It is therefore, a pleasure for us, a full century having passed since the Pontiff of immortal memory, Pius IX, solemnly proclaimed this singular privilege of the Virgin Mother of God [the Immaculate Conception], to summarize the whole doctrinal position and conclude in these words of the same Pontiff, asserting that this doctrine vouched for in Sacred Scripture according to the interpretation of the Fathers, is handed down by them in so many of their important writings, is expressed and celebrated in so many illustrious monuments of renowned antiquity, and proposed and confirmed by the greatest and highest decision of the Church so that to pastors and faithful there is nothing more sweet, nothing dearer “than to honour, venerate, invoke and praise with ardent affection the Mother of God conceived without stain of original sin.”1
Two singular Marian privileges…
But that most precious gem with which, one hundred years ago, the sacred diadem of the Blessed Virgin was adorned, seems to Us today to shine with brighter light, since by Divine providence it fell to Our lot, toward the close of the Jubilee Year of 1950 – We recall it with gratitude – to define that the Mother of God was assumed body and soul into Heaven; and thus to satisfy the wishes of the faithful, which had been more urgently expressed after the solemn definition of the Immaculate Conception.
For then, as we Ourselves wrote in the apostolic letter Munificentissimus Deus, “the faithful were moved by a certain more ardent hope that the dogma also of the corporal Assumption of the Virgin Mary into Heaven should be defined as soon as possible by the supreme magisterium of the Church.”
Henceforth, it seems that the faithful can with greater and better reason turn their minds and hearts to the mystery of the Immaculate Conception. For the two dogmas are intimately connected in close bond.
And now that the Assumption of the Virgin Mary into Heaven has been promulgated and shown in its true light – that is, as the crowning and complement of the prior privilege bestowed upon her – there emerge more fully and more clearly the wonderful wisdom and harmony of the Divine plan, by which God wishes the most blessed Virgin Mary to be free from all stain of original sin.
And so these two very singular privileges, bestowed upon the Virgin Mother of God, stand out in most splendid light as the beginning and as the end of her earthly journey; for the greatest possible glorification of her virgin body is the complement, at once appropriate and marvellous, of the absolute innocence of her soul, which was free from all stain; and just as She took part in the struggle of her only-begotten Son with the wicked serpent of Hell, so also She shared in His glorious triumph over sin and its sad consequences.
…that serve as a stimulus in the acquisition of virtue
Yet this centenary celebration should not only serve to revive Catholic Faith and earnest devotion to the Mother of God in the souls of all but Christians should also, in as far as possible, conform their lives to the image of the same Virgin.
Since Mary took part in the struggle of her Son against the wicked serpent, She also shares in His glorious triumph over sin and its consequences
Just as all mothers are deeply affected when they perceive that the countenance of their children reflects a peculiar likeness to their own, so also our Most Sweet Mother wishes for nothing more, never rejoices more than when She sees those whom, under the cross of her Son, She has adopted as children in His stead, portray the lineaments and ornaments of her own soul in thought, word and deed.
But if this devotion is not to consist of mere word, is not to be counterfeit coin of religion or the weak and transitory affection of a moment, but is to be something sincere, true and efficacious, it is necessary that each one of us should according to his condition of life, avail of it for the acquisition of virtue. The commemoration of the mystery of the Most Holy Virgin, conceived immaculate and immune from all stain of original sin, should, in the first place, urge us to that innocence and integrity of life which flees from and abhors even the slightest stain of sin.
“Whatsoever He shall say to you, do ye”
And it seems to Us that the Blessed Virgin, who throughout the whole course of her life – both in joys, which affected her deeply, as in distress and atrocious suffering, through which She is Queen of Martyrs – never departed from the precepts and example of her own Divine Son, it seems to us, We say, that She repeats to each of us those words, with which She addressed the servers at the wedding feast of Cana, pointing as it were to Jesus Christ: “Do whatever He tells you” (Jn 2:5).
This same exhortation, understood, of course, in a wider sense, She seems to repeat to us all today, when it is evident that the root of all evils by which men are harshly and violently afflicted and peoples and nations straitened, has its origin in this especially, that many people have forsaken Him “the fountain of living water and have dug for themselves cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water” (Jer 2:13). They have forsaken Him who is the “Way, the truth and the life” (Jn 14:6).
If, therefore, there has been a wandering, there must be a return to the straight path. If the darkness of error has clouded minds, it must be dispersed immediately by the light of truth. If death, death in the true sense, has seized upon souls, eagerly and energetically must life be taken hold of. We mean that heavenly life which knows no ending, since it comes forth from Jesus Christ; which, if we faithfully and confidently pursue in this mortal exile, we shall surely enjoy for ever with Him in the happiness of the eternal home. […]
To the children of Rome
We address you, children of Rome, in the words of Our predecessor of saintly memory, Leo the Great:
“For although the whole world, should flourish with all the virtues, you, however, above all other peoples, should especially excel in deeds of piety, you who are founded on the citadel of the Apostolic rock, you whom Our Lord, Jesus Christ redeemed with all and the Blessed Apostle Peter instructed above all.”2
There are many things, indeed, which all, in the present circumstances, should petition from the protection, patronage and intercessory power of the Blessed Virgin. In the first place, let them ask that, with the assistance of Divine grace, the way of life of each one may be daily made more conformable to the Christian Commandments, as We have already said, since Faith without works is dead (Cf. Jas, 2:20, 26), and since no one can do anything befitting for the common good unless he himself first shines as an example of virtue before others. ◊
Excerpts from: PIUS XII.
Fulgens corona, 8/9/1953
Notes
1 BLESSED PIUS IX. Ineffabilis Deus.
2 ST. LEO THE GREAT. Sermo III, c.14: PL 54, 147-148.
