at Oxford. And his conclusion is expressed in similar restrained prudent terms. However, in the corresponding passage found in distinction eighteen of the Paris commentary, Scotus modifies the earlier text by the insertion of "forte” ("perhaps”), so that it now reads: "And perhaps Mary was never in original sin.”
Are we dealing with an interpolation, or must we accept this hypothetical pronouncement as the final opinion of the Subtle Doctor, who died in November of 1308? Perhaps we might best leave the answer to qualified scholars and to further historical research.
What cannot be doubted, however, is the enduring powerful influence of Duns Scotus on the development and eventual dogmatic proclamation of the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception. By his historic defense, with its luminous distinctions and definitions that had been previously unrecognized, e. g., his pre-redemption theory, and his suggestion of a distinction between the order of nature and the order of time, the Subtle Doctor cleared the dogmatic ground and greatly contributed to a final victorious solution.
Cardinal Merry del Vai, in a letter dated July 4, 1904, and addressed to Father P. Pauwels, O. F. M., says of Scotus that he carried the torch of Mary’s nonforfeiture of grace as on the crest of a wave to its ultimate triumph. And in his Maria die Unheflekt Empfangene, Father Koesters pays this tribute to Scotus: "It is the enduring achievement of the great Franciscan John Duns Scotus that he dispelled the hard frost of theological misgivings and (thus brought it about that the bud of the doctrine of the
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