medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
----- Original Message -----
From: "Tom Izbicki" <[log in to unmask]>
> The term Immaculate Conception is very late medieval. Usually the
arguments focused either on the celebration of a feast of Mary's
Conception (which Bernard opposed in a letter to the canons of Lyons) or
the concept itself. <
Dear Tom,
Bernard of Clairvaux seems to have been opposed not simply to the
introduction of the feast of the Immaculate Conception but to the very
concept and theology of it. He has some scathing words in Epistle 147.
Thomas Aquinas, a hundred years after Bernard, was likewise opposed to the
new doctrine:
"Certainly Mary was conceived with original sin, as is natural. . . . If she
would not have been born with original sin, she would not have needed to be
redeemed by Christ, and, this being so, Christ would not be the universal
Redeemer of men, which would abolish the dignity of Christ."
Chapter CCXXXII bis. Thomas Aquinas, Compendio do Teologia, Barcelona, 1985.
Here are Bernard's words:
"I am frightened now, seeing that certain of you have desired to change the
condition of important matters, introducing a new festival unknown to the
Church, unapproved by reason, unjustified by ancient tradition. Are we
really more learned and more pious than our fathers? You will say, 'One must
glorify the Mother of God as much as Possible.' This is true; but the
glorification given to the Queen of Heaven demands discernment. This Royal
Virgin does not have need of false glorifications, possessing as She does
true crowns of glory and signs of dignity. Glorify the purity of Her flesh
and the sanctity of Her life. Marvel at the abundance of the gifts of this
Virgin; venerate Her Divine Son; exalt Her Who conceived without knowing
concupiscence and gave birth without knowing pain. But what does one yet
need to add to these dignities? People say that one must revere the
conception which preceded the glorious birth-giving; for if the conception
had not preceded, the birth-giving also would not have been glorious. But
what would one say if anyone for the same reason should demand the same kind
of veneration of the father and mother of Holy Mary? One might equally
demand the same for Her grandparents and great-grandparents, to infinity.
Moreover, how can there not be sin in the place where there was
concupiscence? All the more, let one not say that the Holy Virgin was
conceived of the Holy Spirit and not of man. I say decisively that the Holy
Spirit descended upon Her, but not that He came with Her."
"I say that the Virgin Mary could not be sanctified before Her conception,
inasmuch as She did not exist. if, all the more, She could not be sanctified
in the moment of Her conception by reason of the sin which is inseparable
from conception, then it remains to believe that She was sanctified after
She was conceived in the womb of Her mother. This sanctification, if it
annihilates sin, makes holy Her birth, but not Her conception. No one is
given the right to be conceived in sanctity; only the Lord Christ was
conceived of the Holy Spirit, and He alone is holy from His very conception.
Excluding Him, it is to all the descendants of Adam that must be referred
that which one of them says of himself, both out of a feeling of humility
and in acknowledgement of the truth: Behold I was conceived in iniquities
(Ps. 50:7). How can one demand that this conception be holy, when it was not
the work of the Holy Spirit, not to mention that it came from concupiscence?
The Holy Virgin, of course, rejects that glory which, evidently, glorifies
sin. She cannot in any way justify a novelty invented in spite of the
teaching of the Church, a novelty which is the mother of imprudence, the
sister of unbelief, and the daughter of lightmindedness"
Ep.147
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Fr Ambrose
-oOo-
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