University of Virginia Library

Chapter LIII.

THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION OF THE VIRGIN MARY.

THE 8th December, 1854, Pope Pius IX. was sitting on his
throne; a triple crown of gold and diamonds was on his
head; silk and damask—red and white vestments on his shoulders;
five hundred mitred prelates were surrounding him; and
more than fifty thousand people were at his feet, in the incomparable
St. Peter's Church of Rome.

After a few minutes of most solemn silence, a Cardinal,
dressed with his purpled robe, left his seat, and gravely walked
towards the Pope, kneeled before him, and humbly prostrating
himself, at his feet said:

"Holy Father: tell us if we can believe and teach that the
Mother of God, the Holy Virgin Mary, was immaculate in her
conception?"

The Supreme Pontiff answered. "I do not know; let us
ask the light of the Holy Ghost."

The Cardinal withdrew; the Pope and the numberless multitude
fell on their knees; and the harmonious choir sang the
"Veni Creator Spiritus."

The last note of the sacred hymn had hardly rolled under the
vaults of the Temple, when the same Cardinal left his place, and
again advanced towards the throne of the Pontiff, prostrated
himself at his feet, and said:

"Holy Father, tell us if the Holy Mother of God, the
blessed Virgin Mary, was immaculate in her conception."

The Pope again answered: "I do not know; let us ask the
light of the Holy Ghost."

And, again, the "Veni Creator Spiritus" was sung.

The most solemn silence had, a second time, succeeded to the

melodious sacred song, when again the eyes of the multitude
were following the grave steps of the purple-robed Cardinal,
advancing, for the third time, to the throne of the successor of
St. Peter, to ask again:

"Holy Father, tell us if we can believe that the blessed
Virgin Mary, the Mother of God, was immaculate?"

The Pope, as if he had just received a direct communication
from God, answered with a solemn voice:

"Yes! we must believe that the blessed Virgin Mary, the
Mother of God, was immaculate in her conception. * * *
There is no salvation to those who do not believe this dogma!"

And, with a loud voice, the Pope intoned the Te Deum; the
bells of three hundred churches of Rome rang; the cannons of
the citadel were fired. The last act of the most ridiculous and
sacrilegious comedy the world has ever seen, was over; the
doors of heaven were, for ever, shut against those who would
refuse to believe the anti-scriptural doctrine that there is a
daughter of Eve who has not inherited the sinful nature of
Adam, to whom the Lord said in his justice:

"Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return!" and of the
children of whom the God of truth has said:

" `There is none righteous; no, not one; they have all
sinned!' "

We look in vain to the first centuries of the Church to find
any traces of that human aberration. The first dark clouds
which Satan had brought to mar the gospel truth, on that subject,
appeared only between the eighth and ninth centuries. But,
in the beginning, that error made very slow progress; those
who propagated it, at first, were a few ignorant fanatics, whose
names are lost in the night of the dark ages.

It is only in the twelfth century that it began to be openly
preached by some brainless monks. But, then, it was opposed
by the most learned men of the time. We have a very remarkable
letter of St. Bernard to refute some monks of Lyons who
were preaching this new doctrine.

A little later, Peter Lombard adopted the views of the monks
of Lyons, and wrote a book to support that opinion; but he was

refuted by St. Thomas Aquinas, who is justly considered, by
the Church of Rome, as the best theologian of that time.

After that, the celebrated order of the Franciscans used all
their influence to persuade the world that "Mary was immaculate
in her cocception," but they were vigorously opposed and
refuted by the not less celebrated order of the Dominicans.
These two learned and powerful bodies, during more than a
century, attacked each other without mercy on that subject, and
filled the world with the noise of their angry disputes, both parties
calling their adversaries heretics. They succeeded in driving
the Roman Catholics of Europe into two camps of fierce enemies.
The "Immaculate Conception" became the subject of
burning discussions, not only between the learned universities,
between the bishops and the priests and the nuns of those days;
but it divided the families into two fiercely contending parties.
It was discussed, attacked and defended, not only in the chairs of
universities, and the pulpits of the cathedrals, but also in the
fields, and in the very streets of the cities. And when the two
parties had exhausted the reasons which their ingenuity, their
learning, or their ignorant fanaticism could suggest to prove or
deny the "Immaculate Conception," they often had recourse to
the stick and to the sword to sustain their arguments.

