The Infallible
Teaching of the Catholic Church
“Wherefore, in humility and fasting, we unceasingly offered
our private prayers as well as the public prayers of the Church to God the
Father through his Son, that he would deign to direct and strengthen our mind
by the power of the Holy Spirit. In like manner did we implore the help of the
entire heavenly host as we ardently invoked the Paraclete. Accordingly, by the
inspiration of the Holy Spirit, for the honor of the Holy and undivided
Trinity, for the glory and adornment of the Virgin Mother of God, for the
exaltation of the Catholic Faith, and for the furtherance of the Catholic
religion, by the authority of Jesus Christ our Lord, of the Blessed Apostles
Peter and Paul, and by our own: 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 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 the faithful. Hence, if anyone shall dare -- which God
forbid! -- to think otherwise than as has been defined by us, let him know and
understand that he is condemned by his own judgment; that he has suffered
shipwreck in the faith; that he has separated from the unity of the Church; and
that, furthermore, by his own action he incurs the penalties established by law
if he should are to express in words or writing or by any other outward means
the errors he think in his heart.”
-Blessed Pope Pius IX, Ineffabilis Deus, 8 December 1854
Further Teaching
from the Fathers and Doctors of the Church
“The report concerning the child was noised abroad in
Bethlehem. Some said, ‘The Virgin Mary has given birth before she was married
two months.’ And many said, ‘She has not given birth; the midwife has not gone
up to her, and we heard no cries of pain’"
-Ascension of Isaiah, 11 – 70 AD
“So the Virgin became a mother with great mercies. And she
labored and bore the Son, but without pain, because it did not occur without
purpose. And she did not seek a midwife, because he caused her to give life.
She bore as a strong man, with will . . . "
-Odes of Solomon,19 – 80 AD
“[Jesus] became man by the Virgin so that the course which
was taken by disobedience in the beginning through the agency of the serpent
might be also the very course by which it would be put down. Eve, a virgin and
undefiled, conceived the word of the serpent and bore disobedience and death.
But the Virgin Mary received faith and joy when the angel Gabriel announced to
her the glad tidings that the Spirit of the Lord would come upon her and the
power of the Most High would overshadow her, for which reason the Holy One
being born of her is the Son of God. And she replied ‘Be it done unto me
according to your word’ [Luke 1:38]"
-Saint Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho the Jew, 100 –
155 AD
“Consequently, then, Mary the Virgin is found to be
obedient, saying, ‘Behold, O Lord, your handmaid; be it done to me according to
your word.’ Eve, however, was disobedient, and, when yet a virgin, she did not
obey. Just as she, who was then still a virgin although she had Adam for a
husband—for in paradise they were both naked but were not ashamed; for, having
been created only a short time, they had no understanding of the procreation of
children, and it was necessary that they first come to maturity before
beginning to multiply—having become disobedient, was made the cause of death
for herself and for the whole human race; so also Mary, betrothed to a man but
nevertheless still a virgin, being obedient, was made the cause of salvation
for herself and for the whole human race. . . . Thus, the knot of Eve’s
disobedience was loosed by the obedience of Mary. What the virgin Eve had bound
in unbelief, the Virgin Mary loosed through faith"
-Saint Irenaeus, Against Heresies, 3:22:24, 189 AD
“The Lord then was manifestly coming to his own things, and
was sustaining them by means of that creation that is supported by himself. He
was making a recapitulation of that disobedience that had occurred in connection
with a tree, through the obedience that was upon a tree [i.e., the cross].
Furthermore, the original deception was to be done away with—the deception by
which that virgin Eve (who was already espoused to a man) was unhappily misled.
