An Apologetical Explanation of the

Immaculate Conception

What is the Immaculate Conception?

The angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city in Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary.  And he came to her and said, “Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you!”  (Lk 1:28-29)

The Immaculate Conception refers to the dogma that the Blessed Virgin Mary was conceived without any stain of Original Sin in preparation for becoming the Mother of God the Son, Jesus Christ.

Before the creation of the world, God the Father chose the Blessed Virgin Mary to be the Mother of his Son, Jesus Christ.  The Archangel Gabriel announced to her that she was “full of grace” (Lk 1:29)—or God’s “favored one,” as in some Scripture translations—indicating her unique worthiness to conceive the Son of God; she “was enriched by God with the gifts which befit such a role” (LG 56).  From the very beginning the Church has believed not only that the Blessed Virgin Mary was a virgin but also that she was not conceived with any stain of Original Sin into which everyone is conceived  after the sin of Adam and Eve.  This unique privilege enabled her to fulfill perfectly her unique mission as the Mother of God.  God the Father blessed the Mother of his Son more than any other created person “in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places [and chose her] in Christ before the foundation of the world, to be holy and blameless before him in love” (Bl. Pius IX, Ineffabilis Deus [1854]: DS 2803).  (Cf. CCC 966)

This ancient belief was solemnly proclaimed on December 8, 1854, by Bl. Pius IX in the bull Ineffabilis Deus, which declared the Immaculate Conception of the blessed Virgin Mary a dogma of the Faith.  As if to affirm the solemn proclamation, she appeared to St. Bernadette at Lourdes four years later, identifying herself: “I am the Immaculate Conception.”  The Church marks December 8 as the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception.

Due to the absence of any stain of or effects of Original Sin, the Blessed Virgin Mary did not suffer from any of the disordered passions that can lead to sin and thus remained sinless all her life.  Whenever the Church teaches that all people of sinned, it has always been careful to exclude the Mother of God, who enjoyed this special privilege of God in anticipation of the merits of Christ.  (Cf. CCC 493, 508)

The Church has celebrated the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary with a feast since perhaps as early as the fifth century, and it was made a Holy Day of Obligation in 1708.

The Catechism addresses this question in paragraphs 490 and 492.

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