Savio Saldanha SJ
DOI- 10.5281/zenodo.17917758
13-12-2025
When
Questions Shake Faith
I recently found myself reflecting
on the dogma of the Immaculate Conception while preparing for the Feast
on 8 December. Until now, like many Catholics, I simply trusted the Church’s
teaching without considering its long and dramatic development. But while
reading about the medieval debates on this topic, I learnt about, the theological
conflict between two of the oldest Orders of the Catholic Church; the
Dominicans and the Franciscans. I was struck by how heated and divisive the
question once was. At the same time, a thought troubled me: Why do
such doctrinal questions disturb us so much when challenged? Often,
when someone questions a dogma, we feel confused. If we search for answers and
do not find them convincing; doubt can creep in — sometimes deeper than we
expect.
Here I found wisdom in St. Ignatius
of Loyola. In the Spiritual Exercises, he warns that the evil spirit
often “shows his tail” precisely in moments when confusion replaces
clarity, pushing us toward discouragement and mistrust (Ignatius, 1991, pp.
335–336). Ignatius encourages Christians to prepare themselves intellectually
and spiritually, to grow in wisdom, and to meet such questions with freedom
rather than fear. It is with this spirit — faith seeking understanding — that I
turned to the history of the Immaculate Conception. What I discovered was not a
tidy theological consensus, but a centuries-long battle that at times
looked like a civil war inside the Church. And yet, through this conflict, the
Holy Spirit brought the Church to clarity.
When
Theology Divides: Franciscans vs. Dominicans
By the
13th and 14th centuries, theological Europe was sharply divided:
- Dominicans, led by St. Thomas Aquinas,
believed Mary was sanctified in the womb after conception.
- Franciscans, eventually led by John
Duns Scotus, argued she was preserved from original sin from the very
first instant.
Scholars have described this
centuries-long conflict as one of the most intense theological rivalries of the
Middle Ages (Pelikan, 1996, pp. 201–205). Universities were divided; popes
cautiously tried to keep the peace; theologians accused each other of heresy — and
sometimes worse.
The
Spanish “Blue Habit” and a National Devotion
In 14th-century Spain, Franciscan
enthusiasm became so passionate that priests began wearing blue habits
to honour Mary’s Immaculate Conception. This practice became so deeply rooted
in Spanish piety that even today many statues of Mary in Spain — and former
Spanish colonies — depict her in blue robes (Rubial García, 2002, pp. 88–90). The
Spanish Church eventually received a rare privilege: to use blue liturgical
vestments on the feast of the Immaculate Conception. This is one of the few
times national devotion influenced Roman liturgy so visibly (Thurston, 1904). The
rivalry was not just theological — it shaped art, liturgy, culture, and
identity.
The
Theological Breakthrough of John Duns Scotus
Many theologians — Aquinas,
Bonaventure, Albert the Great — hesitated to affirm the Immaculate Conception
because they feared it contradicted the universality of Christ’s redemption. Then
came John Duns Scotus (1308), the quiet Franciscan whose brilliance
reshaped everything.
His core
reasoning can be summarised in the famous maxim:
Potuit, decuit, ergo fecit
“God could do it; it was fitting
that He do it; therefore He did it.” (Alluntis,
1956, p. 54)
Scotus argued:
- A perfect Redeemer does not
merely heal wounds — He prevents them when possible.
- If Christ’s merits could be
applied across time (as all agree), they could be applied before
Mary was conceived.
- Therefore, Mary was redeemed
more perfectly — not less — by being preserved from original sin
from the first moment.
Scotus reframed the debate: Mary did
need Christ’s redemption — she needed it even more, because hers was the
most perfect form of redemption possible. Modern scholars widely agree that
Scotus provided the decisive intellectual framework that made the dogma ultimately
definable (Williams, 1995; Cross, 1999).
Aquinas,
Bonaventure, and Scotus – A Comparison
To
understand how radical Scotus’s position was, it helps to briefly compare:
Aquinas
(Dominican)
- Denied the Immaculate
Conception.
- Argued Mary was sanctified after
animation (Aquinas, ST III, q. 27, a. 2).
