Three Reasons the Church’s Enemies Hate The Immaculate Conception

TFP ^ | 12.08.06 | Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira

[Coleus]

The following text is adapted from a lecture Prof. Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira gave on June 15, 1973.  It has been translated and edited for publication without his revision.  Note, in this text, he uses the words Revolution and Counter-Revolution as he defined them in his book Revolution and Counter-Revolution.  In this sense, the Revolution is a centuries-old process, motivated by pride and sensuality, and therefore egalitarianism and liberalism, that dominates the modern world and seeks to destroy Christian civilization.  Counter-Revolutionaries are those dedicated to defeating this process and defending the rights of God. –Ed.

…One of the truly Counter-Revolutionary acts of Pope Pius IX’s pontificate was the proclamation of the Immaculate Conception. 

There are three reasons the definition of this dogma was especially Counter-Revolutionary and therefore hateful to the enemies of the Church.  

First Reason: An Anti-Egalitarian Dogma
As you know, this dogma teaches that Our Lady was immaculate at her conception, meaning that, at no moment, did she have even the slightest stain of Original Sin. Both she, and naturally Our Lord Jesus Christ, were exempt from that rigid law that subjugates all other descendants of Adam and Eve.  Thus, Our Lady was not subject to the miseries of fallen man.  She did not have bad influences, inclinations and tendencies.  In her, everything moved harmonically towards truth, goodness and therefore God.  In this sense, Our Lady is an example of perfect liberty, meaning that everything her reason, illuminated by Faith, determined as good, her will desired entirely.  She had no interior obstacles to impede her practice of virtue.

Being “full of grace” increased these effects.  Thus, her will advanced with an unimaginable impetus towards everything that was true and good.  Declaring that a mere human creature had this extraordinary privilege makes this dogma fundamentally anti-egalitarian, because it points out an enormous inequality in the work of God.  It demonstrates the total superiority of Our Lady over all other beings.  Thus, its proclamation made Revolutionary egalitarian spirits boil with hatred.

Second Reason: The Unsullied Purity of Our Lady
However, there is a more profound reason why the Revolution hates this dogma.  The Revolution loves evil and is in harmony with those who are bad, and thus tries to find evil in everything.  On the contrary, those who are irreproachable are a cause of intense hatred.  Therefore, the idea that a being could be utterly spotless from the first moment of her existence is abhorrent to Revolutionaries.  For example: Imagine a man who is consumed with impurity.  When besieged by impure inclinations, he is ashamed of his consent to them.  This leaves him depressed and utterly devastated.

Imagine this man considering Our Lady, who, being the personification of transcendental purity, did not have even the least appetite for lust.  He feels hatred and scorn because her virtue smashes his pride.  Furthermore, by declaring Our Lady to be so free from pride, sensuality and the desire for anything Revolutionary, the proclamation of the Immaculate Conception affirmed that she was utterly Counter-Revolutionary.  This only inflamed the Revolutionary hatred of the dogma all the more.

Disputing the Doctrine: A Counter-Revolutionary Struggle

Declaring that Our Lady was so free from pride, sensuality and the desire for anything Revolutionary, affirmed that she was utterly Counter-Revolutionary and inflamed the Revolutionary hatred of the dogma all the more.

For centuries, there were two opposing currents of thought about the Immaculate Conception in the Church.  While it would be an exaggeration to suggest that everyone who fought against the doctrine was acting with Revolutionary intentions; it is a fact that all those who were acting with Revolutionary intentions fought against it.  On the other hand, all those who favored its proclamation, at least on that point, expressed a Counter-Revolutionary attitude. Thus, in some way the fight between the Revolution and Counter-Revolution was present in the fight between these two theological currents.

Third Reason:  The Exercise of Papal Infallibility
There is still another reason this dogma is hateful to Revolutionaries: it was the first dogma proclaimed through Papal Infallibility.  At that time, the dogma of Papal Infallibility had not yet been defined and there was a current in the Church maintaining that the Pope was only infallible when presiding over a council.  Nevertheless, Pius IX invoked Papal Infallibility when he defined the Immaculate Conception after merely consulting some theologians and bishops.   For liberal theologians, this seemed like circular reasoning.  If his infallibility had not been defined, how could he use it?  On the contrary, by using his infallibility, he affirmed that he had it.

This daring affirmation provoked an explosion of indignation among Revolutionaries, but enormous enthusiasm among Counter-Revolutionaries.  In praise of the new dogma, children all over the world were baptized under the name: Conception, Concepcion or Concepta to consecrate them to the Immaculate Conception of Our Lady.

Pius IX: Bringing the Fight to the Enemy
It is not surprising that Pius IX so adamantly affirmed Papal Infallibility.  Very different from those who succeeded him, he was ever ready to bring the fight to the enemy.  He did this in Geneva, Switzerland, which then was the breeding ground of Calvinism, which is the most radical form of Protestantism.  When Swiss laws changed to allow a Catholic Cathedral in Geneva, Pius IX ordered that a statue of the Immaculate Conception be placed in the middle of the city, to proclaim this dogma in the place where Calvinists, Lutherans and other Protestants denied it more than anywhere else.  This is an example of Pius IX’s leadership in the fight against the Revolution. It is therefore entirely proper that all Catholics entertain a special affection for the dogma of the Immaculate Conception, which is so detested by the enemies of the Church today.

