Proofs from the Bible and Saints that Mary was conceived without sin

February 17, 2022 • 2 min

From The Glories of Mary, page 352
By St. Alphonsus Liguori

Ah, that God who is wisdom itself well knew how to prepare upon the earth a fit dwelling for him to inhabit:

“Wisdom hath built herself a house,” [Prov. ix. 1.] “The Most High hath sanctified his own tabernacle.” “God will help it in the morn ing early.” [Psal. xlv. 56.]

The Lord, says David, sanctified this his habitation in the morning early; that is, from the beginning of her life, to render her worthy of himself; for it was not befitting a God who is holy to select a house that was not holy: Holiness becometh thy house [Psal. xcii. 5.]

And if he himself declares that he will never enter into a malicious soul, and into a body subject to sins, [Sap. i. 4.] how can we think that the Son of God would have chosen to inhabit the soul and body of Mary without first sanctifying her and preserving her from every stain of sin?

For, as St. Thomas teaches us, the eternal Word inhabited not only the soul, but the body of Mary.* The Church also sings: “Oh Lord, thou didst not shrink from the Virgin’s womb.”

Indeed, a God would have shrunk from incarnating himself in the womb of an Agnes, of a Gertrude, of a Theresa, since those virgins, although holy, were for a time, stained with original sin; but he did not shrink from becoming man in the womb of Mary, because this chosen Virgin was always pure from every guilt, and never possessed by the infernal serpent.

Hence St. Augustine wrote: The Son of God has built himself no house more worthy than Mary, who was never taken by the enemy, nor robbed of her ornaments.*