IMMACTTLATE CONCEPTION. 485 IMMIGRATION. (especially his constitution Grave nimis, in 1483), the decrees of Trent, exceptinj,' Mary from the universal curse t)i original sin (Session V. 154G), and the strong support of the Society of Jesus (e.g. in the person of Bellarmine). In 1022 Pope Gregory XV. forbade any one (with the conspicuous exception of the Dominicans, and these only in discussions among themselves) to teach that the Virgin Mary was stained by original sin. About forty years later (1061) •Alexander VII. set forth the belief of the Church in terms very like those of the decree of 1854. Vet in spite of the general acceptance of the doctrine, the most that could be said for it down to modern times was what Benedict XIV. cau- tiously aHirmed, about the middle of the eigh- teenth century: "The Church inclines to the opinion of the immaculate conception." Pim IX. was assiduously devoted to the cult of the Virgin. In 1849 he addressed a circular letter to the bishops, inviting their opinions on the advisability of defining the dogma of her immaculate conception. Out of some 600 replies, the great majority favored the proposed action. Four opposed it. Several influential bishops, especially in CJermany and France, deemed it inopportune, inexpedient, and possibly injurious to the Church. In view of the generally favor- able sentiment, however, the Pope proceeded to promulgate the dogma, as stated above. The decree was read in the presence of about 200 cardinals, archbishops, and bishops, assembled in Saint Peter's, on December 8, 18.54, the Feast of the Imm.iculate Conception. Although not a conciliar decision, it has binding force for the v^hole Roman Catholic world. In explanation of the dogma, Catholic writers sometimes quote from a sermon by Bossuet, de- livered on a Feast of the Immaculate Conception, in which he thus addresses Christ: "Thou art innocent by nature, Mary only by grace ; Thou by excellence, she only by privilege; Thou as Redeemer, she as the first of those whom Thy precious blood hath purified." The Catholic in- terpretation of the matter is clearly implied in these few words. For Roman theologians dis- tinguish between 'active' and 'passive' concep- tion. The former is the physical act of the parents, and so far as this is concerned, Mary is held to have been conceived like other mortals. The latter is the divine infusion of the rational soul (on the theory of creationism) , and this, in the case of Mary, is held to have been accom- panied by a special gift of grace, whereby she difiers from all other mortals. She was sanc- tified, and therefore sinless, from the beginning. But this was through the merits of the Son who ■vras to be bom from her, not through independent merits of her own. In this way the Church believes that it solves the two main problems raised by the doctrine of the immaculate con- ception, first, how it affects the Virgin Mary in her relation to the rest of the human race, and, secondlv, how it affects her in relation to Christ. See" Cien. iii. 15; Luke i. 28, 42. The Feast of the Immaculate Conception, in the Roman calendar, falls on December 8th; in the Greek calendar, on the day following. Consult: Passaglia. De Immaculato DeiparOB Semper Virqinis Conceptu (3 vols., Rome, 1854 seq.) ; iniathome. The Immanilnte Conception of the Mother of God (London. 1855) ; Wetzer and Welte, Kirchenlexikon, iv. (Freiburg, 1886) ; Ad- dis and Arnold, Catholic Dictionary, art. "Im- maculate Conception" (London, 1884). On tlie Protestant side, consult : Schaff. Creeds of Chris- tendom (Xew York, 187"), which gives the his- tory of the doctrine, and the Latin and English text of t'ne constitution Ineffabilis Deas. IMMANUEL. See Emmaxvel. IMTfflERMANN, K.BL (17901840). A Ger- man dramatist, born in -Magdeburg, Ajjril 24, 1700. From a school in Magdeburg Immermann went in 1813 to the University of Halle to study law, but he interrupted his studies in order to take part in the War of Liberation. Disabled by a nervous disorder, he left the field in 1815 and returned to Halle, where he was soon embroiled with other students on account of the terrorism exercised by the students' imions. He entered the Government seivice and in 1823 became a judge. He had become widely known as a dram- atist when, in 1835, he took charge of the Diis- seldorf theatre, which he developed artistically, but the theatre failed, and he became a judge again. Immermann died August 25. 1840. His plays were strongly influenced by Shakespeare. Among his best pieces are Das Trauerspiel in Tirol (1827) ani Merlin (1831). Two represen- tative novels are Die Epitjonen (1835), an echo of M'ilhelm Meister, and Munchhausen (1838- 39). in which the village life of Westphalia is imaginatively described. In Miinchhausen Pee may have found a hint for The Fall of the House of Usher. Iramermann's Collected Works ap- peared at Diisseldorf in 1835-43. and a new edi- tion, with Biography and Introduction, came out in twenty volumes at Berlin in 1883. Consult Putlitz, Karl Immermann, sein Leben und irerfce (Berlin. 1S70). IMMERSION. See Baptism. IMMIGRATION (from Lat. immirjrare, to remove into, from in. in + migrare, to migrate). In its broadest sense, the transfer of residence from one country to another, viewed from the standpoint of the country in which the new residence is taken. The causes of this phenome- non have been discussed in the article devoted to emigration, which treated the movement at its source. We are concerned here with the effect of these movements on the countries which re- ceive the newcomers. The invasion of the immi- grant is the movement of the individual who seeks to improve his condition by a change of residence, who submits to the political institu- tions of the land of his adoption, and whose coming thither is frequently openly encouraged, or, at least, not actually opposed, by the country in which he settles. Immigration and colonization are intimately related. When a new country is to be developed and its resources increased by human labor, im- migration is encouraged by its authorities, and every gain in population is deemed an economic advantage. It has been in such countries in the past century into which the flow of emigration from Europe has been poured. They are Aus- tralia, South America, Canada, and the United States, in each of which immigration has raised diverse social and economic questions which must be individually studied and do not lend them- .selves to a general treatment. Before turning to the United States, where the immigration problem is perhaps the most acute, we may
