IMMACULATE CONSUMPTION SERIES
Sources claim that Dutch leader Admiral Holak was heard to declare that “it seems that God is Spanish, to work so great a miracle.” This series of events came to be known as “the miracle of Empel” with all gratitude given to the protection of the gracious Virgin Mary of the Immaculate Conception.
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The date was December 8, 1585, and it was a resounding victory for Spain. The following morning, a cold wind froze the Meuse River allowing the Spanish to cross the river and attack their enemy, taking many prisoners and burning all the ships in the enemy’s fleet. Seeing it as a sign from God, they prayed for a miracle. According to legend, it was then that a Spanish soldier digging a trench near a church discovered a painting with the image Mary of the Immaculate Conception. Cold, wet, hungry, without shelter and facing what seemed insurmountable obstacles, they retreated to the highest point near the town of Emple-the situation was desperate. On DecemSpanish troops fighting in the Eighty Years’ War in Northern Dutch territory found themselves low on supplies, outnumbered and flanked by enemy forces, the Meuse and Waal Rivers and flooding terrain. The history of this date is two-fold not only does it mark the presumed date of Mary’s conception, exactly nine months before her birth (the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary) on September 8, but it is also an important date in Spanish history. Later, the Council of Trent skirted the topic, effectively exempting Mary from original sin but did not go so far as to address the theological implications. While no clear decision was made, the topic was formally addressed in 1431 at the Council of Basel, which declared that the idea of Mary's Immaculate Conception was a "pious opinion" that was consistent with the scripture.
IMMACULATE CONSUMPTION FREE
Likewise, in his letter to the Canons of Lyons, Bernard of Clairvaux reasoned that it made little sense for Mary to be conceived free from sin, since Christ could not hold status as the universal savior unless it were he alone who held the privilege of conception free from original sin. Hence, her “grace” could not have been granted at conception.
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Saint Tomas Aquinas took particular issue with this idea, claiming human animation (fusion of body and soul) to occur after conception-thus, if sin can only be taken away by grace, and grace can only exist in a rational creature, Mary would have needed a rational soul before she could be sanctified. The subject prompted widespread debate within Catholicism-questions arose surrounding the theological possibility of Mary being free from the original sin of Adam and Eve, unless she too were conceived in the same way as her son.
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Celebrating the feast of her conception had become quite popular in the West by the 11th century, from which arose concerns that because Mary had been conceived through sexual intercourse, she had been conceived in sin and therefore, to celebrate her conception was to celebrate sin. While the belief that Mary was free of personal sin was accepted throughout the church, the idea that she was free of original sin became a topic of debate.