abandoned his own earlier views and adopted those of Duns Scotus. Father Ephrem Longpre, O. F. M., the eminent Scotus scholar, relying on newly discovered testimony, inclines to this theory. 8
The famous words often attributed to Scotus: "Potuit, decuit, ergo fecit — Christ could preserve His Mother from original sin; it was becoming thus to honor her; therefore, we may presume that He did so” — are already found with William of Ware. 9
Similar maculist views were held by Giles of Rome, of the Hermits of St. Augustine, and by the secular teachers of the University of Paris. Thus Gerard of Abbeville and Godfrey of Fontaines attributed to Mary sanctification in her mother’s womb. And Henry of Ghent, in a respectful endeavor to reduce to a minimum the interval between Mary’s conception and her sanctification, maintained that the Blessed Virgin was subject to original sin "nonnisi in instanti et in transitu — only for a transient moment.” 10 Still, this admission of the actual presence of original sin, if only for a fleeting moment, in principle denies the privilege of the Immaculate Conception.
The Dominicans, under the leadership of Albert the Great and of St. Thomas, espoused the common teaching of the day. Perhaps we may best present their views by quoting the following passage from the Summa of St. Thomas: “If the soul of the Blessed Virgin had never been defiled by original sin, this would derogate from the dignity of Christ according to which He is the Redeemer of all mankind. It may be said, therefore, that under Christ, Who as the Universal Saviour needed not to be
4
