It was not fitting that Mary, the first-born daughter of God, should ever be the slave of Lucifer
February 5, 2022 • 1 min
From The Glories of Mary, page 337
By St. Alphonsus Liguori
First Point.—In the first place, it was fitting that the eternal Father should create Mary free from the original stain, because she was his daughter, and his first-born daughter, as she herself attests: “I came out of the mouth of the Most High, the first-born before all creatures;” [Eccli. xxiv. 5.] for this passage is applied to Mary by the sacred interpreters, by the holy Fathers, and by the Church herself, on the solemn festival of her Conception.
Whether she be the first-born on account of her predestination, together with her Son, in the divine decrees, before all creatures, as the school of the Scotists will have it; or the first-born of grace, as predestined to be the mother of the Redeemer, after the prevision of sin, according to the school of the Thomists, all agree in calling her the first-born of God; which being the case, it was not meet that Mary should be the slave of Lucifer, but that she should only and always be possessed by her Creator, as she herself asserts: “The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his ways.” [Prov. viii. 22.] Hence Mary was rightly called by Dionysius, Archbishop of Alexandria: “One and sole daughter of life;” diifering in this from others, who being born in sin, are daughters of death.
Latest book snippets
Search | Random | 1009 total | 54h 55m
May 28, 2023
The three later Fathers who speak more lowly of Mary are not speaking dogmatically
5 min — St. John Henry Newman’s Letter to Dr. Pusey in reply to his EireniconHow to determine whether a statement is an Apostolic Tradition
5 min — St. John Henry Newman’s Letter to Dr. Pusey in reply to his EireniconHow the three later Fathers can be shown to not be speaking dogmatically about Mary not being sinless
5 min — St. John Henry Newman’s Letter to Dr. Pusey in reply to his EireniconFurther proof that the Anglican understanding of the Fathers’ authority is less consistent than the Catholic
2 min — St. John Henry Newman’s Letter to Dr. Pusey in reply to his EireniconAnswers to objections about why some Fathers and Gospel passages spoke unsatisfactorily about Mary
8 min — St. John Henry Newman’s Letter to Dr. Pusey in reply to his Eirenicon
May 21, 2023
Two quotes of St. Chrysostom that enemies of Mary’s sinlessness incorrectly use against her
3 min — St. John Henry Newman’s Letter to Dr. Pusey in reply to his EireniconAn answer to the accusation that the Fathers claimed Mary was not sinless
7 min — St. John Henry Newman’s Letter to Dr. Pusey in reply to his EireniconA quote from St. Cyril which proponents of Mary’s sinfulness incorrectly use against her
3 min — St. John Henry Newman’s Letter to Dr. Pusey in reply to his EireniconA quote from St. Basil that advocates of the sinfulness of the Blessed Virgin Mary incorrectly use against her
2 min — St. John Henry Newman’s Letter to Dr. Pusey in reply to his Eirenicon