It will appear almost incredible to-day, but it is a fact, that the
greatest number of the large cities of Europe, particularly in
Spain, were then reddened with the blood of the supporters and
opponents of that doctrine. In order to put an end to these contests,
which were troubling the peace of their subjects, the kings
of Europe sent deputation after deputation to the Popes to know,
from their infallible authority, what to believe on the subject.

Philip III. and Philip IV. made what we may call supreme
efforts to force the Popes, Paul V., Gregory XV., and Alexander
VII., to stop the shedding of blood, and disarm the combatants,
by raising the opinion in favor of the Immaculate Conception to
the dignity of a Catholic dogma. But they failed. The only
answer they could get from the infallible head of the Church of
Rome was, that "that dogma was not revealed in the Holy
Scriptures, had never been taught by the Apostles, nor by the

Fathers, and had never been believed or preached by the Church
of Rome as an article of faith!"

The only thing the Popes could do to please the supplicant
kings and bishops, and nations of Europe in those days, was to
forbid both parties to call each other heretics: and to forbid to
say that it was an article of faith which ought to be believed to
be saved.

At the Council of Trent, the Franciscans, and all the partisans
of the "Immaculate Conception," gathered her strength to
have a decree in favor of the new dogma; but the majority of
the bishops were visibly against that sacrilegious innovation, and
they failed.

It was reserved to the unfortunate Pius IX., to drag the
Church of Rome to that last limit of human folly. In the last
century, a monk, called Father Leonard, had a dream, in which
he heard the Virgin Mary telling him: "There would be an
end to the wars in the world, and to the heresies and schism in
the church, only after a Pope should have obliged, by a decree,
all the faithful to believe that she was `immaculate in her conception."

That dream, under the name of a "celestial vision," had
been extensively circulated, by means of little tracts. Many believed
it to be a genuine revelation from heaven; and, unfortunately,
the good natured, but weak-minded Pius IX., was among
the number.

When he was an exile in Gaeta, he had, himself, a dream,
which he took for a vision, on the same subject. He saw the
Virgin, who told him that he should come back to Rome,
and get an eternal peace for the church, only after he should
have promised to declare that the "Immaculate Conception"
was a dogma, which every one had to believe to be saved. He
awoke from his dream much impressed by it; and the first thing
he did when up, was to make a vow to promulgate the new dogma
as soon as he should be back to Rome, and the world has
seen how he has fulfilled that vow.

But, by the promulgation of this new dogma, Pius IX., far
from securing an eternal peace to his church, far from destroying

what he was pleased to call the heresies which are attacking Rome
on every side, has done more to shake the faith of the Roman
Catholics than all their enemies.

By trying to force this new article of faith on the consciences
of his people, in a time that so many can judge for themselves,
and read the records of past generations, he has pulled down the
strongest column which was supporting the whole fabric of his
church; he forever destroyed the best arguments which the
priests had to offer to the ignorant, deluded multitudes which
they kept so abjectly tied to their feet.

No words can sufficiently express the dignified and supreme
contempt with which, before that epoch, the priests of Rome
were speaking of the "new articles of faith, the novelties of the
arch-heretics, Luther, Calvin, Knox, &c., &c!" How eloquent
were the priests of Rome, before the 8th of December, 1854,
when saying to their poor ignorant dupes: "In our holy Church
of Rome there is no change, no innovations, no novelties,
no new dogmas. We believe to-day just what our fathers believed,
and what they have taught us; we belong to the apostolical
church; which means we believe only what Apostles have
believed and preached." And the ignorant multitudes were saying:
"Amen!"

