st mary of the immaculate conception catholic church

Under the heading “Immaculate Conception,” The Catholic Encyclopedia admits: “No direct or categorical and stringent proof of the dogma can be brought forward from Scripture.” So how was it that the Roman Catholic Church added this idea to its dogma? Why did a church that claims to have existed for nearly 2,000 years wait until 1854 before making the Immaculate Conception a required belief for all Catholics?
The Catholic Encyclopedia states: “In regard to the sinlessness of Mary the older Fathers are very cautious. . . . The Greek Fathers never formally or explicitly discussed the question of the Immaculate Conception.” The fact is that several of the earliest Greek church fathers, such as Origen (185-254 C.E.), Basil the Great (330-379 C.E.) and Chrysostom (345-407 C.E.), expressed views that were contrary to the belief that Mary was immaculately conceived, that is, was free from the stain of original sin. And Augustine (354-430 C.E.), said to be the greatest of the old Latin “Fathers,” expressed similar views.
In his book Christian Worship: Its Origin and Evolution, French Catholic historian Louis Duchesne writes: “The Church of Rome seems to have celebrated no festival of the Virgin before the seventh century.” True, during the fifth century C.E., the Greek-speaking church began keeping a Feast of the Conception of John the Baptist, and, sometime later, a Feast of the Conception of Mary. But The Catholic Encyclopedia admits: “In celebrating the feast of Mary’s Conception the [“Christian”] Greeks of old . . . did not think it absurd to celebrate a conception which was not immaculate, as we see from the Feast of the Conception of St. John . . . To the Orthodox Greeks of our days, however, the feast means very little; they continue to call it ‘Conception of St. Anne’ [Anna, traditionally held to be Mary’s mother], indicating unintentionally, perhaps, the active [sexual] conception which was certainly not immaculate.”

The Bible says that Jesus was born of a virgin- God said it I believe it- Mary was not sinless, by the way- no one is except Jesus. She was a young girl who loved the Lord and was selected for her love and devotion to Him, but not for her being sinless. I don't know way the Catholics chose not to believe this from the beginning since it is in scripture, however, today some worship Mary. This should not be, We can honor her as being the mother of Jesus- but Jesus alone is to be worshiped,

2007-06-28 23:10:27 by Keith

This performance was on Thursday, Nov. 1-, 2011

Orthodox Catholics simply do not worship Mary as God -- and it gets a little tiring being accused of worshipping Mary as God when you don't.
It amounts to being called a liar and is quite rude.
We Catholics would be the ones to know Whom we consider God and whom we don't.
I love my biological Mother, too, but don't mistake her for the Lord!
I honor her, keep in touch with her, look after her, celebrate her special days, would get mad if someone were to insult her -- and I do the same for Jesus's Mother.
My love for my Mother doesn't mean I don't love my Father, too.

It just strikes me as evil, this not uncommon attempt to diminish Mary's status and the unceasing accusations against Catholics of trying to raise her status to that of God's. There's something very sinister and ugly in it, and I find it offensive.
We Catholics take great care in pointing out that "worship" in the sense of latria is GOD'S alone -- even to the point of having separate terms for the honor and adoration due to God as opposed to the honor and veneration of the Saints -- including His greatest Saint, Mary.
They are:


latria: the honor due to God alone
dulia: the honor due to human creatures worthy of respect
hyperdulia: the honor due to Mary as God's greatest creation and our Queen Mother



When we love Christ, does that prevent us from loving each other? No! Love is infinite because God, Who is Love, is infinite! We can love and adore Jesus, love and venerate Mary, love the other Saints, and love each other without depriving anyone (or Anyone) of anything.
How many children can you have without running out of love? How many friends?
What we "spend" in love is replaced many times over; love for Christ can only bring the fruits of more love to give.

To love Mary takes nothing at all from Christ, but honors our Blessed Lord by Whose grace she is who she is: His greatest creation, the greatest of Saints, the Queen of Heaven, the Immaculate Conception, the spotless Virgin, the Ark of the Covenant, the New Eve, the mother of God, and the mother of Israel -- our mother who wants nothing more for us than to pray for us and show us her Son.


...And ask yourself why the heck we'd lie about not worshipping Mary as some sort of divine being if we actually did. Do you think we are ashamed? Afraid of what you might think? Do you think that we actually do worship Mary but don't tell converts until some secret ceremony held after they've been in the Church a few years and can be trusted?
I mean, really! Satanists have no qualms telling people they worship Satan, pagans have no problem informing the world that they worship the earth, Hindus are not uneager to reveal that they chant to Krishna -- but Catholics are "afraid" to "admit" whom they consider God?
Please! We are not afraid to tell you we believe in Purgatory, indulgences, the Communion of Saints, the efficacy of piously using sacramentals, the true grace of the Sacraments, the infallibility of the Pope when he uses his Extraordinary or Universal Magisterium, etc.
Trust me; if we thought Mary is a godess, we'd let you know.

As the obedient, infinitely holy Son of God, the Lord Jesus was a very firm believer in the commandment to honor one's father and mother. Now, what most people don't know about that commandment is that in Hebrew it literally reads, "Glorify your father and mother."We are to bring glory to our parents, and that includes not only our earthly, physical mother but our heavenly, spiritual mother as well. We are to imitate Christ, and just as he brought glory to his mother, we are to bring glory to her as well.

St. Luke's gospel (1:48) - "Behold, from now on all generations will call me blessed."


Her soul magnifies the Lord (Luke 1:46-55)!

