Ad Honorem Immaculatae Conceptionis Mariae Oblatio

132 but their statements were not universally accepted. It is sufficient to men- tion the schismatic Council of Basel, which clearly proclaimed the dogma of the Immaculate Conception in 1439, but precisely because the Council was schismatic, its decrees were not recognized. Pope Paul III Farnese ap- proved the divine office of the Immaculate Conception in 1538. In 1546, the Council of Trent, formulating the doctrine on original sin, made a stip- ulation that it did not apply to Mary. They thus indirectly recognized the doctrine by excluding the Mother of God from the law of the universal participation of Adam’s children in his guilt. The debate over the Immac- ulate Conception was still going strong between the immaculists and the maculists . The former defended the doctrine of Mary’s freedom from orig- inal sin and sought a consistent theological justification for it, while the latter argued for the rejection of that doctrine. It should be noted, however, that this rejection did not come from the absence of their love for Mary or a lack of comprehension of her important role in the work of salvation, but that it was based on subtle theological distinctions, supported by the authority of saints such as Bernard of Clairvaux and Thomas Aquinas, who deemed it impossible that the Mother of Christ might be redeemed before even entering into the history of the Savior of mankind. Such was also the situation during the lifetime of Father Papczyński (1631-1701). Although the arguments that had undermined faith in the truth about Mary’s Immaculate Conception and which called this doctrine erroneous, had been long since banned by the Popes: Sixtus IV in 1477 and Pius V in 1570, fierce discussions sometimes still erupted, but more in the theological and academic spheres than in pastoral and practical ones 5 . We 5 Objections to the doctrine of Mary’s Immaculate Conception, supported by grave theolog- ical arguments about the universality of original sin as a kind of fatum [fate], were also proffered by the Roman inquisition. This is what two Marian scholars wrote on this topic: “Faith in this truth, restrained by serious theological objections and supported by such authorities as St. Ber- nard and St. Thomas Aquinas, was something suspicious for the inquisition, which was discreet- ly acting against the immaculists. The inquisition issued a secret decree prohibiting the use of the term ‘Immaculate Conception.’ Strictly speaking, the inquisition forbade applying the adjective ‘immaculate’ to Mary’s conception, but not to her person. It was acceptable to say: ‘The concep- tion of the Immaculate Virgin,’ not ‘the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin.’ Since 1627, on the strength of a decree, the inquisitors repeatedly objected to books that had prohibited phras- es in their title. In 1644, this decree was made public. It placed supporters of the Immaculate Conception in a difficult position. Yet, there were still works dedicated to this issue. However, their authors became very careful in giving titles to their works as to being able to publish them even in the vicinity of Rome. Theologians were amassing testimonies and opinions, printing and re-editing ever more new works. This was a tremendous work, often warped by polemical atti- tudes. It is difficult to imagine today the violence of the reactions of the pro and con advocates of