saved Himself, the Blessed Virgin enjoyed the highest measure of purity. For Christ in no wise contracted original sin, but was holy in His very conception.... The Blessed Virgin, however, did contract original sin, but was cleansed therefrom before birth.” 11
Thus, while popular Catholic tradition increasingly inclined toward belief in the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception, as is evident from the introduction of a special Feast of the Immaculate Conception, and from the gradual spread of this feast throughout Christendom, the theologians and the doctors of the Church continued to hesitate, because they found it impossible to solve certain inherent doctrinal difficulties, until Duns Scotus appeared upon the scene and offered his pre-redemption solution, which prepared the way for, and ultimately was incorporated in, the solemn dogmatic definition of the Immaculate Conception.
To appreciate properly the Subtle Doctor’s defense of the Immaculate Conception, it will prove helpful to recall his views on the nature of original justice and original sin. They are found principally in his Oxford commentary on the second book of the Sentences, distinction thirty-two.
When God in His goodness created man, He united in his being an animal body with a spiritual soul. By the rational powers of the soul man resembles God, in Whose image and likeness he is made. In endowing man with the gift of liberty, God made him a moral being responsible for his actions.
In addition, God freely bestowed upon Adam a supernatural gift, original justice, which raised him to the supernatural order and made him an adopted child of God
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