Immaculate Conception

This is the doctrine that the Virgin Mary was/is free from original sin from the moment of her conception. It’s 1 of the 4 Marian dogmas of the Catholic Church. The feast day of the Immaculate Conception is December 8.

It wasn’t defined as a dogma until 1854, by Pope Pius IX in the papal bull Ineffabilis Deus. While the Immaculate Conception asserts Mary’s freedom from original sin, the Council of Trent (1545-1563) had previously affirmed her freedom from personal sin non-dogmatically.

Many Protestant churches reject this doctrine as unscriptural. Some Anglicans accept this as a pious devotion. The teaching of the Immaculate Conception among Oriental Orthodoxy varies. The Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church & the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church accept it.

Anne (who eventually becomes a saint), the mom of the Virgin Mary & Jesus’ maternal grandma, shows up for the 1st time in the 2nd-century apocryphal Gospel of James. Anne & her husband Joachim (who also became a saint) were infertile. But God heard their prayers. Mary was then conceived.

Within the Gospel of James, Mary’s conception happens without physical sexual intercourse between Anne & Joachim. This is to demonstrate Mary’s purity. The Eastern Orthodox Church believes that Mary was conceived by her parents like we all were.

Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, & Cyrus of Jerusalem came up with the idea of Mary as the new Eve. While yet immaculate & incorrupt, she wasn’t subject to original sin. Ephraim the Syrian said she was as innocent as Eve before the Fall.

Ambrose asserted Mary’s incorruptibility, attributing her virginity to grace & immunity from sin. Severus, the Bishop of Antioch, agreed to affirm Mary’s purity & immaculateness. John of Damascus extended the supernatural influence of God to Mary’s parents. This suggests they were purified by the Holy Spirit during her generation. According to John of Damascus, even the material of Mary’s origin was deemed pure & holy.

By the 4th century, the idea of Mary being free from sin was more widespread. But her being free from original sin, passed down from the OGs Adam & Eve, raised questions. The question became more acute when the feast of Mary’s conception brought the objection that, as adult spicy time is sinful, & to celebrate Mary’s conception was to celebrate a sinful act. (Let’s get 1 thing straight: God doesn’t make married adult spicy time between 2 consenting MARRIED adults a sin! He (God) in fact encourages a healthy marital sex life. “Be fruitful & multiply,” ring any bells! And how exactly do we multiply? This is the conclusion of our TED talk.)

The feast of Mary’s conception came from the Eastern Church in the 7th century. It reached England in the 11th century. From there, it spread out to Europe. It was given official approval in 1477 & extended to the whole church in 1693. The word “immaculate” wasn’t used until 1854.

This doctrine caused a “civil war” between the Franciscans & the Dominicans during the Middle Ages. The Franciscan “Scotists” were in favor & the Dominican “Thomists” against it.

The English ecclesiastic & scholar Eadmer (circa 1060-circa 1126) reasoned that Mary might have been conceived without original sin because of God’s omnipotence. It was also appropriate for her role as Mother of God. Potuit, decuit, fecit: “it was possible, it was fitting, therefore it was done.”

Others, like St. Bernard of Clairvaux (of the St. Bernard dog breed fame, 1090-1153) & Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) objected because if Mary were free of original sin at her superfluous conception. Then she would have no need of redemption. Thus making Christ’s saving redemption unneeded.

In 1439, the Council of Basel, in schism with Pope Eugene IV (who lived at the Council of Florence), declared the Immaculate Conception a “pious opinion” consistent with faith & Scripture. The Council of Trent made no explicit declaration on the topic. But did exempt her from the universality of original sin.

They also affirmed that she remained free from all stains of sin during her life, even the venial ones. By 1571, the revised Roman Breviary set out an elaborate celebration of the Feast of the Immaculate Conception on December 8.

Some devotees go so far as to hold that Anne had conceived Mary just by kissing her husband. They also believe that (St.) Anne’s dad & grandma had likewise been conceived without spicy adult time. However, (St.) Bridget of Sweden (circa 1303-1373) told how Mary herself had revealed to her that Anne & Joachim conceived their daughter through a spicy adult time, which was sinless because it was pure & free of sexual lust.

In the 16th & 17th centuries, Spain exploded with Immaculatist devotion. This led the Habsburg monarchs to demand the Holy See elevate this belief to the status of dogma.

In France in 1830, Catherine Laboure (May 2, 1806-December 31, 1876) saw a vision of Mary standing on a globe while a voice commanded her to have a medal made in imitation of what she saw. The medal said, “O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee,” which was a confirmation from Mary herself that she was conceived without sin. Laboure’s vision marked the beginning of a great 19th-century Marian revival.

