Augustine
never concedes that Mary was sinless but prefers to dismiss the question: “Let
us then leave aside the holy Virgin Mary; on account of the honor due to the
Lord, I do not want to raise any questions here about her when we are dealing
with sins” (nat. et gr. 36.42). Since medieval times this passage has sometimes
been invoked to ground Augustine’s presumed acceptance of the doctrine of the
immaculate conception. It is clear nonetheless that, given the various theories
regarding the transmission of original sin current in his time, Augustine in
that passage would not have meant to imply Mary’s immunity from it. Julian of
Eclanum had accused him of being worse than Jovinian in consigning Mary to the
devil by the condition of her birth (conditio nascendi). Augustine, in Contra
Julianum opus imperfectum 4.1.22, replies that Mary was spared this by the
grace of her rebirth (“ipsa condition solvitur gratia renascendi”), implying
her baptism. His understanding of concupiscence as an integral part of all marital
relations made it difficult, if not impossible, to accept that she herself was
conceived immaculately. He further specifies in the following chapter (5.15.52)
that the body of Mary, “although it came from this [concupiscence],
nevertheless did not transmit it for she did not conceive in this way.” Lastly,
De Genesi ad litteram 10.18.32 asserts: “And what more undefiled than the womb
of the Virgin, whose flesh, although it came from procreation tainted by sin,
nevertheless did not conceive from that source.” (Daniel E. Doyle, “Mary,
Mother of God,” in Augustine through the Ages: An Encyclopedia, ed.
Allan D. Fitzgerald [Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 1999], 544)
