Among Catholics there never has been any question of the fitness of the Immaculate Conception. In the early ages of the Church the doctrine was taken so much for granted that no one thought it necessary to define it as a dogma…. It was left for the 19th century to declare as an article of faith that Mary was sinless through the anticipated merits of her Son…. This, one of the latest of her feasts, was announced to the world on the eighth of December, 1854. Since 1846 Mary in her Immaculate Conception has been the patron of the United States.

In defining the dogma of the Immaculate Conception, it was made clear that Mary, being a child of Adam, was in need of the merits of Christ, and that it was because of these merits that she was preserved from the first moment of her existence from the slightest stain of sin. Mary would have been an unsuitable shrine for her divine Son if ever she had been subject to his enemy, Satan. For the rest of mankind, who are under the cloud of Adam’s disobedience, baptism cleanses the soul and makes it a child of God. But baptism takes place at some time after a child is born, when he has already lived for some time under the penalty of sin. This would not do for Mary. Every moment of her existence had to be outside the reach of sin. Nothing but absolute freedom from sin would render her worthy—as far as a creature can be worthy—of being the Mother of God.  And God, who does all things well, bestowed upon her the privilege of the Immaculate Conception—“our tainted nature’s solitary boast” (William Wordsworth).

Mary is the only child of Adam who never for an instant bowed to the reign of Satan…. Since the day when God comforted his disobedient children in the garden of Eden with the promise of a woman who would crush the head (Gn 3:15) of the evil serpent, there has not been an hour’s truce between them…. She has fearlessly fought him and won from his grasp soul after soul. She knows that we are bought with a great price—the death of her Son—and she does not intend to let any soul perish who will call upon her for help. In Mary, then, we have not only the perfect example of creaturely holiness, but also a mighty champion who will defend us against all the wiles of the evil one and guide us to her Son.                                                                 Sister Mary Jean Dorcy, O.P. Magnificat, December 2024