To read another commentary on the Immaculate Conception, click here.
To read Fr. Saint-Laurent's commentary on the Immaculate Conception, click here.
To order your free copy of a picture of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception, click here.

[trisham]

May God be with you, friend.

[stfassisi]

""It appears that God will predestine people to sin.""

You are on a slippery slope here ,Dear Brother
Every sinful act is a voluntary.It is an act of will that is NOT in order with the will of God.
Since a sinful act is an act of human will,the basic cause of sin is within man himself.

Be carful what you are alluding to ,NO sin is Not from God.

Perhaps you can explain to us all what sin comes from God?
Think about what you are saying ,Dear Friend.

[xzins]

Was Judas able NOT to betray the Lord?

Was that path open to him?

[xzins]

Was Judas able NOT to betray the Lord?

Was that path open to him?

[Iscool]

"Therefore, brethren, stand fast, and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether by word, or our epistle."

The Church got along for 250 years by the oral teaching of the Apostles(tradition), handed down to their successors, the bishops.

You sure tortured that verse...

[DungeonMaster]

He was talking about the gospel. He gave them the gospel as an Apostle tended to do and commended them for their unique faith in varifying what he said in the scriptures.

[Iscool]

Genesis 3:15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.

The woman is NOT Mary...Has never been Mary and never will be Mary...

[DungeonMaster]

If 2+2 was part of the gospel it'd be in this discussion.

[kawaii]

*rolling eyes*

who exactly do you think it is then?

[Invincibly Ignorant]

May God be with you, friend.

and with your spirit. :-)

[adiaireton8]

If 2+2 was part of the gospel it'd be in this discussion.

So you don't really mean "Therefore...if it is not in the scriptures...it is not so." What you really mean is something like: "If it is not in the scriptures ... it is not part of the gospel". Right?

-A8

[Iscool]

*rolling eyes*

who exactly do you think it is then?

I know who it is as do millions of other Christians...But you'll never know til you get your eyes off your chuch and get them into the bible...

[trisham]

Thank you. :)

[kawaii]

My church gave you the Bible. And you proceded to rip it apart.

[stfassisi]

What makes you think it had to be specifically Judas who betrayed Jesus.
Judas is NOT specifically "typed"(typology) in Scripture.

Judas betrayed Christ of his own free will.

Again,I ask you...what sin comes from God?

Do you actually believe that when you face Jesus when you die,that He is going to say to you.....
"Its ok xzins,some sins you committed were not your fault,it was I Jesus who caused you to sin?

I see no point of arguing such things,I feel it,s offensive to God.
I,m behind on my work,so I wish you a Blessed day.

[Salvation]

Are you saying that one cannot believe in the Bible and the Catholic Church at the same time?

If so, you are mistaken. There are millions and millions of Catholics who believe in the Bible as the Word of God and believe in the Catholic Church at the same time.

Or have you not noticed the daily Mass readings????

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/search?m=all;o=time;s=mass%20readings

I will soon be leading a Bible Study on the Book of Revelation; we just finished one on the Gospel of Mark. What say you now?

[Salvation]

Sorry, but one of the names for Mary in reference to the Old Testament is "woman." Stop taking the Bible so literally and check out the references, please.

[trisham]

Again,I ask you...what sin comes from God?

*************

Exactly.

From the Holy See:

"It would have been easy for the Lord to bring about human salvation without this covering of flesh and to destroy the reign of death by willing to do so; likewise he could have made sin, the source of death, disappear completely and expel the devil, the author of sin, forever. ... But he preferred to show the justice of his providence... Also, later, when he wanted to bring the remedies of salvation to all people, it was neither the ministry of angels nor of archangels to which he turned; nor did he proclaim salvation from the height of heaven in a voice that everyone could understand. Rather he built a human residence in a virginal womb, from which he came forth, a man that one sees and the God that is adored: this one who came from the substance of the Father before the centuries and who received from the Virgin what is seen, is both new and eternal."

Theodoret of Cyr, Therapy for pagan ills (cfr. VI, 74 ... 79)

http://www.vatican.va/spirit/documents/spirit_20001201_teodoreto_en.html

[nanetteclaret]

God cannot predestine people to sin. It is against His nature. He is absolute beauty, truth, holiness, goodness, and the absolute of every virtue. It is totally impossible.

He can use people and what they do to fulfill His purposes. But it is blasphemy to attribute to God the workings of the devil. God does not create us for destruction. "Have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should die? saith the Lord GOD: and not that he should return from his ways, and live? For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord GOD: wherefore turn yourselves, and live ye." Ezekiel 18:23, 32

[nanetteclaret]

How did I torture the verse? I merely quoted it. Then I gave historical fact. Are you arguing that the Canon of Scripture was not decided until the late 300s? If the traditions mentioned by St. Paul are not those of the Apostles, what is he talking about then? He says the traditions are "by word or epistle." That means word of mouth OR written down.