But, alas, for the poor priests of Rome to-day; those dignified
nonsenses, those precious and dear illusions, are impossible!
They have to confess that those high-sounding denunciations
against what they call the new doctrines of the heretics, were
nothing but big guns loaded to the mouth to destroy the Protestants,
which are discharging their deadly missiles against the crumbling
walls of their Church of Rome. They have to confess
that their pretensions to an unchangeable creed is all mere humbug,
shameful lies; they have to confess that the Church of
Rome is FORGING NEW DOGMAS, NEW ARTICLES OF FAITH;
they do not any longer dare to say to the disciples of the Gospel:
"Where was your religion before the days of Luther and Calvin?"
for the secret voice of their conscience says to-day to the Roman
Catholics: "Where was your religion before the 8th of December,
1854?" and they cannot answer.

There is an inexorable and irresistible logic in the minds even
of the most unlearned men, which defies, to-day, all the sophisms
of the priests of Rome, if they dare to speak again on their
pet subjects: "the novelties and new dogmas of the Protestants."
There is a silent, but crushing voice, going, to-day, from the
crowds to the priest, telling him: "Now, be quiet and silent on
what you are used to call the novelties and new doctrines of the
Protestants! for, are you not preaching to us an awful novelty?
Are you not damning us to-day for disbelieving a thing which
the church, during eighteen hundred years has, a hundred times,
solemnly declared, by the mouth of the Popes, had never been
revealed in the Holy Scriptures, had never been taught by the
Fathers, had never been heard of by the church herself?"

I will never forget the sadness which overcame me when I
received the order from Bishop O'Ragan to proclaim that new
dogma to my people, (then all Roman Catholics.) It was as if
an earthquake had shaken and destroyed the ground on which
my feet were resting. My most cherished illusions about the immutability
and the infallibility of my church were crumbling
down, in my intelligence, in spite of my efforts to keep them up. I
have seen old priests, to whom I opened my mind on that subject,
shed tears of sorrow on the injury this new dogma would do to
the church.

The Archbishop of Paris, at the head of the most learned
members of the clergy of France, had sent his protest to the
Pope against this dogma before it was decreed; and he had eloquently
foretold the deplorable consequences which would follow
that innovation; but their warning voice failed to make any impression
on the mind of the infatuated Pope.

And, we children of God, must we not acknowledge the
hand of the Lord, in that blindness of "the man of sin!"

The days are not far away that a cry of joy will be heard
from one end of the world to the other: "Fear God, and give
glory to him! Babylon is fallen! Babylon is fallen! because she
made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornications."

For, when we see that "wicked one, who exalteth himself

above all that is called God," destroying himself by the excess
of his own folly and impurities, we must bless the Lord.

The proclamation of this new dogma is one of those great
moral iniquities which carry their punishment and their remedy
in their own hands.

When the Pope, in the morning of the 8th of December,
1854, answered twice: "I do not know;" to the question put to
him: "Is the Virgin Mary Immaculate in her Conception?" and
then, a minute after, to the same question, he answered: "Yes!
I know it: the Holy Virgin Mary was Immaculate in her Conception;"
he proved to his most credulous dupes that he was
nothing but a sacrilegious comedian. How would a jury of
honest men deal with a witness who, being interrogated about
what he knows of a certain fact, would answer: "I know nothing
about it;" and a moment after would acknowledge that "he
knows everything about it?" Would not such a witness be justly
punished as a perjurer?

Such is the sad and unenviable position which the Pope
made to himself and to his church, on the 8th of December,
1854. Interrogated by the nations of Europe about what was
to be believed on the "Conception of the Virgin Mary," the
Church of Rome, during ten centuries, had answered: "I do
not know." And let every one remember that she wants to be
believed INFALLIBLE when she says she "knows nothing about
the Immaculate Conception."

But, to-day, that same church assures us, through the infallible
decree of Pius IX., that she knows, and that she has always
known and believed that the Virgin Mary was Immaculate!

Has the world ever seen such a want of self-respect, such an
unblushing impudence!

What verdict will the Christian world give against that great
mother of lies? What punishment will the God of truth administer
to that great culprit who swears "yes" and "no" on
the same question?

It is a fact, that by the promulgation of this decree, Pius IX,
had forever destroyed his prestige in the minds of millions of his
followers.