That this was to be overturned was happily announced through means of the truth
by the angel to the Virgin Mary (who was also [espoused] to a man). . . . So if
Eve disobeyed God, yet Mary was persuaded to be obedient to God. In this way,
the Virgin Mary might become the advocate of the virgin Eve. And thus, as the
human race fell into bondage to death by means of a virgin, so it is rescued by
a virgin. Virginal disobedience has been balanced in the opposite scale by
virginal obedience. For in the same way, the sin of the first created man
received amendment by the correction of the First-Begotten"
-Saint Irenaeus, Against Heresies, 5:19:1, 189 AD
“And again, lest I depart from my argumentation on the name
of Adam: Why is Christ called Adam by the apostle [Paul], if as man he was not
of that earthly origin? But even reason defends this conclusion, that God
recovered his image and likeness by a procedure similar to that in which he had
been robbed of it by the devil. It was while Eve was still a virgin that the
word of the devil crept in to erect an edifice of death. Likewise through a
virgin the Word of God was introduced to set up a structure of life. Thus what
had been laid waste in ruin by this sex was by the same sex reestablished in
salvation. Eve had believed the serpent; Mary believed Gabriel. That which the
one destroyed by believing, the other, by believing, set straight"
-Tertullian, The Flesh of Christ, 17:4, 210 AD
“If therefore it might come to pass by the power of your
grace, it has appeared right to us your servants that, as you, having overcome
death, do reign in glory, so you should raise up the body of your Mother and
take her with you, rejoicing, into heaven. Then said the Savior [Jesus]: ‘Be it
done according to your will’"
-Pseudo-Melito, The Passing of the Virgin, 16:2–17, 300 AD
“You alone and your Mother are more beautiful than any
others, for there is no blemish in you nor any stains upon your Mother. Who of
my children can compare in beauty to these?"
-Saint Ephraim the Syrian – Doctor of the Church, Nisibene
Hymns, 27:8, 361 AD
“Mary’s life should be for you a pictorial image of
virginity. Her life is like a mirror reflecting the face of chastity and the
form of virtue. Therein you may find a model for your own life . . . showing
what to improve, what to imitate, what to hold fast to"
-Saint Ambrose of Milan – Doctor of the Church, The Virgins,
2:2:6, 377 AD
“The first thing which kindles ardor in learning is the
greatness of the teacher. What is greater [to teach by example] than the Mother
of God? What more glorious than she whom Glory Itself chose? What more chaste
than she who bore a body without contact with another body? For why should I
speak of her other virtues? She was a virgin not only in body but also in mind,
who stained the sincerity of its disposition by no guile, who was humble in
heart, grave in speech, prudent in mind, sparing of words, studious in reading,
resting her hope not on uncertain riches, but on the prayer of the poor, intent
on work, modest in discourse; wont to seek not man but God as the judge of her
thoughts, to injure no one, to have goodwill towards all, to rise up before her
elders, not to envy her equals, to avoid boastfulness, to follow reason, to
love virtue. When did she pain her parents even by a look? When did she
disagree with her neighbors? When did she despise the lowly? When did she avoid
the needy?"
-Saint Ambrose of Milan – Doctor of the Church, The Virgins,
2:2:7, 377 AD
“Come, then, and search out your sheep, not through your
servants or hired men, but do it yourself. Lift me up bodily and in the flesh,
which is fallen in Adam. Lift me up not from Sarah but from Mary, a virgin not
only undefiled, but a virgin whom grace had made inviolate, free of every stain
of sin"
-Saint Ambrose of Milan – Doctor of the Church, Commentary
on Psalm, 118:22–30, 387 AD
"Receive me not from Sarah,
but from Mary; that it may be an uncorrupted Virgin, a Virgin free by grace
from every stain of sin"
-Saint Ambrose of Milan
– Doctor of the Church, In Ps. cxviii. s. 22
“Our Lord . . . was not averse to males, for he took the
form of a male, nor to females, for of a female he was born. Besides, there is
a great mystery here: that just as death comes to us through a woman, life is
born to us through a woman; that the devil, defeated, would be tormented by
each nature, feminine and masculine, as he had taken delight in the defection
of both"
-Saint Augustine – Doctor of the Church, Christian Combat, 22:24,
396 AD
“That one woman is both mother and virgin, not in spirit
only but even in body. In spirit she is mother, not of our head, who is our
Savior himself—of whom all, even she herself, are rightly called children of
the bridegroom—but plainly she is the mother of us who are his members, because
by love she has cooperated so that the faithful, who are the members of that
head, might be born in the Church. In body, indeed, she is the Mother of that
very head"
-Saint Augustine – Doctor of the Church, Holy Virginity, 6:6,
401 AD
“Having excepted the holy Virgin Mary, concerning whom, on
account of the honor of the Lord, I wish to have absolutely no question when
treating of sins—for how do we know what abundance of grace for the total
overcoming of sin was conferred upon her, who merited to conceive and bear him
in whom there was no sin?—so, I say, with the exception of the Virgin, if we
could have gathered together all those holy men and women, when they were
living here, and had asked them whether they were without sin, what do we
suppose would have been their answer?"
