Astonishing Humility Needed for the Immaculate Conception
and the Magisterium’s charism of infallibility.
Thomas Aquinas’ views on the Immaculate Conception are controversial even among theologians, and this article does not purport to settle the debate! However, I hope this short article will give you a bit of appreciation for the complexities Thomas wrestled with and will give you enough information to better understand the teachings of the Angelic Doctor.
On to Thomas…
We must understand a few things about Thomas’ teaching before we can dig into the texts.
He teaches:
1. The rational soul is not infused into a fetus until the body has been adequately prepared to receive the rational soul. The moment the rational soul is infused is called animation or ensoulment. The exact time of ensoulment is not known, but it is estimated to be about 50 days from conception. This view of delayed animation is not unique to Thomas. In fact, this was the common understanding of embryology until the 19th century. Blessed Scotus, who is known as being a great defender of the Immaculate Conception, uses the same embryology when writing about Mary’s conception.
2. The subject of grace is the rational soul. Thomas does not think that grace can be in a soul unless that soul is rational and has an intellect and will. Therefore, he did not believe Mary could have grace before ensoulment.
3. All humans, even Mary, are saved by Christ. It would be derogatory to Christ’s dignity as the Savior of mankind if He were not His mother’s Savior.
So, with these things in mind, let’s look at a few of the texts.
Thomas, early in his career, says:
Purity is intensified through a withdrawal from its contrary. And therefore something created can be found than which nothing purer can exist in created realities, if it is not stained by any contagion of sin. And such a purity was there of the Blessed Virgin, who was unmarked by original and actual sin.
Thomas teaches that Mary was “unmarked by original sin.” He says that Mary is the exemplar of purity and that compared to her “nothing purer can exist in created realities.” He believes Mary was the greatest of all God’s creation save the Sacred Humanity of Christ. At the first moment of her animation she was even purer than Adam and Eve before the Fall. Here we can see that early in Thomas’ career, he accepts that Mary was purified at the instant of her ensoulment and was immune from Original Sin.
So far so good. However, while writing the Summa, he seems to change his opinion and he says this:
If the soul of the Blessed Virgin had never incurred the stain of original sin, this would be derogatory to the dignity of Christ, by reason of His being the universal Savior of all. Consequently after Christ, who, as the universal Savior of all, needed not to be saved, the purity of the Blessed Virgin holds the highest place. For Christ did not contract original sin in any way whatever, but was holy in His very Conception, according to Luke 1:35: The Holy which shall be born of thee, shall be called the Son of God. But the Blessed Virgin did indeed contract original sin, but was cleansed therefrom before her birth from the womb.
Since Original Sin flows from the body to the soul and Mary’s conception happened the normal way, Thomas thinks that Mary’s body before ensoulment was the same as everyone else’s and would contract Original Sin at the moment of ensoulment. This is contrary to what he taught early in his career and comes from a desire to protect the dignity of Christ as the Universal Savior of all.
In the Summa he teaches it is necessary for Mary’s soul to contract Original Sin so that she may be saved by Christ. Shortly afterward, she would have been purified, sanctified, and preserved from all sin.
Thomas held this opinion while writing his Compendium of Theology and a few other short works, and since the definition of the Immaculate Conception, Catholics can no longer safely believe this teaching. These passages are usually used as evidence that Thomas denied the Immaculate Conception.
Although Thomas denied that Our Lady’s soul was free from Original Sin in the Summa, he dies holding the position that Mary did not incur Original Sin. Thomas’ last word on the Immaculate Conception comes from his Commentary on the Hail Mary. He says this:
The blessed Virgin exceeds the angels in purity. She is not only pure, but she obtains purity for others. She is purity itself, wholly lacking in every guilt of sin, for she never incurred either original, or mortal, or venial sin.
Here, Thomas’ teaching perfectly aligns with the Dogma of the Immaculate Conception. The fact that Thomas himself struggled with this teaching should humble us in our studies and help us grow in appreciation for the Magisterium’s charism of infallibility.
Here is the definition given by the Church:
We declare, pronounce, and define that the doctrine which holds that the most Blessed Virgin Mary, in the first instance of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege granted by Almighty God, in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, the Savior of the human race, was preserved free from all stain of original sin, is a doctrine revealed by God and therefore to be believed firmly and constantly by all the faithful.
Mary’s soul was never tainted or stained by Original Sin due to the infinite merits of her Son. Jesus, in an act of humility, obeys the Fourth Commandment and gives His mother this special privilege. May we all follow his example and honor Mary as He did.
Virgin most pure,
Pray for us!
Reference:
https://aquinas.cc/la/en/~Sent.I.D44.Q1.A3.Rep3
https://aquinas.cc/la/en/~ST.III.Q27.A2.Rep2
https://aquinas.cc/la/en/~AveMaria.19
https://www.papalencyclicals.net/pius09/p9ineff.htm
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