In 1849, Pope Pius IX issued the encyclical Ubi primum, soliciting the bishops of the church for their views on whether the doctrine should be defined as dogma. 90% of those who responded were supportive. Although the Archbishop of Paris, Marie-Dominique-Auguste Sibour, warned that the Immaculate Conception “could be proved neither from the Scriptures nor from tradition.”

In 1854, the Immaculate Conception dogma was proclaimed with the bull Ineffabilis Deus. Ineffabilis Deus found the Immaculate Conception in the Ark of Salvation (Noah’s Ark), Jacob’s Ladder, the Burning Bush at Sinai, the Enclosed Garden from the Song of Song/Song of Solomon, & many more passages.

The pope’s advisors singled out 2 Bible passages: Genesis 3:15 – “I’ll put enmity between you & the woman.” This is a prophecy which reached fulfillment in the figure of the Woman in Revelation, crowned with stars & trampling the Dragon underfoot. Luke 1:28 – Specifically the phrase “full of grace” by which Gabriel greeted Mary was another reference to her Immaculate Conception: “she was never subject to the curse & was, together with her Son, the only partaker of perpetual benediction.”

Four years after the proclamation of the dogma, in 1858, the young Bernadette Soubirous (of the Lourdes grotto fame) said that Mary appeared to her at Lourdes in southern France, to announce that she was the Immaculate Conception. The Catholic Church later endorsed the apparition as authentic. There are other “approved” Marian apparitions in which Mary identified herself as the Immaculate Conception. For example, Our Lady of Gietrzwald in 1877, Poland.

The feast day of the Immaculate Conception is December 8. The Roman Missal (which contains texts & rubrics (a set of rules)) & the Roman Rite Liturgy of the Hours (a set of Catholic prayers) include references to Mary’s Immaculate Conception in the feast of the Immaculate Conception.

Its celebration seems to have begun in the Eastern church in the 7th century & may have spread to Ireland by the 8th century. The earliest well-attested record in the Western Church is from England early in the 11th century. It was suppressed there after the Norman Conquest (1066). The 1st thorough exposition of the doctrine was a response to this suppression. It continued to spread through the 15th century despite accusations of heresy from the Thomists & strong objections from several prominent theologians.

Beginning around 1140, St. Bernard of Clairvaux (Yes, like the dog breed. That’s where the dog breed got its name.), a Cistercian monk (This is a religious order of monks & nuns that branched off from the Benedictines.), wrote to Lyons Cathedral to express his surprise & dissatisfaction that it had recently begun to be observed there.

But in 1477, Pope Lixtus IV, who was a devoted Immaculist, put it on the Roman calendar via the papal bull called Cum praexcelsa. In 1481 & 1483, Pope Sixtus IV published 2 more bulls which prohibited anyone from preaching or teaching against the Immaculate Conception, or for either side to accuse the other of heresy, under threats of excommunication.

Pope Pius V kept the Feast on the Tridentine calendar. But suppressed the word “Immaculate.” Pope Gregory XV, in 1622, prohibited any public or private assertion that Mary was conceived in sin. In 1624, Pope Urban VIII allowed the Franciscans to establish a military order dedicated to the Virgin of the Immaculate Conception.

The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo & Eritrean Orthodox Tewahed Churches believe in the Immaculate Conception of the Theotokos. The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church celebrates the Feast of the Immaculate Conception on August 13 (Nehasie 7).

Eastern Orthodoxy does not exempt Mary from original sin. But they do affirm Mary’s purity & preservation from personal sin.

In the mid-1800s, some Catholics who were unable to accept the doctrine of papal infallibility left the Roman Church & formed the Old Catholic Church. They reject the Immaculate Conception.

Protestants overwhelmingly condemned the announcement of Ineffabilis Deus. Protestants teach that Mary was a sinner, saved through grace, like everyone else.

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Melanie Calvat

Francoise Melanie Calvat (November 7, 1831-December 14, 1904, 73 upon passing) was a French religious sister/nun in the Roman Catholic Church. A religious sister is a Christian woman who has taken public vows in a religious order dedicated to apostolic works. Even though they’re called nuns, they’re canonically distinct. She & Maximin Guiraud, was/were the 2 seers of Our Lady of La Salette.

Melanie was born in Corps in Isere, France. She was the 4th of 10 kids in a family of extreme poverty. The family was so poor “that the young were sometimes dispatched to beg on the street.”

