Stanowisko Stolicy Apostolskiej w kwestii święta Niepokalanego Poczęcia Najświętszej Maryi Panny

Abstract

On the basis of R. Laurentin’s study L ’action du Saint Siège par rapport au problème de l’immaculée Conception (Virgo Immaculata, vol. II, Romae 1956, p. 1-98) the author orders the pronouncements of the Holy See, putting together the facts which have been established critically, among other things: 1. First there was piety which was expressed in celebrating the feast, although the theological content of the feast had not long been specified. 2. The Feast of the Conception of St John the Baptist appeared before the Feast of the Conception of Mary and had influence on its understanding as purification in the mother’s womb. 3. In the East the Feast of the Conception of Mary appeared in the end of the seventh century and in the West at the beginning of the eighth century. 4. The literature about the official time of confirming this feast by the Holy See contains numerous errors. 5. In the years 1315-1318 the Roman Church did not celebrate this feast. 6. It was Sixtus IV (1471-1484) who as the first among popes recognized and approved this feast; he personally celebrated it in a solemn manner in his Curia, yet did not spread the custom over the whole Church. 7. Pius V, while reforming the breviary (1568) preserved in it the feast of Conception, which then became a part of the Liturgy of the whole Church. 8. Clement XI put December 8th on the list of obligatory feasts (1708). 9. Since 1518 the Holy See has been issuing permits to say a Holy Mass at midnight from 7 to 8 December (midnight mass). 10. It was the observant Franciscans (1609) who first gained the privilege to say Sunday votive masses about Conception. The paths of the Feast of Conception of the Mother of God, leading to the liturgical prayer of the Church, astonish us with their suddenness, especially in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The Holy See was very calm in its consistency to avoid extreme solutions. Flooded with requests from the advocates of the feast, the See took into account the standpoint of the adversaries, too. It checked both parties. When the resistance gradually softened, the Holy See was more and more brave to say, "Yes!" It reduced and abolished some less important feasts which inhibited the proper understanding of the Feast of Conception of Mary.