Bishop St. Augustine of Hippo the Great teaches the Immaculate Conception!!!

[Xavier]

St. Augustine shows the Virgin Mary was always considered special and exclusively sinless among the Saints even in Christian antiquity, by the Lord's Grace and for His honour, "We must except the holy Virgin Mary, concerning whom I wish to raise no question when it touches the subject of sins, out of honour to the Lord; for from Him we know what abundance of grace for overcoming sin in every particular was conferred upon Her Who had the merit to conceive and bear Him who undoubtedly had no sin. (1 John 3:5) Well, then, if, with this exception of the Virgin, we could only assemble together all the forementioned holy men and women, and ask them whether they lived without sin while they were in this life, what can we suppose would be their answer? Would it be in the language of our author, or in the words of the Apostle John? I put it to you, whether, on having such a question submitted to them, however excellent might have been their sanctity in this body, they would not have exclaimed with one voice: If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us? (1 John 1:" [De natura et gratia, Migne PL 44:267 See the work Online at New Advent here http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1503.htm]

And in one of his last works, interrupted by his passing into eternity, the Great Doctor of Grace - whom the Fifth Ecumenical Council vies in praising along with other Fathers as "We further declare that we hold fast to the decrees of the four Councils, and in every way follow the holy Fathers, Athanasius ... Cyril, Augustine, Proclus, Leo, and their writings on the true faith." - states "We do not transfer Mary to the devil by the condition of Her birth, for this reason, that that condition is dissolved by the grace of Her new birth" [Against Julian in PL 45:1418 - I can't find this work online, someone can kindly post an online link if they have it]

This is nicely in accord with several other Western Fathers: See for e.g. St. Fulgentius of Ruspe cited here, "By these words [Hail, full of grace], the angel shows that She [Mary] was altogether excluded from the wrath of the first sentence, and restored to the full grace of blessing." Latin: "Cum dixit, gratia plena, ostendit ex integro, iram exclusam primæ sententiæ, et plenam benedictionis gratiam restitutam." http://catholicpatristics.blogspot.com/2009/03/immaculate-conception.html

Finally, as expected, St. Ambrose of Milan had already preceded his Saintly disciple in teaching a similar doctrine, "a Virgin not only undefiled but a Virgin whom grace has made inviolate, free of every stain of sin [Latin: ut incorrupta sit virgo, sed virgo per gratiam ab omni integra labe peccati]." (St. Ambrose, Comm. on Psalm 118, Jurgens, Faith of the Early Fathers, vol 2, page 166)

Here, we see the clear Voice of Tradition, and it is possible to show the East was historically just as strong or at any rate no less strong if not stronger on the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, until tragically Russia fell into denial of this Apostolic Truth and then into Communism after His Holiness Saintly Bl. Pope Pius IX dogmatically defined it. Here, we see how necessary also the Papacy and Dogmatic Definitions are. When will Orthodox and other separated Christians happily return to Catholic Unity with Rome by professing the Catholic Faith in the Immaculate Conception of the All-Holy Virgin Mary, called Panagia, Panomomos and Prokathartheisa in the Greek Liturgies. She is even called the Unique All Immaculate in the Byzantine Liturgy on Dec. 9th. Greek Orthodox Priest Fr. Laurent Kleenewick himself documents this nicely in his book, His Broken Body: what do deniers of the Immaculate Conception say?

[Xavier]

Finally, let it be noted the Angelic Doctor also taught the Sacred Dogma of the Immaculate Conception once, although indeed the Doctor was not absolutely certain about it; for angelical St. Thomas says well about even more Angelical Mary Immaculate, Ad tertium dicendum, quod puritas intenditur per recessum a contrario: et ideo potest aliquid creatum inveniri quo nihil purius esse potest in rebus creatis, si nulla contagione peccati inquinatum sit; et talis fuit puritas beatae virginis, quae a peccato originali et actuali immunis fuit.[translation of the latter part:: and such was the Purity of the Blessed Virgin, that from both original and actual sin was it immune]. See source: http://www.corpusthomisticum.org/snp1042.html#3184

Now, some theological demonstrations and responses to common objections: did St. Augustine really teach the Immaculate Conception?

(1) We know St. Augustine included original sin as being truly sin.
(2) Therefore, if St. Augustine says Mary is alone entirely without sin, what follows?
(3) It clearly follows the Doctor is saying She had neither original or actual sin.

There was a temporary theory of "Immaculate Animation" but not Conception. This opinion was held by those who wanted Mary to be redeemed by Christ, but it seemed to them Mary needed to have sin first, at least for one instant, and then be redeemed.

But then the beautiful answer seemed to come from Heaven itself: as God can rescue a beatiful sparrow after it falls into a garbage bin and thus becomes dirty, He can also rescue the same beautiful sparrow by preventing her from falling in the first place; and it is fitting He do this for just One Person, namely the Mother of His Son, the Bride of His Holy Spirit.

I would argue as follows. Theosis means that the Creature becomes by Grace all that God is by Nature, as we become sons and daughters of God.

(1) Mary is the Model of Theosis. But She wouldn't be a perfect Model unless She were perfectly divinized, sinless by Grace as He is by Nature.

(2) Further, Scripture calls both Jesus and Mary Full of Grace, although in different senses. Jesus is the Source of Grace, Mary has all His Graces.

(3) As Jesus in His Humanity had no original sin, and this was due to Him by Nature; so therefore Mary had no original sin, by His given Gift of Grace.

These are confirmed by Biblical Parallels like the Ark of the Covenant being created out of stainless gold, a Patristic Parallel applied to Mary.

The final statement in St. Augustine, that Mary's new birth and its abundant grace dissolves our old condition of original sin is another indicator that birth was grace-filled and Holy. St. Andrew of Crete calls the Holy Theotokos the Firstfruits of the Second Creation. But the Second Creation must be greater than the first. Hence, Mary must have been created greater than Eve. But Eve was created Immaculate. Hence, Mary too must have been created Immaculate; and preserved it for all of us.