Ensign Steve

I read in another post that the "immaculate conception" does not mean that Mary was a virgin when she conceived. What does it mean? The only other thing I can think of is it means Jesus was conceived without sin. Is that in the ballpark?

TIA

Jen

Mageth

Go to the source

From the site:

"The Immaculate Conception means that Mary, whose conception was brought about the normal way, was conceived without original sin or its stain—that’s what "immaculate" means: without stain. The essence of original sin consists in the deprivation of sanctifying grace, and its stain is a corrupt nature. Mary was preserved from these defects by God’s grace; from the first instant of her existence she was in the state of sanctifying grace and was free from the corrupt nature original sin brings. "

Bree

Yeah, I just asked Jekyll and she said that it was Mary that was "immaculately" conceived. Weird, we've had that wrong for how many years?!?!

Amos

Yes, that is correct. "Immaculate Conception" means that Mary was immaculate from conception ("Dictionary of Mary," Catholic Book publishing Co. New York, 416 pages).

Ensign Steve

I still don't get it. Let me see if I can break it down into small words that I can understand, and maybe somebody will let me know if I have it right?

1. Mary was conceived the normal way (by her mom & dad), but she was conceived immaculately by god's grace, so she was without the stain of original sin.
2. Mary was a virgin, and she got pregnant by god.
3. The Immaculate Conception was Mary's conception inside her mom, and not Jesus's conception inside Mary?

Am I getting warmer? My brain hurts.

Writer@Large

Yes. The concept of immaculate conception stems from a need to keep Jesus as clean and holy as possible, so the Catholics had to invent a story by which even his *mother* was free of sin, so she couldn't pass on the stain of Sin to Jesus. AFAIK, only the Catholics take immaculate conception seriously.

--W@L

Ensign Steve

Neat! Thanks! I am learning more about Catholocism on this board than anything else! Heehee. I find it way more interesting than a lot of the other religions.

oriecat

I always thought that the immaculate conception meant that Mary's mother was impregnated by God or an angel, without help from Dad, similar to Jesus. But then almost everything I know about this stuff is based on religious art (BA in Art History) so the representations probably only tell half the story. I recall a chapel in Italy with an entire series of frescoes about the life of Mary, with one being the Immaculate Conception, and it seems like it was just Mary's mom and an angel and a little "Ping!" I'll see if I can find it. I want to say it was Giotto, but I could be remembering everything wrong, it's been a while...

oriecat

Ok, I might be thinking of a different one, or I'm just wrong.

The one I think I'm thinking of is actually the Annunciation, where Anne (Mary's mom) is told by an angel that she will have a child.

http://www.kfki.hu/~arthp/html/g/gio...m/joachi3.html

Then the conception actually occurs, not the normal way, but when Anne kisses her husband upon his return.

http://www.kfki.hu/~arthp/html/g/gio...m/joachi6.html

Gemma Therese

Jennifer,

What interests you about Catholicism? (You can PM me if you feel more comfortable that way.)

Gemma Therese