-Saint Augustine – Doctor of the Church, Nature and Grace,
36:42, 415 AD
“Mary was not infected by the
venomous breath of the serpent."
-Origen, In
Div. hom. 1
“Mary was immaculate, and remote
from all stain of sin."
-Saint Ephraim the Syrian –
Doctor of the Church, Orat. Ad Deip.
“’Hail, full of grace.’ By these
words the angel shows that she was altogether excluded from the wrath of the
first sentence, and restored to the full grace of blessing."
-Saint Augustine – Doctor of the
Church, Sermon 123
"Nor did justice endure that
that vessel of election should be open to common injuries; for being far
exalted above others, she partook of their nature, not of their sin"
-Saint Cyprian, Commentary on
Psalm 77, De Chr. Op. De Nat.).
"He who formed the first
Virgin without deformity, also made the second one without spot or sin."
-Saint Amphilochius, In S. Deip. et Sim.
"The Virgin is therefore
called immaculate, for in nothing was she corrupt."
-Saint Sophronius, In Conc. Oecum. 6, act. 11
“It is evident that she was free
from original sin."
-Saint Ildephonsus, Cont. Disp. De Virginit. M.)
St. John Damascene says, that
"the serpent never had any access to this paradise."
-Saint John Damascene –Doctor of
the Church, In Assumpt.
"That Mary is that
uncorrupted earth which God blessed, and was therefore free from all contagion
of sin."
-Saint Bruno, In
Ps. ci
“That our Sovereign Lady was full
of preventing grace for her sanctification; that is, preservative grace against
the corruption of original sin.
-Saint Bonaventure – Doctor of the
Church, De
B. V. s. 2
"It is not to be believed
that he, the Son of God, would be born of a Virgin, and take her flesh, were
she in the slightest degree stained with original sin."
-Saint Bernardine of Sienna, Quadr. s. 49, p. 1
"Mary was prevented in
blessings from her very conception."
-Saint Laurence Justinian, In Annunt
"Thou hast found a singular
grace, O most sweet Virgin, that of preservation from original sin."
-Blessed Raymond Jordano, Cont. de V. M. c. 6
“Great indeed was
the injury entailed on Adam and all his posterity by his accursed sin; for at
the same time that he thereby, for his own great misfortune, lost grace, he
also forfeited all the other precious gifts with which he had originally been
enriched, and drew down upon himself and all his descendants the hatred of God
and an accumulation of evils. But from this general misfortune God was pleased
to exempt that Blessed Virgin whom he had destined to be the Mother of the
Second Adam—Jesus Christ—who was to repair the evil done by the first.”
-Saint Alphonsus
Ligouri, Discourse on the Immaculate Conception
“Still more was
it becoming that God should preserve her from original sin, for he destined her
to crush the head of that infernal serpent, which, by seducing our first
parents, entailed death upon all men: and this our Lord foretold: I will put
enemities between thee and the woman, and thy seed and her seed: she
shall crush thy head (Gen. 3:15). But if Mary was to be that valiant woman
brought into the world to conquer Lucifer, certainly it was not becoming that
he should first conquer her, and make her his slave; but it was reasonable that
she should be preserved from all stain, and even momentary subjection to her
opponent. The proud spirit endeavored to infect the most pure soul of this
Virgin with his venom, as he had already infected the whole human race. But
praised and ever blessed be God, who, in his infinite goodness, pre-endowed her
for this purpose with such great grace, that, remaining always free from any
guilt of sin, she was ever able to beat down and confound his pride, as St.
Augustine, or whoever may be the author of the commentary on Genesis, says:
"Since the devil is the head of original sin, this head it was that Mary
crushed: for sin never had any entry into the soul of this Blessed Virgin,
which was consequently free from all stain."
-Saint Alphonsus
Ligouri, Discourse on the Immaculate Conception
