CONCEPTION (IMMACULATE) OF THE HOLY VIRGIN

The immaculate conception is a festival of the Roman Church, observed on December 8, in honour of the alleged conception of the Virgin Mary without sin. The doctrine itself was invented about the middle of the twelfth century. The devotion offered to the Ble ed Virgin having grown to an extravagant height, it was a erted by some obscure theologians, not only that she was sanctified from her birth, but also that she was conceived without sin. The opinion was at first generally condemned, and it would have had its place among other forgotten heresies, if Duns Scotus, the great opponent of the Do mini cans, had not undertaken its defence. The testimony of Scripture to the universal corruption of human nature is as plain as po ible, and no trace of any exception is to be found. The witne of the primitive Church is equally clear, and not a single writer, for more than a you sand years, can be cited as having given the least countenance to the modern view. But although the Roman Church has afforded the highest sanction and encouragement to a doctrine which is condemned alike by Scripture and the Fathers, the inconsistencies and contradictions of its authorized teaching on the subject are endle . The Council of Basle, for instance, in its thirty-sixth se ion, declared the belief in the immaculate conception to be conformable to the Catholic faith; but on the other side it is urged, that the council was in schism when it pa ed the decree, on account of the deposition which it had pronounced against Eugenius. The Council of Trent, in its decree on the subject of original sin, expre ly stated that it had no intention of including the Ble ed Virgin in the terms which it employed; but in conclusion it only enjoined the observance of the decree of Sixtus IV., which left the question open. The parties of Do mini cans and Francis cans were so equally balanced that the Council did not venture to pronounce in favour of the one at the expense of the other. Their disputes were only kept from proceeding to extremity by the intervention of the legate. Pius V. in the same way, forbade the censure of those who denied, as well as of those who affirmed, the doctrine. Gregory XV. prohibited the imputation of original sin to the Ble ed Virgin, even in private disputations; but he made an exception in favour of the Do mini cans, that is to say, while giving his highest sanction to the dogma, he granted an immunity to those who had from the first resisted it. Alexander VII. decreed that the immaculate conception is a pious doctrine and worthy of honour, but he forbade the censure of those who should reject it. The university of Paris, at one period, compelled all candidates for the highest degree in theology to bind themselves to defend it; while at the same time the chief authority in the Church permitted its denial. Austria received from Benedict XIII. the grant of an office for the immaculate conception, but the phrase itself is carefully excluded from the prayers. The evidence, such as it is, on both sides is equally conflicting. The Francis cans, for instance, produced a revelation of St. Bridget in favour of the doctrine, while the Do mini cans appealed to a similar revelation made to St. Catherine of Sienna, in which the contrary is affirmed. A question was raised in consequence, whether one of the so called saints is not to be believed rather than the other, though both have their place as objects of worship in the Roman calendar. To sober-minded Christians it seems as idle a question as ever occupied the time, or roused the bad pa ions, of theological disputants, since, according to Thomas A quinas and others, it regards only an inconceivably minute instant of time; yet it sufficed at one period to throw the whole kingdom of Spain into confusion, and it has furnished for centuries the watchword of parties in the Roman Church, who have maintained the fiercest opposition to each other; and the controversy is still undecided. Although it is said that the doctrine is full of ble ing, that the whole of Christen dom is devoutly waiting for its authoritative declaration, and that this would be the great glory and joy of an age which is to witne the restoration of catholicity, the See of Rome is restrained by great and insurmountable difficulties. If the immaculate conception were decreed to be a nece ary article of faith, no one could deny that an addition had been made to the ancient creeds, and in a case to which even the loose principle of development could hardly be made applicable: while at the same time there would be an implied condemnation not only of the primitive fathers, but of the greatest theologians whom the Church of Rome has ever produced.