the Dogma of the Immaculate Conception
Archbishop Raymond L. Burke

On Dec. 8, 1854, 150 years ago, Blessed Pius IX issued the apostolic constitution "Ineffabilis Deus" in which he definitively proclaimed:

"We declare, pronounce and define that the doctrine which holds that the most Blessed Virgin Mary, in the first instant of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege granted by Almighty God, in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, the Savior 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 of the faithful" (Mother of Christ, Mother of the Church: Documents on the Blessed Virgin Mary, Boston: Pauline Books & Media, 2001, p. 24).

By his authority as Vicar of Christ on Earth, the Holy Father proclaimed what had been the constant faith of the Church regarding the preparation of Mary for her vocation and mission of Mother of God from the moment of her conception. 

In order that Mary might be the fitting vessel to receive God the Son into the world, to conceive in her womb the Divine Redeemer by the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit, God preserved her, from the very first moment of her life in the womb of her mother Ann, from every stain of original sin. By so doing, God the Father granted to Mary, in anticipation, the grace of the Redemption which her Divine Son would win for us by His Passion, Death and Resurrection. Mary was conceived without any stain of original sin in order that she might belong totally for Christ. 

The definition of the doctrine makes clear the meaning of two texts of the holy Scriptures, in particular. The first is what is called the protoevangelium ("the first Gospel" or, in other words, the first announcement of the Gospel or Good News of our salvation). After Adam and Eve had sinned and God was putting them out of the Garden of Eden, He spoke to the serpent, to whose deceptions our first parents had sadly succumbed, promising the ultimate victory over Satan:

"I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your seed and her seed; he shall bruise your head; while you shall bruise his heel" (Genesis 3:15). The image of our Blessed Mother as the Immaculate Conception shows her crushing under her feet the head of a serpent, calling to mind the first promise of salvation, which God fulfilled through her divine maternity. Mary, from the moment of her conception, was preserved from the corruption of the sin of our first parents, in order that she might bring into the world God-the-Son-made-man to win in our human nature the victory over sin and everlasting death, to win for us all the freedom to love God and our neighbor. 

The second text from the Holy Scriptures is the greeting of the Archangel Gabriel at the Annunciation, at the moment of the Incarnation: "Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you!" (Luke 1:28).  The greeting indicates that there has been a transformation worked in Mary by the grace of God to prepare her for the divine maternity. 

Mary is "full of grace," that is, there is no sin in Mary. The Church, reflecting on the Word of God down the Christian centuries, has understood that the transformation took place in Mary at the moment of her conception. Each time that we pray the Hail Mary, we recall the truth that God, in His ineffable goodness and love, preserved Mary from every mark of original sin, so that she, one of us, could bring the Savior into the world and be, among us, His first and His best disciple. 

The Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate, who are our neighbors at the Shrine of Our Lady of the Snows in the Diocese of Belleville, Ill., have developed a special display to honor the 150th anniversary. The display is titled Tota Pulchra, referring to the perfect beauty of the sinless Virgin Mary in the language of the Song of Songs: "You are all fair, my love; there is no flaw in you" (Song of Songs 4:7). St. Ephrem the Syrian, theologian and poet of the fourth century, was inspired by the same text in celebrating the truth of the Immaculate Conception:

"Only you and your Mother are more beautiful than everything. For on you, O Lord, there is no mark; neither is there any stain in your Mother" (quoted in Luigi Gambero, Mary in the Fathers of the Church, San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 1999, p. 109).

St. Eugene de Mazenod, who founded the Missionary Oblates of the Immaculate Conception in 1816, was present at the solemn act of the proclamation of the dogma by Blessed Pope Pius IX. The saint had been a great teacher of the faith and of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, as a part of the deposit of faith. For that reason, the Holy Father wanted him to be present for the joyous occasion of the proclamation of the dogma. I encourage you to take the time to visit the special display in honor of Mary Immaculate at the Shrine of Our Lady of Snows.