Very well stated and with the use of theological terms as well. I am impressed and I wish you to know that the facts are this, no matter how many times we Catholics try to make others understand the truth of our Faith, unless the person is open and by this I mean truly open, heart, soul and mind, they aren't going to capture the beauty of what you wrote.
This day and age people spend to much time trying to put others down, and the sad part is that this is only getting worse.
But as you have shown, be strong in your faith, continue to love for it is the truth to state it is infinite and above all continue to grow on the strong foundation you have in your Church.
God bless and keep you always.

2007-10-11 10:23:46 by Isabella

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Catholics Believe Mary is the Immaculate Conception, having been conceived without the stain of original sin upon her soul.

Mary is the Second Eve, whose "soul did magnify the Lord," whereas the First Eve demagnified God through disobedience of His command.

Mary is the "virgin" Isaiah said would conceive the "Emmanuel, God with us" (7:14): That this prophesy included the virginal birth, as well as the virginal conception of Jesus the Messiah.

Mary, being the mother of Jesus, "the Son of the Most High" (St. Luke 1:32), is the mother of God: "How have I (Elizabeth) deserved that (Mary) the mother of my Lord should come to me?" (St. Luke 1:44).

Catholics Believe

Mary is the spiritual mother of mankind: "Behold thy mother" (St. John 19:27).

Mary is the mother who is ever ready to carry their petitions to her Divine Son.

Mary is the mother who knows the yearnings in the hearts of mankind, having been the ideal maiden, wife, mother and widow.

Mary is the Saint of Saints, our Mediatrix, whose intercessory influence with her Divine Son is first and foremost in heaven.


Catholics are proud to be of those "generations" that Mary said would "call" her "blessed" (St. Luke 1:48). Mary most pure; Mary inviolate: Virgin of Virgins; Queen of the Holy Rosary; "Blessed art thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb" Jesus (St. Luke 1:42-43): Holy Mary, pray for us sinners, now, and at the hour of our death.

Non-Catholics who make Mary the Mother of Jesus do so, because they do not accept the true doctrine of the Incarnation, viz., that Jesus Christ possesses a Divine and a Human nature in one Divine Personality. Jesus was never a human person; He was a divine Person who assumed our human nature in the womb of the Virgin Mary. She was the Mother of the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity, and therefore the Mother of God.

Catholics cannot help but question the consistency of Protestants giving praise of the highest to Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel, Deborah, Ruth, and others, while virtually ignoring Mary. Surely she towers far above them. Is it because Catholics are profuse in their love and praise of Mary?



You can go "to Jesus directly," as you say, but why not go to Mary as well? One does not exclude the other. Is not Mary the Mother of Jesus? Is not such a pure and devoted Mother more influential than we are with her sublime and devoted Son? Does not your Protestant Bible say that David asked the saints to give thanks to God for him? Then why not ask Mary, the Saint of Saints, to take your paeans of praise and petitions to her Son?

"Sing unto the Lord, O ye saints oi his, and give thanks at the remembrance oi his holiness" (Ps. 29:5).

Catholics go to Jesus directly through prayer, and also by prayerfully participating in the holy Sacrifice of the Mass, the wor­ship that is above all worship in the Catholic Church. It is a con­tinuation, in an unbloody manner, of the bloody sacrifice Christ made on Mount Calvary. Still more intimate and loving is the rela­tionship of Catholics with Jesus through partaking of His Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity in Communion. Thus the bodies of prac­tical Catholics are tabernacles of Jesus Christ, as well as temples ol the Holy Ghost.

By prayer, Catholics go to Jesus, in humility, through His Blessed Mother Mary. They believe that the prayers of the saints in heaven are more influential than their own. Revelation 8:3 tells us that saints do pray: "the prayers of all the saints (offered) upon the golden altar which was before the throne" of God. Saints are the heavenly friends of God, the foremost of them being the Mother of our Lord, the Saint of Saints. Devout Protestants pray for the con­version of sinners, why exclude intercessory prayers of the saints, to Mary in particular, to keep us true and pure?

Catholics consider Mary to be their spiritual Mother, the second Eve, who gave the world the Second Adam, to whom they are in­debted for their redemption and regeneration. In her they see all, and more, of the good, beautiful and pure that was prefigured in Eve, Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel, Judith, Esther, and Deborah. They love her for herself, because she was the virgin vessel from which Jesus came. Hence Catholics lovingly ask her intercession.


Strange, indeed, is it for Protestants to refuse to go to the Lord through the prayers of others as well as their own, when their Bible shows that Jeremiah asked the prophets to do so:

"It they be prophets, and if the word of the Lord he with them, let them now make intercession to the Lord oi hosts, that the. vessels of the Temple he brought back" (27:18).

St. Paul said: "I exhort that, first of all, supplications, prayers, inter­cessions,—be made for all men" (1 Tim. 2:1).

If the prayers of man for his fellowman are of value, why not the prayers of souls in heaven that once lived among men?

Longfellow, in the "Golden Legend," Kipling in the "Hymn Be­fore Action," and other famous poets not of the Catholic faith, en­compassed the beauty and soundness of the intercessory aid of Mary. Kipling's prayer is—



"Oh Mary, pierced with sorrow,
Remember, reach and save The soul that comes tomorrow
Before the God that gave! Since each was born of woman,
For each at utter need True comrade and
true foreman Madonna, intercede!"

Source(s):

http://www.catholicapologetics.net...
My question is what is your opinion on why people say "Catholics worship Mary"?

Also, other faiths honor her.

Though the devotion Catholics extend to Mary be called "wor­ship" in the wrong sense of the term, they will continue, with the Angels, to call her "blessed among women." No honor is too great for this heroine of heroines. She is all that is humble, modest and pure among women, and above all, she is the mother of Jesus, who is our Lord and our God.

Great opinion

2007-01-23 11:15:34 by pkdepp

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