Our Blessed Lady
[Note: Two things are to be remembered in this and the next following treatise: (a) St. Thomas held that the human body is animated successively in the womb: first by a vegetal life-principle, then by a sentient or animal soul, and finally by a rational and spiritual soul; each soul displaces its predecessor so that in the end one rational and spiritual soul animates the human being. (b) In St. Thomas's day, the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary was a question for free discussion among scholars; the doctrine had not yet been infallibly defined as of the faith. This doctrine is: the Blessed Virgin, in view of the merits of Him who was to be born of her as her true Son, was, from the first moment of her conception in the womb of St. Anne, her mother, preserved free from all stain of original sin; this privilege of Mary is called her Immaculate Conception.]
27. Our Lady's Sanctification
1. The Blessed Virgin was sanctified before her birth. She who was to be the Mother of God was privileged above all others, and we know from the angel's salutation (Luke 1:28) that she was "full of grace." Scripture testifies that both Jeremias and St. John the Baptist were sanctified before their birth; Mary's place was higher than theirs in God's economy of redemption, and her privileges, therefore, cannot have been less than theirs. Therefore, Mary was sanctified before her birth. {-Mary was sanctified not only before her birth, but from the very beginning of her existence; she was preserved immaculate by God's gift and grace, and thereby sanctified, from the first moment of her conception in the womb of her mother. St. John and Jeremias had original sin removed from them before their birth; Mary never had the original sin at all; it was not removed from her; she was preserved from its taint.-}
2. The Blessed Virgin was sanctified when her spiritual soul had animated her body. {-See note above. See also the note at the beginning of this treatise.-}
3. There is, as we have seen, a readiness in fallen human nature, a kind of flammability of the flesh by which a movement of sense-appetency is almost at once a strong and driving desire. This is called the forties of sin. It is not sinful in itself, but, if unresisted, it sweeps a man on to sin. Now, in the sanctified (and immaculate) Mother of God, there was no fomes. This defect and blemish of fallen nature had no place in one of her high dignity and stainless birth (and conception).
4. The Blessed Virgin was, by her sanctification, fitted for the most exalted office of Mother of God. There was no sin in her, either original or actual, either mortal or venial. In her is fulfilled the prophecy (Cant. 4:7): "Thou are all fair, O my love, and there is not a spot in thee."
5. By her sanctification, the Blessed Mother received the fullness of grace; for Mary was nearest of all to Christ through whom all grace comes. Hence, her fullness of grace was greater than that of any other receiver.
6. It is fitting that the Blessed Mother should be sanctified from the first. As noted above, Jeremias and St. John the Baptist were sanctified before their birth. Of Jeremias it is written (Jer. 1:5): "Before thou camest forth out of the womb, I sanctified thee." And of St. John the Baptist scripture says (Luke 1:15): "He shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother's womb."
28. The Virginity of Mary
1. The Mother of Christ was a virgin in conceiving our Lord; Christ has no human father. It is not fitting that Christ should have a father other than the Eternal Father. And St. Augustine says (De Sanct. Virg.): "It is fitting that our Head, by a great miracle, should be born, in the flesh, of a virgin, to signify that his members should be born, in the Spirit, of a virgin Church."
2. The Mother of Christ was a virgin in giving birth to her Divine Son. She fulfills the prophecy (Isa. 7:14): "Behold a virgin shall conceive, and shall bear a son." And St. Augustine, in a Christmas sermon, declares how suitable is the Virgin Birth of Christ: "He who came to cure corruption should not, by his birth, violate integrity." Christ was born of Mary, by divine power, so that her body was not broken or violated. Nor did Mary endure birth-pangs, or need the help of kindly neighbor-women for the delivering of her Child. Painlessly, and without change in Mary's virgin body, her Son emerged from the tabernacle of her spotless womb, as he was later to emerge from the tomb, without moving the stone or breaking the seal of Pilate.
