Four Marian Dogmas in the Catholic Church

Marian Dogmas in the Catholic Church

Introduction

According to "The New Concise Catholic Dictionary" by Reynolds R. Ekstrom, the term dogma is defined as "an infallible and solemnly recognized doctrine of the universal Catholic community". The term dogma was originally derived from the Greek language from a Greek word meaning "that which one thinks to be true". During the apostolic period, the term was used to distinguish Christian belief from non-Christian belief. At the time of the Middle Ages, especially among the "scholastics", the term was not used anymore. One of the "scholastics" - specifically from the "high scholasticism" school of theology - St. Thomas Aquinas was said to have preferred the use of the term "article of faith" to refer to any dogmatic reality. Today, in contemporary age, the term dogma is often interchangeably used with the word doctrine. Those specializing in theology say there is really a difference between dogma and doctrine and that the terms must be used carefully in formal presentations: either verbal or written. According to these scholars the difference is: dogmas relate the truth of God's revelation, while doctrines teach how a particular dogma may be understood [The New Dictionary of Theology, by editors Komonchak, Collins and Lane].

Marian dogmas

The truth about the person of Mary is given through the dogmas of: 1 her divine motherhood (Theotokos), 2 her perpetual virginity, 3 her Immaculate conception, and 4 her assumption. These revealed truths on Mary celebrate the dignity of her "giving birth to her Creator" and all the implications that accompany this special honor. The abovementioned dogmas will be treated and defined individually in the following paragraphs.

The Motherhood of God, "Theotokos"

This was the first Marian dogma. It proclaims Mary as truly the Mother of God the Son made man. This truth was officially declared in the early ecumenical council of Ephesus in 431 A.D. That council declared and proclaimed thus: "the Holy Virgin is the Mother of God since according to the flesh she brought forth the Word of God made flesh". This truth on the Motherhood of Mary is celebrated by all Catholics all over the world in the Eucharistic liturgy of the Church every 1st of January.

The Perpetual Virginity of Mary

Several centuries later after the declaration of "Theotokos" in the Council of Ephesus, the Church then defined the dogma of Mary's perpetual virginity. It was at the Lateran Council in 649 A.D. which declared that: "She [Mary] conceived without seed, of the Holy Spirit...and without injury brought him [Jesus] forth...and after birth preserved her virginity inviolate".

The Immaculate Conception

It was only a thousand years later when the Church declared the dogma of the Immaculate Conception. This dogma reveals the truth that: "The Most Holy Virgin Mary was, in the first moment of her conception, by a unique gift of grace and privilege of Almighty God, in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, the Redeemer of mankind, preserved free from all stain of original sin". This declaration was made during the pontificate of Pope Pius IX, in the document "Ineffabilis Deus", 1854 A.D. This dogma confirms centuries of Catholic belief that Mary who was greeted by the angel Gabriel as "full of grace" (Luke 1:28), really entered into salvation history and human civilization as without stain of original sin.

The Assumption of Mary

Just a few decades after the declaration of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception, the dogma of the Assumption of Mary was also defined by the Church. According to the document of Pope Pius XII, "Munificentissimus Deus" (1950 A.D.), "Mary, the immaculate perpetually Virgin Mother of God, after the completion of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into the glory of Heaven". This dogma is related to the truth that since the victory of Christ won over the effects of sin, like death and corruption, Mary intimately shared in the privilege of not suffering death and corruption that came from the Evil One and his seed.

Conclusion

Although these dogmas of the Blessed Mother of God reveal to us the great privilege and gift of grace Mary has received from God by virtue of her great humility and obedience to His will, we are also called to rightfully place her role as that of pointing to the central figure of Christ her Son. The centrality of Christ and the bible was foremost in the most recent ecumenical council of the Catholic Church, Vatican II. This downplayed devotion to Mary [and the saints]. However, though Marian devotion has decreased after that, popular piety and the cult of prayer to Mary has recovered strength on its own. A good and concrete sign of this revival is the increasing numbers of pilgrims every year in the great Marian shrines such as in: Aparecida, Guadalupe, Lourdes, Fatima, and Czestochowa.