Old Testament
Scripture
Book of Genesis Genesis 3:15
“I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”
Short answer
The Church agrees that Mary needed a Savior and that Christ is her Savior. The dogma defined in 1854 says she was preserved from original sin from the first moment of her conception, by a grace given in view of the merits of her Son. She was redeemed by being kept from sin. The Church also holds that by God's grace she committed no personal sin, an exception that St. Augustine and the Council of Trent both made when they spoke of the sins of all.
Drafted from primary sources. Every quotation is checked against the page it links to.
Where this teaching appears on the Offshoots timelines: 1895, The Immaculate Conception rejected.
15 quotations in date order
The Old Testamentbefore Christ
The Apostolic AgeAD 1 to 100
c. AD 1
Scripture
The angel Gabriel Luke 1:28, 30
“And he came to her and said, "Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you!" … And the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God."”
c. AD 1
Scripture
Mary Luke 1:46-49
“My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has regarded the low estate of his handmaiden. For behold, henceforth all generations will call me blessed; for he who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is his name.”
c. 57
Scripture
St. Paul Romans 3:23-24
“…since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, they are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus…”
The Early Church100 to 325
c. 180
Church Father
St. Irenaeus of Lyons Against Heresies 5.19.1
“For just as the former was led astray by the word of an angel, so that she fled from God when she had transgressed His word; so did the latter, by an angelic communication, receive the glad tidings that she should sustain (portaret) God, being obedient to His word. … And thus, as the human race fell into bondage to death by means of a virgin, so is it rescued by a virgin; virginal disobedience having been balanced in the opposite scale by virginal obedience.”
The Age of the Councils325 to 800
c. 377
Church Father
St. Ambrose of Milan Concerning Virgins 2.2.7
“What is greater than the Mother of God? What more glorious than she whom Glory Itself chose? What more chaste than she who bore a body without contact with another body? For why should I speak of her other virtues? She was a virgin not only in body but also in mind, who stained the sincerity of its disposition by no guile, who was humble in heart, grave in speech, prudent in mind…”
415
Church Father
St. Augustine of Hippo On Nature and Grace, ch. 42
“We must except the holy Virgin Mary, concerning whom I wish to raise no question when it touches the subject of sins, out of honour to the Lord; for from Him we know what abundance of grace for overcoming sin in every particular was conferred upon her who had the merit to conceive and bear Him who undoubtedly had no sin. … Well, then, if, with this exception of the Virgin, we could only assemble together all the forementioned holy men and women, and ask them whether they lived without sin while they were in this life, what can we suppose would be their answer? Would it be in the language of our author, or in the words of the Apostle John? … If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us?”
c. 743
Church Father
St. John Damascene Exposition of the Orthodox Faith 4.14
“Then planted in the House of God and increased by the Spirit, like a fruitful olive tree, she became the home of every virtue, turning her mind away from every secular and carnal desire, and thus keeping her soul as well as her body virginal, as was meet for her who was to receive God into her bosom: for as He is holy, He finds rest among the holy. Thus, therefore, she strove after holiness, and was declared a holy and wonderful temple fit for the most high God.”
The Middle Ages800 to 1500
c. 1273
Doctor of the Church
St. Thomas Aquinas Summa Theologiae III, q. 27, a. 4, body
“We must therefore confess simply that the Blessed Virgin committed no actual sin, neither mortal nor venial; so that what is written (Canticles 4:7) is fulfilled: "Thou art all fair, O my love, and there is not a spot in thee," etc.”
Reformation and Trent1500 to 1800
1546
Council
Council of Trent Session 5, Decree concerning Original Sin, closing paragraph
“This same holy Synod doth nevertheless declare, that it is not its intention to include in this decree, where original sin is treated of, the blessed and immaculate Virgin Mary, the mother of God; but that the constitutions of Pope Sixtus IV., of happy memory, are to be observed, under the pains contained in the said constitutions, which it renews.”
1547
Council
Council of Trent Session 6, Canon 23 on Justification
“[If any one saith] … that he is able, during his whole life, to avoid all sins, even those that are venial,-except by a special privilege from God, as the Church holds in regard of the Blessed Virgin; let him be anathema.”
The Modern Era1800 to today
1854
Magisterium
Pope Pius IX Ineffabilis Deus, the definition
“We declare, pronounce, and define that the doctrine which holds that the most Blessed Virgin Mary, in the first instance of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege granted by Almighty God, in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, the Savior of the human race, was preserved free from all stain of original sin, is a doctrine revealed by God and therefore to be believed firmly and constantly by all the faithful.”
1964
Council
Second Vatican Council Lumen Gentium 56
“It is no wonder therefore that the usage prevailed among the Fathers whereby they called the mother of God entirely holy and free from all stain of sin, as though fashioned by the Holy Spirit and formed as a new creature. … Adorned from the first instant of her conception with the radiance of an entirely unique holiness, the Virgin of Nazareth is greeted, on God's command, by an angel messenger as "full of grace"…”
1987
Magisterium
Pope St. John Paul II Redemptoris Mater, 10
“According to the belief formulated in solemn documents of the Church, this "glory of grace" is manifested in the Mother of God through the fact that she has been "redeemed in a more sublime manner." By virtue of the richness of the grace of the beloved Son, by reason of the redemptive merits of him who willed to become her Son, Mary was preserved from the inheritance of original sin.”
1992
Magisterium
Catechism of the Catholic Church CCC 492-493
“The "splendour of an entirely unique holiness" by which Mary is "enriched from the first instant of her conception" comes wholly from Christ: she is "redeemed, in a more exalted fashion, by reason of the merits of her Son". … By the grace of God Mary remained free of every personal sin her whole life long.”