By the age of 9, Melanie Calvat was hired out as a shepherdess. This is where she met Maximin Guiraud on the eve of their apparition. Her contemporary employers described her as “sulky,” “lazy,” & “uncommunicative.” She spoke the regional Occitan dialect (Patois) & fragmented French. She didn’t have any formal schooling, religious or secular. So naturally, she couldn’t read or write well or at all.

On September 19, 1846, Melanie (a teen at the time) & Maximin (aged 11) saw a vision of the Virgin Mary while tending cows, in the mountains of La Salette. The kids reported seeing a “Beautiful Lady” sitting on a rock, weeping with her head in her hands. She wore a high headdress of roses & a golden crucifix.

The Lady (the Virgin Mary) spoke of the sins of the people. Specifically, the profanation of Sundays & the use of the Lord’s name in vain. She warned of a coming famine (the “potato blight”) if the people didn’t convert. Crucially, the Lady reported sharing individual secrets with each kid, which they were forbidden to reveal until a later date.

The bishop of Grenoble, Philibert de Bruillard, named several commissions to examine the facts. The Marian apparitions were formally approved by the Bishop of Grenoble in 1851. While the event was accepted, Melanie’s personal trajectory became increasingly difficult. Maximin, who entered the seminary, also had difficulties living a normal life.

After the Marian apparition in 1846, Calvat was placed as a boarder in the Sisters of Providence Convent in Corenc, close to Grenoble. She entered religious life at the age of 20. In 1850, she became a postulant with this order & in October 1851, she took the veil.

In May 1853, Bishop de Bruillard died. In early 1854, his replacement refused to grant permission for her to be professed. Because he found that she wasn’t spiritually mature enough. Calvat claimed that the real reason for the refusal was that the bishop was aiming to gain the favor of Emperor Napoleon III of France.

Following the bishop’s refusal to permit her to be professed, Calvat was officially allowed to move to a convent of the Sisters of Charity. However, after 3 weeks, she was returned to Corps en Isere for further education.

She was then allowed to move to Carmel at Darlington in England. She arrived in 1855. She took temporary vows in 1856. In 1858, she wrote to the Pope to tell him a part of the secret she was “authorized” to reveal in that year. In 1860, she was released from her vow of cloister at Carmel by the Pope & returned to mainland Europe.

She entered the Congregation of the Sisters of Compassion in Marseille. Marie, a sister, was appointed as her companion. After a stay in their convent at Cephalonia, Greece, where she & Sister Marie went to open an orphanage. Then, after a short journey at the Carmelite convent of Marseille, she came back to the Sisters of Compassion for a brief time.

In October 1864, she was admitted as a novice, on the condition that she kept her identity secret. But she was recognized. In early 1867, she was officially released from the order. She & her companion then went (following a short stay at Corps & La Salette) to live at Castellamare near Naples in Italy. She was welcomed by the local bishop. She lived there for 17 years & wrote down her secret, including the rule for a future religious foundation.

In 1873, Calvat wrote her personal message again, with the official permission of Sisto Riario Sforza, the Cardinal Archbishop of Naples. Meanwhile, religious orders were being formed at La Salette of Grenoble. These were to provide from pilgrims & spread the message of the vision.

Calvet claimed she had been authorized by the apparition to provide the names of these orders, their rules, & their habits. The 1 for the men was to be named: Order of the Apostles of the Last Days. The 1 for the women was to be named: Order of the Mother of God.

The bishop refused her demands. So she appealed to the Pope. The Pope granted her an audience. She was received by Pope Leo XIII on December 3, 1878. The message was officially published by Calvat herself on November 15, 1879. She got an official ok from Mgr. Salvatore Luigi Zola, Bishop of Lecce near Naples (who had protected & assisted Calvat in his diocese), under the title: Apparition of the Blessed Virgin on the Mountain of La Salette.

Later, the Vatican put this book on the Index of Prohibited Books. The “Secret of La Salette” is actually a series of documents written by Calvat at different stages of her life. The 1851 secret was sent to Pope Pius IX. It warned of “France’s corruption” & a coming “general war.” The 1879 secret was published in Lecce, Italy. It contained the famous line: “Rome will lose the faith & become the seat of the Antichrist.”

Calvat visited the Sanctuary at La Salette for the last time on September 18-19, 1902. In the last months of her life, she lived at Altamura, Italy, where she didn’t reveal her identity. Her identity was revealed only AFTER her death.

