A Brief Review of Previous Theological Opinion, and an Analysis of the Nature of Original Justice and Original Sin, as Understood by Scotus
ST. AUGUSTINE has been called the Cor Ecclesiae.
The theology of the early ages is pre-eminently Augustinian. We shall be well advised, then, to begin our introductory survey of the views of theologians up to the time of Duns Scotus with this great Father of the Church. In his De Natura et Gratia, St. Augustine writes of the Blessed Virgin Mary: "When there is question of sin, I do not wish to include Mary, out of reverence for the Lord.” 1 In speaking thus of Our Lady, he had reference, however, primarily to personal sin, as is evident from his other writings.
Pope Leo the Great did not think otherwise. In his sermon on the Nativity, he says of our Lord: "Since He found no one free of guilt, He came to free all." 2
St. Anselm, who may rightly be considered the theological bridge between the early Fathers and the great scholastics, says of Mary in his Cur Deus Homo: "Mary was conceived in sin; the Virgin from whom Christ received His body was conceived in sin and born with original sin, because she sinned in Adam as we all have thus sinned." 3
Yet St. Anselm also paid this beautiful tribute to Mary: "Christ had such a mother as it was proper for Him to have, who was shining with so great purity that none greater can be imagined under God." 4
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