- Feared the doctrine would
compromise Christ’s universal redemption.
- Also denied the Immaculate
Conception formally.
- But believed Mary was
sanctified in the womb “in the same instant” she contracted original sin,
leaving no temporal gap (Bonaventure, Sent. III, d.3).
- His praise of Mary’s
holiness laid emotional and theological groundwork for Scotus.
- Affirmed complete
preservation from the first instant.
- Introduced the idea of preventive
redemption.
- Overcame the logical
obstacles that blocked earlier thinkers.
The
Long Road to 1854
Although Scotus wrote in 1307–1308,
the dogma was not proclaimed until 1854, after centuries of debate,
popular devotion, and papal encouragement.
Key
moments include:
- 1476–1483: Pope Sixtus IV (a
Franciscan pope) approved the feast but forbade anyone from calling
opponents “heretics.”
- 1661: Pope Alexander VII
explicitly taught the substance of the doctrine.
- 1854: Pope Pius IX defined it
dogmatically in Ineffabilis Deus (Pius IX, 1854).
- 1858: Bernadette at Lourdes
hears Mary say, “I am the Immaculate Conception.”
What
This Means for Us Today – A Personal Reflection
As I pondered this history, I
realised something important: The Church’s doctrines mature through time,
debate, and even conflict.
We imagine doctrines descending from
heaven fully formed. But in reality, the Church — guided by the Spirit — often
discerns truth slowly, wrestling with Scripture, tradition, reason, and
cultural pressures. This should not make us anxious. It should make us
humble. When someone questions a doctrine like the Immaculate Conception, our
faith need not be shaken. Instead, as Ignatius suggests, we must:
- recognise the enemy’s temptation
to confusion,
- respond by seeking wisdom,
- grow in knowledge,
- engage the tradition,
- trust that the Spirit guides the Church across history.
Learning about the centuries — long
struggle between Franciscans and Dominicans did not weaken my faith — it
strengthened it. It reminded me that truth is not fragile, and that God works
slowly, patiently, through human instruments who disagree passionately yet seek
the same Lord. In a world where doctrinal disputes often turn into online
shouting matches, the story of the Immaculate Conception offers a
counter-witness: that through patient discernment, heated debate, and deep love
for Christ, the Church eventually arrives at unity.
The
Immaculate Conception is not merely a Marian privilege. It is a lesson in how
God guides the Church.
- Through intellectual
struggle.
- Through rival schools of
thought.
- Through saints who disagree
yet remain faithful.
- Through centuries of prayer,
devotion, and reflection.
- Through a Spirit who unites
what human beings divide.
In the end, the doctrine stands as a
celebration of Christ’s perfect redemption and Mary’s perfect cooperation with
grace. And for us — Christians walking through seasons of doubt or confusion — it
is a reminder that faith grows when we engage, learn, reflect, and trust.
This, truly, is the crossroads of
conscience.
References
Alluntis,
F. (1956). Duns Scotus and the Immaculate Conception. Franciscan
Institute Publications.
Aquinas,
T. (1981). Summa Theologica (Fathers of the English Dominican Province,
Trans.). Christian Classics. (Original work ca. 1270–1273)
Bonaventure.
(1882). Commentaria in Libros Sententiarum (Vol. 3). Quaracchi.
Cross, R.
(1999). Duns Scotus. Oxford University Press.
Gilson, É.
(1952). Duns Scotus: Introduction to His Fundamental Positions.
University of Toronto Press.
Ignatius
of Loyola. (1991). The Spiritual Exercises (G. E. Ganss, Trans.).
Institute of Jesuit Sources.
Pelikan,
J. (1996). Mary Through the Centuries. Yale University Press.
Pius IX.
(1854). Ineffabilis Deus. Vatican Press.
Rubial
García, A. (2002). La Virgen Inmaculada y su Culto en la España Medieval. Fondo de Cultura Económica.
Thurston,
H. (1904). The Immaculate Conception. Burns & Oates.
Williams,
T. (1995). “Why Duns Scotus Matters for Modern Marian Theology.” Franciscan
Studies, 55, 45–68.
Wonderful writing.... Thank you Savio
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