In the Constitution Ineffabilis Deus of December 8th, 1854, Pope Pius IX pronounced and defined that the Blessed Virgin Mary "in the first instance of Her conception, by a singular privilege and grace granted by God, in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the human race, was preserved exempt from all stain of original sin."
On December 8, 1854, in the presence of more than 200 bishops, the Pope proclaimed the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin as a dogma of the Catholic Church.
"This sublime and singular privilege of the Blessed Virgin, together with Her most excellent innocence, purity, holiness and freedom from every stain of sin, as well as the unspeakable abundance and greatness of all heavenly graces, virtues and privileges—these the Fathers beheld in that ark of Noah, which was built by divine command and escaped entirely safe and sound from the common shipwreck of the whole world;[1] in the ladder which Jacob saw reaching from the earth to heaven, by whose rungs the angels of God ascended and descended, and on whose top the Lord himself leaned'[2] in that bush which Moses saw in the holy place burning on all sides, which was not consumed or injured in any way but grew green and blossomed beautifully;[3] in that impregnable tower before the enemy, from which hung a thousand bucklers and all the armor of the strong;[4] in that garden enclosed on all sides, which cannot be violated or corrupted by any deceitful plots;[5] as in that resplendent city of God, which has its foundations on the holy mountains;[6] in that most august temple of God, which, radiant with divine splendors, is full of the glory of God;[7] and in very many other biblical types of this kind. In such allusions the Fathers taught that the exalted dignity of the Mother of God, Her spotless innocence and Her sanctity unstained by any fault, had been prophesied in a wonderful manner. Let all the children of the Catholic Church, who are so very dear to us, hear these words of ours. With a still more ardent zeal for piety, religion and love, let them continue to venerate, invoke and pray to the most Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God, conceived without original sin. Let them fly with utter confidence to this most sweet Mother of mercy and grace in all dangers, difficulties, needs, doubts and fears. Under Her guidance, under Her patronage, under Her kindness and protection, nothing is to be feared; nothing is hopeless. Because, while bearing toward us a truly motherly affection and having in Her care the work of our salvation, She is solicitous about the whole human race. And since She has been appointed by God to be the Queen of heaven and earth, and is exalted above all the choirs of angels and saints, and even stands at the right hand of Her only-begotten Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, She presents our petitions in a most efficacious manner. What She asks, She obtains. Her pleas can never be unheard.”
Footnotes
1. Gn. 6:9.
2. Gn 28:12.
3. Ex 3:2.
4. Sg 4:4
5. Sg 4:12
6. Ps 87:1
7. Is 6:1-4
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