She passed away on December 14, 1904, at her home in Altamura, Italy. She was interred in Altamura under a marble monument with a bas-relief picturing the Virgin Mary welcoming the “shepherdess of La Salette” into Heaven.

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Catherine of Siena

Her birth name is: Caterina di Jacopo di Benincasa. She lived from March 25, 1347 to April 29, 2380, making her 33 years old when she passed away. She was an Italian mystics & pious laywoman who took part in papal & Italian politics through sizable letter-writing & advocacy. She was canonized in 1461. She’s revered as a saint & a Doctor of the Church because of her considerable theological authorship.

She was born & raised in Siena. At an early age, she wanted to devote herself to God. Her parents were against this. Her parents wanted her to marry. She ends up cutting her hair. She resisted any attempts to conform.

Her dad relents, eventually. He gives her a room dedicated to prayer & contemplation. She developed the spiritual practice of building an inner cell in her mind. This is a place of constant prayer from which she could never flee. This would become a core tenet of her mystical teaching.

She joined the Mantellates at 18. This was/is a group of pious laywomen informally devoted to Dominican spiritually. Later on, these types of urban pious groups would be formalized as the Third Order of the Dominicans. This wasn’t until after Catherine’s passing. She lived in near solitude initially.

Shortly after joining the Mantellate, Catherine started fasting for longer periods. But she found it challenging. While tending to a woman with cancerous breast sores, she was disgusted. Intending to overcome her disgust, she gathered the sore pus into a ladle & drank it all. (Yep, yep. You read that right.)

That night, she was visited by Jesus who invited her to drink the blood gushing out of his pierced side. It was with this visitation that her stomach “no longer had need of food and no longer could digest.”

Around the age of 21, following an experience she described as a “Mystical Marriage” with Christ. She received a divine command to leave her solitary life & dedicate her life to public ministry. She started serving the sick & poor in the hospital, particularly during the Black Death. Her wedding ring wasn’t the traditional gold band that nuns wear after they become nuns. Catherine’s wedding ring was the Holy Prepuce, or Jesus’ foreskin. (Yes, you read that correctly.)

Her influence with Pope Gregory XI played a role in his 1376 decision to leave Avignon for Rome. The Pope sent Catherine to negotiate peace with the Florentine Republic. After Gregory XI (March 1378) & the end of peace (July 1378), she went home to Siena. The Great Schism of the West led Catherine to go to Rome with the Pope.

She sent many letters to princes & cardinals to encourage obedience to Pope Urban VI & defend what she calls the “vessel of the Church.” She passed away on April 29, 1380 after she was weary by fastidious fasting. Urban VI celebrated her funeral & burial in the Basilica of Santa Maria sopra Minerva in Rome. This is 1 of the major churches of the Order of Preachers in Rome.

The people of Siena wanted to have Catherine’s body after she passed away. A story is told of a miracle where they were partially successful. They knew they couldn’t smuggle her whole body out of Rome. They decided to take only her head, which they put in a bag. When they were stopped by the Roman guards, they prayed to Catherine to help them. They were confident she (Catherine) would want her body (or at least part of it) in Siena. When they opened the bag to show the guards, it appeared to not have her (Catherine’s) head but it was full of roses.

Devotion around Catherine of Siena developed rapidly after her passing. Pope Pius II canonized her in 1461. She was declared a patron saint of Rome in 1866 by Pope Pius IX. She was only the 2nd woman to be made a Doctor of the Church, on October 4, 1970 by Pope Paul VI. This was only days after Teresa of Avila. In 1939, Pope Pius XII named her joint patron saint of Italy, along with St. Francis of Assisi. In 1999, Pope John Paul II proclaimed her a patron saint of Europe. Along with Teresa Benedicta of the Cross & Bridget of Sweden. She’s also the patroness of the historically Catholic American sorority, Theta Phi Alpha.

There are 3 main churches in honor of Catherine of Siena:

• Santa Maria sopra Minerva in Rome. This is where her body is kept. This church gets its name from that the 1st Christian Church structure on the site was directly over (or Italian sopra) the ruins or foundations of a temple dedicated to the Egyptian deity Isis. This had been mistakenly thought to be the temple of Minerva. Possibly due to interpretatio romana, meaning that the ancient Greeks had a tendency to identify foreign gods with their own gods.
• Basilica of San Domenico, in Siena. This is where her incorrupt head is. This incorrupt head doesn’t look like the incorruptible bodies of other saints.
• Shrine of St. Catherine, in Siena. This is a complex of religious buildings built around Catherine’s birthplace.

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