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The Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary: A Thought-Experiment in Medieval Philosophical Theology

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 April 2010

Marilyn McCord Adams
Marilyn McCord Adams*
Affiliation:
University of North Carolina
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Extract

On 8 December 1854, Pius IX issued Ineffabilis Deus, in which he dogmatized the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The bull reads,

For the honor of the Holy and Undivided Trinity, for the glory and ornament of the Virgin Godbearer, for the exaltation of the catholic faith and the growth of the Christian religion, by the authority of Our Lord Jesus Christ, of the blessed apostles Peter and Paul, and by our own, we declare, pronounce, and define the doctrine which holds that the Most Blessed Virgin Mary at the first instant of her conception was by a singular grace and privilege of Almighty God, in consideration of the merits of Christ Jesus, the Savior of the human race, preserved immune from every stain of original guilt; that this was revealed by God and therefore is firmly and constantly to be believed by all of the faithful.1

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ARTICLES
Information
Harvard Theological Review , Volume 103 , Issue 2 , April 2010 , pp. 133 - 159
Copyright
Copyright © President and Fellows of Harvard College 2010

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References

1 Heinrich Denzinger, Enchiridion Symbolorum Definitionum et Declarationum de Rebus Fidei et Morum (Freiburg im Breisgau: B. Herder, 1911) #1641 (1502) 440.

2 I explore some of these in the following articles: “The Metaphysics of the Incarnation in Some Fourteenth Century Franciscans,” in Essays Honoring Allan B. Wolter (Quincy, Ill.: Franciscan Institute Publications, 1985) 21–57; “Aristotle and the Sacrament of the Altar: A Crisis in Medieval Theology,” Canadian Journal of Philosophy (suppl. vol. 17; 1991) 195–249; “The Resurrection of the Body according to Three Medieval Aristotelians: Thomas Aquinas, John Duns Scotus, William Ockham,” Philosophical Topics 20 (1993) 1–33; and “The Metaphysics of the Trinity in Some Fourteenth Century Franciscans,” Franciscan Studies 66 (208) 101–68. See also Richard Cross, The Metaphysics of Christology (New York: Oxford University Press, 2001).

3 Cur Deus Homo II.16; Schmitt II.116,16–24.

4 De conceptu virginali et de originali peccato, chs. 1–4; Schmitt II.140–145; ch. 7; Schmitt II.147–149.

5 Ibid., ch. 16; Schmitt II.157–158.

6 Ibid., chs. 10–13; Schmitt II.151–155.

7 Ibid., chs. 18–19; Schmitt II.159–160.

8 Eadmeri monachi Cantueriensis tractatus de conceptione S. Mariae (ed. H. Thurston and T. Slater; Freiburg im Breisgau 1904) 1; among the Anselm spuria as Tractatus de Conceptione B. Mariae Virginis in PL 159, cols. 301–303. Cf. Allan B. Wolter and Blane O—Neill, John Duns Scotus: Mary's Architect (Quincy, Ill.: Franciscan Press, Quincy College, 1993) III.56.

9 Bernard of Clairvaux, Epistola 174: Ad canonicos Lugdunenses de Conceptione S. Mariae, PL 182, cols. 332–336.

10 Ibid., secs.2–5; PL 182, cols. 333–334.

11 Ibid., PL 182, cols. 333.

12 Ibid., sec.7, PL 182, col. 335.

13 Ibid., sec.8, PL 182, col. 336.

14 D. O. Lottin surveys their views in his article “Le traité du péché originel chez les premiers maîtres franciscains de Paris,” Ephemerides Theologicae Lovanienses XVIII (1941) 26–64. He quotes long stretches of otherwise unedited manuscript material at length. I refer to these texts. For an incisive analysis of the material in connection with our topic, cf. Allan B. Wolter, “Doctrine of the Immaculate Conception in the Early Franciscan School,” Studia Mariana cura commissionis Marialis Franciscanae edita IX (1954) 26–69.

15 Lottin, “Le traité du péché originel chez les premiers maîtres franciscains de Paris,” 43–48, 62–64.

16 Ibid., 48–50.

17 Ibid., 45–46.

18 Ibid., 43–46.

19 See Wolter, “Doctrine of the Immaculate Conception in the Early Franciscan School,” 42–43. He quotes at length from otherwise unedited texts by John of La Rochelle, Odo Rigaux, and William of Melitona. I draw on these.

20 Ibid., 44–45.

21 Ibid., 45.

22 Ibid., 38–40.

23 Ibid., 58.

24 Bonaventure, Sent. III.3.1.1.1; Quaracchi III.61–63.

25 Ibid., 63.

26 Two works included among the Spuria of Anselm—Sermo de Conceptione Beatae Mariae; PL 159, cols. 319–324; and Miraculum de Conceptione Sanctae Mariae; PL 159, cols. 323–324—recount several visions in which the Blessed Virgin Mary commands the devotee to celebrate the feast of her conception.