3. The Mother of God was a virgin after the birth of Christ. Mary had no children other than our Lord. For: (a) The only begotten of the Father has such dignity as God, that he must necessarily, as man, be the only-begotten of his mother. (b) The virginal womb of Mary is the shrine of the Holy Ghost, and should not be desecrated by a merely human conception. (c) It is unthinkable that Mary, after the divinely wrought conception of Christ in her womb, should choose to forfeit the sacred virginity miraculously preserved in her during the conception and birth of our Lord. (d) St. Joseph would never have presumed to approach carnally one whom he knew, by the angel's word, to have conceived of the Holy Ghost. Hence, we must say that Mary, before, during, and after the birth of Christ, was a virgin.
4. Mary had a vow of virginity. Her words to the angel of the Annunciation, "I know not man" (Luke 1:34), indicate as much. Besides, works of perfection are more excellent when consecrated by a vow, and Mary's virginity had surely the greatest excellence it could have. Mary took a husband, as custom required, yet took with him a vow of virginity.
29. The Espousals of Mary
1. Scripture says (Luke 1:27) that the angel Gabriel was sent to "a virgin espoused to a man named Joseph." It is suitable that Christ was born of an espoused virgin, and this for his own sake, for Mary's sake, and for our sake. (a) For his own sake: lest he be thought illegitimate; so that his genealogy might be traced through a male line; so that, as a newborn child, he might have a proper protector; so that his miraculous birth might be hidden from the devil. (b) For Mary's sake: lest she be stoned as an adulteress; lest she be subjected to ill fame; so that she might have the loving and holy aid of St. Joseph. (c) For our sake: because St. Joseph bears witness to us that Christ is born of a virgin; because Mary's claim to virginity is at once rendered credible (for, if she were unespoused, it might seem that her claim was to cover sin); because Mary typifies the virginal Church which is espoused to Christ.
2. The espousals of Mary and Joseph constituted a true marriage. The essence of a marriage is an inseparable union of souls, even if this union is never brought to carnal use or fruitfulness. Scripture calls St. Joseph the husband of Mary, and calls Mary the wife of Joseph (Matt. 1:19, 20). Therefore, Mary and Joseph were truly man and wife; they were truly married.
30. The Annunciation
1. It was fitting that there should be a solemn announcement made to Mary that she was to conceive of the Holy Ghost, and that her child was to be God himself made man. Thus Mary was informed in mind, and received Christ by faith, even before she received him in her womb. Besides, the Annunciation made Mary a more certain witness of the Incarnation, for here she had God's own word for it. The Annunciation also gave to Mary the opportunity of free obedience to God's will; the angelic messenger of God waited for her reply: "Be it done to me according to thy word" (Luke 1:38). Finally, Mary's free consent to receive our Lord was, in a manner, the consent of the human race to receive the Eternal Son of God as the Redeemer.
2. It was right that an angel should be the messenger of the Annunciation. In God's order and plan, divine things are communicated to men by the ministry of angels. Further, as St. Bede the Venerable says, it was right than an angel should come to Mary to announce the restoration of man, since a fallen angel came to cajole the first man to human ruin. Besides, virginity makes one akin to angels; it is suitable that an angel be the messenger sent to the greatest of virgins.
3. The angel of the Annunciation appeared to Mary. He had some visible form. This is right. An invisible spirit came visibly to say that the invisible God would become visible man. It was right that Mary should have bodily testimony of a bodily conception. Lastly, the visible appearance of the angel and his audible words were a more sure and striking testimony of what was to be than an inner revelation would have been.
4. There is right order in the Annunciation. First, the angel drew Mary's attention to the greatness of his message by saluting her in a new and unusual manner. Next, he delivered his message. Then he led Mary to consent to God's will, referring to Elizabeth whose conceiving despite advanced age was an instance of the almighty power of God. Then Mary said: "Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it done to me according to thy word."