Craig Truglia (who himself believes that Mary was free from personal sin) in the comments section of Response to William Albrecht on the Immaculate Conception, part3 offered the following translation of Epistle 17, paragraph 13, of Fulgentius of Ruspe (ca. 467-ca. 532):
This is extent of grace [that] is God’s
achievement [for] all: that He came to endure sin for in Him there is no sin;
conceived man and also born in the likeness [of] flesh [of] sin from sinful
flesh. Indeed, [from] Mary’s flesh (which humanity’s iniquity she was necessarily conceived [in], truly she was *undoubtedly sinful*) [was in] whom God’s Son [was] given birth in [the]
likeness of flesh of sin. It is testified by the Apostle: “He sent His own Son in the likeness [of] flesh [of] sin.” To wit, “Who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal to God: But emptied Himself, taking a form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men.” For that reason, truly in [the] likeness [of] flesh [of] sin [was] God’s Son sent. And it is done similarly [for] mankind, because similar men [are] fashioned in revered flesh as far as [he is] actually created and we [are] not similar [to] God in that [He is] created without bearing sin, as far as our flesh does not work machinations, but only from our sin belonging [to one’s] imagination [does]. Consequently, in [the] likeness [of] flesh [of] sin God’s Son [has been] caused to appear, because of this [He has] true human flesh without mankind’s iniquity, but his
[i.e. mankind’s] mortality. Truly, [the] likeness [of] flesh [of] sin [is] within God’s Son, or rather it is said God’s Son [is] in [the] likeness of sinful flesh, it is believed the only begotten God from [the] Virgin’s mortal flesh did not extract sin’s defilement. But, I accept [the] true nature [of God] completely, as Truth risen from [the] earth, standing out [in] that prophet David’s happy saying, [which] get’s [to] state: “Truth is risen from the Earth.” Truly, therefore Mary conceived God’s Word, because in flesh [of] sin she gave birth, in that way God accepted [the likeness of sinful flesh]. (Fulgentius of Ruspe, Epistle 17, Par 13, Migne PL 65, p. 458)
Here is the relevant portion of
Epistle 17 from PL 65:458:
Another relevant passage from
Fulgentius is that of First Letter to the Scythian Monks, 8, 13 in Fulgentius
of Ruspe and the Scythian Monks: Correspondence on Christology and Grace (The Fathers
of the Church, vol. 126; trans. Rob Roy McGregor and Donald Fairbairn;
Washington, D.C.: The Catholic University of America Press, 2013), 51, 54:
Thus,
as the merciful and just Lord sought to destroy the vestiges of human iniquity,
it was absolutely necessary that the immaculate one deign to unite an
immaculate human nature to himself in the very act of conception, an act which
ordinarily the devil was accustomed to rule as his own portion and dominion by
inflicting the stain of original sin . . . To be sure, the flesh of Mary had
been conceived in iniquity in accordance with human practice, and so her flesh
(that gave birth to the Son of God in the likeness of sinful flesh) was indeed
sinful. For the Apostle bears witness that “God sent his own Son in the
likeness of sinful flesh.”
