Part eight (*), Chapter I: Heart of Mary, Immaculate and Sinless

Heart of Mary, Immaculate and Sinless

WITH good reason does Sacred Scripture call Mary the "Valiant Woman," for she is the marshal of the armies of God Himself and the principal enemy of the infernal serpent. The battalions of hell fear Mary far more than a small, weak body of foot soldiers would fear a powerful mechanized enemy force in battle array. She is as "terrible as an army set in array."(1) She has completely crushed the serpent's head. God's words to Satan after the fall of man, "She shall crush thy head" (2) mean that Our Lady would vanquish every kind of sin, mortal, venial, actual and original, the last being especially designated by the infernal monster's horrible head.

Mary would sooner have suffered all the torments of earth and of hell rather than to consent to the least venial sin, and a thousand times less to mortal sin. Thus did she completely overcome actual sin.

Concerning original sin, the holy Fathers, famous Doctors, learned theologians and sacred Councils have defended the honor of the Immaculate Conception and maintained that the Almighty God preserved Mary (*) Two chapters in the original work have been omitted in this edition. (1).Cant. 6, 3. (2). Gen. 3, 15.

from original sin. I cannot understand how there are today so many Catholics and even devout persons, who seem to want to place this most worthy glorious Virgin on a level with the other children of Adam, wag. war against their Creator from the first moment of their existence. It i s impossible to understand why anyone would maintain that the most holy Mother of God, purer than the sun, was tainted in her conception with the stain of original sins. (3)

To deny the Immaculate Conception of Our Blessed Lady is to accuse of error the infallible word of Eternal Truth, Sacred Scripture, which calls Mary the one "dove" (4) without sin or rancor, the "all fair" (5) and the "immaculate one" in whom "there is not a spot." (6)

To hold that Mary was not preserved from original sin is to oppose the divine pronouncements of the Holy Ghost, the Councils of the Catholic Church, especially the Holy Council of Trent, which declared manifestly that there is no question of Mary being included in the decree of original sin. (7)

To assert that the Mother of God was conceived in sin is to prefer private opinion to that of the Apostles, in particular, St. Andrew, St. James the Less and St. James the Greater. The glorious Apostle St. Andrew at the hour of death, expressed himself as follows: "As the first Adam was formed out of the earth before it was cursed by God, so the second Adam was formed from the virginal flesh never sullied by the malediction of heaven." (8) The Apostle St. James the Less makes a special mention of the Mother of his divine Master, calling her "most holy, immaculate, blessed above all creatures, more honorable than the Cherubim, more glorious than the Seraphim, always blessed and altogether irreproachable. (9) St. Thesiphon, disciple of St. James the Greater, called the "mouth" of the great Apostle, has left us the doctrine taught by the Apostles themselves: "This Virgin, this Mary, this holy one has been preserved from original sin from the first moment of her conception. Never would the (3). St. John here inveighs against Catholics of his day who refused to believe in the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. He builds up a veritable thesis, adducing proofs from Scripture, the Councils, the Fathers, the Religious Orders and the liturgical feasts kept in honor of Mary Immaculate. This chapter is of special interest because the dogma of the Immaculate Conception was not then defined as an article of the faith. (4). Cant. 6, 8. (5). Cant. 4, 7. (6). Ibid. (7). 7 Sessio 5, De Peccato Orig. ( 8 ) . Abdia, in gestis D. Andriae, 1, 4. Cf. Marraccius, Apostoli Marian i, cap. 4 in fine. (9). Liturg. S. Jacobi in Bibliotheca Patrum, tom. I.

Angel have Said to Mary, 'Hail, full of grace,' if she had been conceived in original sin." (10)

To refuse to believe in Mary's exemption from original sin is to show a lack of respect and submission to the Sovereign Pontiffs Alexander VI, Julius 11, Leo X, Paul V, and Gregory XV, who authorized the doctrine of Mary's pure conception, by recommending that a Feast be kept in its honor, and by approving its office. Some of these pontiffs even went so far as to forbid under pain of excommunication any opposition to this teaching either by word of mouth or in writing, in public o r in private.

To uphold that Mary was not conceived immaculate is to believe that one has more light than the many Cardinals, Patriarchs, Archbishops and Bishops from all parts of the world, who favored the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception. It is to place oneself above the Fathers of Holy Church and all the Religious Orders of St. Anthony, St. Basil, St. Benedict, the Orders of the Cistercians, the Carthusians, the Franciscans, the Dominicans, the Society of Jesus, the Barnabites, the Teatines, and others that testified great zeal and ardor in defending the Holy Mother of God from the stigma implied in fact that she was numbered among the children of wrath and malediction.

To contradict the belief of the Catholic Church is to condemn the famous Universities of Paris, Cologne, Maintz, Valencia, Salamanca, Coimbra, Barcelona, Seville, Cracow, and nearly all the other Universities of Christendom, that refused to grant the degree of Doctor of Theology until the candidate bound himself by oath to sustain the innocence of Mary's conception.

To withhold one's assent to Mary's privilege is to give the lie to five hundred doctors i n France, Italy, Spain, Germany, England, Scotland, Poland, Portugal and Flanders, who asservated to this truth by numerous beautiful and learned books. The Society of Jesus alone employed more than sixty of its members to defend the honor of their Heavenly Mother in this matter by their erudite and pious writings.

To maintain that Mary was not spotless in her conception is to ridicule the many miracles wrought by Almighty God, many of which are mentioned in the letters of St. Anselm. It is to show no fear of the terrible chastisements which Divine justice will inflict upon those who oppose this doctrine as may be seen in a book written by John of Carthagena, a Franciscan.(11) It is to give preference to the impiety of the detestable Calvin, so full of hatred for the Mother of God, rather than to the devotion of the Christian world to the holiness of Mary's conception. It is to (10). Cf. Vega, Theol. Mar. Paul. 3, cert. 5, no. 258. (11). Homilia de acra arcani, Deiparae, Lib. 1, Hom. 19, Sec. 4.

give more favor to the demons who were created in the state Of grace than to the Queen of Angels. It i s to elevate Adam and Eve, the first man and woman, who were the cause of the loss of countless souls, above their daughter Mary, the Mediatrix of Salvation and the Restorer of grace.

Lastly, to impugn the dogma of Mary's preservation from original sin, is to reject the wisdom of the Catholic Church, which solemnizes. the Feast of the Immaculate Conception with so much fervor throughout the world, setting oneself against a fact authorized by the Church and stated by St. Augustine in the following words: Quod per universum orbem commendat Ecclesia, hoc quin ita f~faciendum sit disputare insolentissimae insaniae est. "To question anything that is done throughout the whole world by the order and recommendation of the Church is the most insolent folly imaginable." (12)

0 Blessed Virgin Mary, I humbly beseech thee, by thy immaculate conception and through thy pure Heart, to take full possession of my heart. Give it completely to thy Divine Son and beg Him to banish from it all sin and to establish in it forever the perfect reign of His divine love. (12). Epist. 118. 217-