mariologydogmati00pohl - Carmel Apologetics

SECTION i
mary's immaculate conception
i. State of the Question and Meaning of
the Dogma.—a) Conception (conceptio) may
be taken either actively or passively.
Active conception (concipere, conceptio ac-
tiva) is the parental act of generation. Pas-
sive conception (concipi, conceptio passiva) is
the origin of a human being in the maternal
womb. A child comes into being at the moment
when the intellectual soul is infused into the prod-
uct of parental generation (embryo, foetus). In
speaking of the Immaculate Conception of the
Blessed Virgin Mary, therefore, we do not mean
the procreative act of her saintly parents (which
may or may not have been tainted by inordinate
concupiscence), but simply and solely the creative
act by which Almighty God infused her immaculate
soul into the corporeal receptacle which had
been prepared for it by Joachim and Anna. In
other words, by a most extraordinary privilege the
soul of our Lady was from the first instant of her
existence preserved from all stain of original sin.
b) The fact that Mary was preserved from
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