Immaculate Conception?

Question

Hoping ImACatholic2 can jump in on this question.

I'm not Catholic. I know quite a bit about Catholicism, but I'm Protestant (United Methodist). Because of this, I never really looked TOO deeply into this docterine since Protestants do not accept it. Anyway....

What's the history of the Immaculate Conception docterine? I know it was made an official teaching by the Catholic Church during Pope Pius IX on December 8, 1854 (? Not sure about the exact year, but think that's right) But there has to be a longer discussion about it than that.

Did the Church Fathers have anything to say about it? What about different Theologians (i.e. Aquinas) before then?

Thanks in advance!
Matt

First 2 answers have been fantastic. Thanks for the information.

I'm going to keep it open for a few days and see what other answers develop.

Miriam and Aurora,

Fascinating. But I'm asking about the IMMACULATE Conception. NOT the Virginal Conception. Please read the question more carefully.

Thanks!
Matt

Answer 1

A lot of people mistakenly think it refers to Jesus being born to a virgin. It really refers to the fact that theVirgin Mary was conceived free from all stain of original sin.
Here's some more about it
Early exponents included St. Justin Martyr and St. Irenaeus; St. Bonaventure and St. Thomas Aquinas were among those who opposed it. Aquinas, opposed it on the grounds that through natural (human) conception, original sin is transmitted, and therefore Mary cannot be exempt from the law of original sin, but the Council of Basle (1439) declared it in accordance with the Catholic faith, reason, and scripture.
In 1709 Pope Clement XI made the feast of the Immaculate Conception a holy day of obligation. In 1854 Pius IX issued a papal bull making it official church dogma.
Edit- Miriam, I am not saying Jesus was not born to a virgin. I am saying that people think that is what the phrase Immaculate Conception refers to, and it is not.
Channa

Answer 2

Catholics believe in the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

When the angel Gabriel called Mary, "Full of grace," Mary was already full of grace.

When the angel Gabriel said, "The Lord is with you," the Lord was already with her.

The Blessed Virgin Mary was in a state of grace before she says "yes" to the angel's question and before the Holy Spirit came upon her for a different purpose.

When did Mary's state of grace begin?

Catholics believe this state of grace was with Mary since her Immaculate Conception. This means that Mary was conceived in the normal way (not like Jesus) but that she did not inherit original sin.

God prepared her for her later role as the mother of Jesus.

Catholics celebrate this miracle on December 8 as the Feast of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary.

With love in Christ.

Answer 3

Other "Immaculate Conceptions":

Laozi: Laozi, or LaoTzu, lived in the 6th century BC and authored the Tao Te Ching, according to Chinese tradition. " In legends, he was conceived when his mother gazed upon a falling star" [1]

Deganawidah: "According to the legend, Dekanahwideh was born among the Huron Indians …. His virgin mother had been informed in a dream by a messenger from the Creator that she was to bear a son destined to plant the Tree of Peace at Onondaga." Dekanahwideh, Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online.

Montezuma (the Pueblo god-hero, not the Aztec Emperor): Supposedly conceived from a beautiful virgin when she either ate[2] a pinyon pine nut, or when it fell from a tree and landed on her belly[3], depending on the version.

Huitzilopochtli: The Aztec god of war and the sun, he was conceived when a ball of feathers fell on his mother Coatlicue while she was cleaning a temple. The ball of feathers was actually Mixcoatl, the god of the hunt.

Hunahpu and Xbalanque: The Mayan Hero Twins, in their holy book the Popol Vuh, were conceived after twin sons of the Creators were summoned by the lords of Xibalba and beheaded for playing a noisy ball game. The head of one twin, Huh Hunahpu, magically impregnated Ixquic (also known as Blood Moon). Sathya Sai Baba: According to the book Easwaramma by the authorized biographer Narayana Kasturi.

Cúchulainn: according to The Birth of Cúchulainn he was born three times: the second and third may have been virgin births (the narrative is unclear).

Dionysus: According to Euripides', The Bacchae, Dionysus was "the son of the virgin, Dionysus / bringing the counterpart to bread, wine / and the blessings of life's flowing juices."

Anakin Skywalker: according to Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace the main character, Anakin Skywalker was conceived through virgin birth. There are some indications in Star Wars Episode 3: Revenge of the Sith that Darth Sidious was responsible for impregnating Anakin's mother by willing the force to do so.

atheist

Answer 4

When Mary conceived Jesus, she was really a virgin. This is what the Holy Spirit who we talk to said. This is in fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaiah, to wit (Isaiah 7:14): “Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.”

Angel Gabriel announced to Mary that she was to conceive a son to be called Jesus for God had highly favored her (Luke 1:26-38). Mary protested when she said in verse 34, “How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?” To assure her that he is telling the truth, the angel told her that her cousin Elizabeth who was old and barren was in her sixth month of pregnancy. The angel said further, “For with God nothing shall be impossible.”

To verify if the angel is telling the truth, she hastily went to the hill country of Hebron in Judea, more than 100 km away or a few days walk, past Jerusalem and Bethlehem. True enough, she found her cousin Elizabeth six months pregnant. She stayed with her for about three months (verse 56).

Why was Mary highly favored to God? Because she was pure, immaculate. Even though she was espoused to a man whose name was Joseph and living in his house, she did not have any sexual relation with him. In fact, Joseph was alarmed when he found out that she was having a child for they had not come together yet. An angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and assured him that the child she was carrying was the Holy Ghost’s. So Joseph, a just man, listened to what the angel said and took Mary his wife (Matthew 1:18-25).

Answer 5

The Immaculate Conception of Mary means that she was saved (preserved) from the stain of original sin.

She was still human but baptized by God's grace in the womb. Baptism removes the stain of original sin. Mary was saved before birth...we are saved after.

Let's say a person is walking a long a road and falls into a pit. Someone comes along and pulls that person out. Then that person has been saved from the pit.

Another person (Mary) comes along and someone stops her from falling into the pit. She also has been saved from the pit...before she fell.

Both persons were saved...one before the fall and one after.

Answer 6

Mary is the Immaculate Conception she is the 1 who first called her self this / " i im the hand made of the Lord"

Answer 7

immaculate CON-ception: HELL-o!

AWAKE to righteousness(to grace)

virgin-birth is an oxy-MORON,
kinda like fornicating for chastity,
or like the USA fighting for peace

Mary: "over-shadowed" by Holy Ghost(Law)
"Allegory": Mary was done by the High Priest.
What got conceived? "Jesus": "made under the law".
Pst: "ye are NOT under the law, but under grace".
Clarity: not under the law "if led of the Spirit(Grace)".

Jesus notably called his mother: "Woman" from the cross.
The "Woman", being Deceived, was in the Transgression.
But "where no law, there no transgression": Romans 4:15.

The GRACE of our Lord Jesus Christ WITH YOU ALL. AMEN.

Answer 8

my what do you mean I think Jesus' conception could be called immaculate but Marys was not she was just a good woman. I am not catholic either but think it was some thing to do with a peasant girl who said Mary spoke to her and sead she was the immaculate conception. I think it meant Mary had an immaculate conception but catholics have taken it Mary was immaculate???

Answer 9

http://www.ewtn.com/faith/teachings/maryc3a.htm <----good, easy to read history of the Catholic Fiath (timeline) God bless.