ON THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY: WHETHER IT CAN BE DEFINED BY DOGMATIC DECREE

When Pope Pius IX defined the Immaculate Conception as a dogma of the Catholic Faith on 8 December 1854, he drew upon a centuries-long theological tradition that had labored to establish both the truth of the doctrine and the Church's authority to define it. Among the works that most directly prepared the ground for that historic definition was this treatise by Giovanni Perrone, S.J. — one of the nineteenth century's most eminent Roman theologians and a professor at the Pontifical Gregorian University. Published with the personal approbation of Pius IX himself, to whom it is dedicated, the work is here translated into English for the first time.Perrone's treatise proceeds in two distinct parts. The first is a thorough historico-critical examination of the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception from its origins as a disputed theological opinion through the controversies of the medieval period, the Council of Trent, and into the modern era. With careful attention to the objections drawn from Scripture, the Fathers, and scholastic theology, Perrone marshals the full weight of the tradition in favor of the doctrine, weighing the arguments of both sides with scrupulous impartiality before rendering his critical judgment.The second part addresses a question of the highest theological significance: whether the Immaculate Conception possesses the doctrinal marks necessary for a solemn dogmatic definition by the Apostolic See. Examining the conditions required for such a definition, the history of previous dogmatic decrees, and the opinions of scholastic theologians both for and against definability, Perrone concludes that the doctrine is fully furnished with the requisite marks of revealed truth — and that the Church may, without hesitation, proceed to define it.A work of lasting importance in the history of Catholic Mariology and dogmatic theology, and an indispensable primary source for understanding one of the nineteenth century's most significant moments in the life of the Church. Read more