27 Bonaventure, Sent. III.3.1.1.1; Quaracchi III.63.

28 Ibid.

29 Ibid.

30 Ibid., 63–64.

31 Ibid., 63, 66–67.

32 Ibid., 65–67.

33 Ibid., 67.

34 Ibid., 63, 67.

35 Ibid., 67.

36 Ibid., 68.

37 Ibid., cf. 66.

38 Ibid., 68.

39 Ibid.

40 Ibid., 66–67.

41 Ibid., 68.

42 Ibid.

43 Ibid., 71.

44 Ibid., 71.

45 Ibid., 73.

46 Ibid.

47 Ibid.

48 Ibid.

49 Ibid., 75.

50 Ibid., 76.

51 Ibid., 78.

52 Ibid., 78.

53 Ibid., 71. Bonaventure notes an effort to explain this away: That the new law begins with John the Baptist, and Mary comes before that.

54 William of Ware, Quaestio in Quaestiones disputatae de Immaculata Conceptione Beatae Mariae Virginis (Quaracchi, 1904) 6–8.

55 Henry of Ghent, Quodlibeta, Paris 1518; reprint Bibliothéque S.J.: Louvain, 1961, ff. 584r Q-589r M.

56 Henry of Ghent, Quodlibeta XV, q.13, ff. 584v R-585r V.

57 Stephen D. Dumont reconstructs the history of this and other related disputations in his article “Time, Contradiction and Freedom of the Will,” Documenti e Studi sulla Tradizione Filosofica Medievale III.2 (1992) 561–97.

58 Henry's position is discussed at length by Godfrey of Fontaines in Le huitiéme Quodlibet de Godefroid de Fontaines (ed. J. Hoffmans; Louvain: Institut supérieur de philosophie de l—Université, 1924) IV.51–60. For a helpful analysis, see Wolter, “Doctrine of the Immaculate Conception in the Early Franciscan School,” 60; Wolter and O—Neill, John Duns Scotus: Mary's Architect III.59–60.

59 Godfrey of Fontaines, Le huitiéme Quodlibet, IV.51–60.

60 William of Ware, Quaestio in Quaestiones disputatae de Immaculata Conceptione Beatae Mariae Virginis (Quaracchi, 1904) 2.

61 Scotus, Op. Ox. III.3.1.15; Wad VII.1.98.

62 Scotus, Op. Ox. III.3.1.16; Wad VII.1.98.

63 Scotus, Op. Ox. III.3.1.16–18; Wad VII.1.98–99.

64 Scotus, Op. Ox. II.29.u.1; Wad VI.2.919.

65 Scotus, Op. Ox. II.29.u.2; Wad VI.2.920.

66 Scotus, Op. Ox. II.29.u.3; Wad VI.2.921; cf. II.32.u.4; Wad VI.2.946.

67 Scotus, Op. Ox. II.29.u.5; Wad VI.2.923.

68 Scotus, Op. Ox. II.29.u.4; Wad VI.2.922; II.29.u.6; Wad VI.2.924.

69 Scotus, Op. Ox. II.32.u.4; Wad VI.2.946.

70 Scotus, Op. Ox. II.32.u.5; Wad VI.2.946.

71 Scotus, Op. Ox. II.32.10; Wad VI.2.957/0; II.32.u.16; Wad VI.2.954.

72 Scotus, Op. Ox. II.32.u.15; Wad VI.2.952–953.

73 Scotus, Op. Ox. II.37.u.17; Wad VI.2.954.

74 Scotus, Op. Ox. II.32.u.17; Wad VI.2.954.

75 Scotus, Op. Ox. II.37.u.17; Wad VI.2.954.

76 Scotus, Op. Ox. III.3.1.4; Wad VII.1.92.

77 Scotus, Op. Ox. III.3.1.5; Wad VII.1.92.

78 Scotus, Op. Ox. III.3.1.6; Wad VII.1.92.

79 Scotus, Op. Ox. III.3.1.7; Wad VII.1.92–93.

80 Scotus, Op. Ox. III.3.1.7; Wad VII.1.93.

81 Scotus, Op. Ox. III.3.1.8; Wad VII.1.93.

82 Ibid.

83 Aureol, Tractatus in Fr. Guilielmi Guarrae, Fr. Ioannis Duns Scoti, Fr. Petri Aureoli, Questiones Disputate de Immaculata Conceptione Beatae Mariae Virginis (Quaracchi, 1904) 4.55.

84 Aureol, Tractatus 4.55–56.

85 Ibid.

86 Peter Aureol, Tractatus and Repercussorium, in Fr. Guilielmi Guarrae, Fr. Ioannis Duns Scoti, Fr. Petri Aureoli, Questiones Disputate de Immaculata Conceptione Beatae Mariae Virginis (Quaracchi, 1904).

87 Aureol, Repercussorium, T3.112.

88 Ibid., T3.113.

89 Ibid., T3.117–118.

90 Aureol, Tractatus 2.48.

91 Ibid., 3.50.

92 Ibid., 3.51.

93 Ibid., 4.59–61.

94 Scotus, Op. Ox. III.3.1.9; Wad VII.1.95.

95 Aureol, Tractatus 6.94.

96 Ibid., 5.71.

97 Ibid., 5.73–74.

98 Ibid., 6.94.

99 Ibid., 5.74.

100 Ibid., 5.74–75.

101 Ibid., 5.75.

102 Ibid., 5.78–80.