A few days after I had read to my congregation the decree
of the pope proclaiming the new dogma, and damning all those
who would not believe it, one of my most intelligent and respectable
farmers came to visit me, and put to me the following questions
on the new articles of faith:

"Mr. Chiniquy, please tell me, have I correctly understood
the letter from the pope you read us last Sabbath? Does the
pope tell us in that letter that we can find this new dogma of
the `Immaculate Conception' in the Holy Scriptures; that it has
been taught by the Fathers, and that the church has constantly
believed it from the days of the Apostles?"

I answered: "Yes, my friend, the pope tells us all those
things in his letter which I read in the church last Sabbath."

"But, sir, will you be so kind as to read me the verses of the
Holy Scriptures which are in favor of the Immaculate Conception
of the Holy Virgin Mary?"

"My dear friend," I answered, "I am sorry to say that I
have never found in the Holy Scriptures a single word to tell
us that Mary is immaculate; but I have found many words, and
very clear words, which say the very contrary thing. For instance,
the Holy Ghost, in the Epistle of St. Paul to the Romans,
v.: 18, `By the offense of one, judgment came upon all men to
condemnation.' This little, but inexorable `ALL,' includes the
Virgin Mary in the condemnation and in the guilt. In the same
Epistle to the Romans, Chapter iii.: 22, 23, the Holy Ghost,
speaking of the children of Adam—Israelites and Gentiles—
says there is no difference, they have ALL sinned and come short
of the glory of God! And in verse 10 of the same chapter,
the Holy Ghost, speaking of the Jews and Gentiles, says:
`There is none righteous—no, not one!' And the Lord has
never repealed in any part that I know of the Holy Scriptures
this awful `no, not one!' "

"Now, please tell me the names of the Holy Fathers
who have preached that we must believe in the Immaculate
Conception, or be forever damned if we do not believe in
it!"

I answered my parishioner: "I would have preferred, my

dear friend, that you should have never come to put to me these
questions; but as you ask me the truth, I must tell you the truth.
I have studied the Fathers with a pretty good attention, but I
have not yet found a single one of them who was of that opinion
in any way."

"I hope," added the good farmer, "you will excuse me if I
put to you another question on this subject. Perhaps you do not
know it, but there is a great deal of feeling and talking about
this new article of faith among us since last Sabbath; I want to
know a little more about it. The pope says in his letter that the
Church of Rome has always believed and taught that dogma of
Immaculate Conception. Is that correct?

"Yes, my friend, the pope says that in his Encyclical; but
these last nine hundred years more than one hundred popes
have declared that the church had never believed it. Even
several popes have forbidden to say `that the Immaculate Conception
was an article of faith'—and they solemnly permitted us
to believe and say what we please on that matter."

"If it be so with this new dogma, how can we know it is not
so with the other dogmas of our church, as the confession, the
purgatory, etc.?" added the farmer.

"My dear friend, do not allow the devil to shake your faith.
We are living in bad days, indeed. Let us pray God to enlighten
us and save us. I would have given much had you never put to
me these questions!"

My honest parishioner had left me; but his awful questions
(they were really awful, as they are still awful for a priest of
Rome), and the answers I had been forced to give were sounding
in my soul as thunder-claps. There was in my poor trembling
heart, as the awful noise of an irresistible storm which was
to destroy all that I had so dearly cherished and respected in my
then so dear and venerated Church of Rome. My head was
aching. I fell on my knees; but for a time I could not utter a
word of prayer; big tears were rolling on my burning cheeks;
new light was coming before the eyes of my soul; but I took it
for the deceitful temptation of Satan; a voice was speaking to
me—it was the voice of my God, telling me, "Come out from

Babylon!" But I took that voice for the voice of Satan; I was
trying to silence it. The Lord was then drawing me away from
my perishing ways; but I did not know Him then; I was struggling
against Him to remain in the dark dungeons of error.
But God was to be the stronger. In His infinite mercy He was
to overpower His unfaithful servant; He was to conquer me,
and with me many others.