Immaculate Conception according to Duns Scotto

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 John Duns Scotus (b. 1266; d. 1308 A.D.), Franciscan Priest and theologian was the first coherently to explain the Apostolic Faith in the Immaculate Conception as something entirely coherent with Christ's universal primacy and mediation. Since his time the Sacred Magisterium of the Church has solemnly defined this doctrine and declared it to belong to the deposit of the Faith which Christ entrusted to His Apostles.

Franciscan Mariology is the expression of a spirituality and a way of doing theology, therefore, it will always be related to piety and contemplation. The doctrine of the Immaculate Conception is a terminal point of Franciscan Mariology, which considers the Incarnation as the great gesture of God's love on which the history of salvation revolves: “Because God so loved the world that he gave to his only begotten Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but have eternal life ”(Jn 3,16). The Incarnation is the mystery by which God assumes human existence. The background of the Incarnation is the immense love with which God loved us.

Thus, by divine love, the womb of Mary becomes the abode of God (SalVM 1-6). Through the merits of Jesus Christ, Mary was a woman full of grace, the "full of grace" who lives her story at the service of God. That is precisely why it is called most holy. A look of special grace from God makes Mary conceive the Redeemer first in her heart and then in her womb.

Saint Francis of Assisi recognizes the special place that Mary has in the history of salvation, and the graces she has received. And although he does not speak of the Immaculate Conception, we cannot say that it is contrary to his thought and to his love for Mary. This is the heritage that Blessed Fray Juan Duns Escoto carries in his heart, who distinguishes Mary with a total exemption from original sin. The argument is based on the Redemption as a realization of God's merciful love for humanity. Mary is the creature loved and graced in a special way from the first moment of her existence.

In the university context where Blessed Fray Juan Duns worked as a professor, different theories were discussed, some of them contrary to the Immaculate Conception, which in his opinion minimized the universal Redemption of Christ. These were: the physical theory, the ontological theory and the thesis of universal Redemption. Let's quickly see what they consisted of:

The physical theory considers that original sin arises from the sexual relationship of the parents, being inherited from generation to generation. In this way, every human being, by the simple fact of having been begotten, has original sin, since we are all the fruit of a sexual act.

The subtle Doctor argues that the original sin does not consist in a physical inheritance, but in the absence of that original justice that was lost through disobedience. Scotus is situated in the moral order, the original sin is in the will, not in the flesh. Certainly, we received the body from our parents, but the soul was created and infused by God. Escoto's proposal is that God can, by grace, recover the original lost justice, and renew the bond of children of God. Grace is not limited by space or time, therefore, God can give us the gift of original justice from the first moment, in the same way that He can do it when conceived, during gestation or at the moment of birth:

“God was able, in the first instant of the existence of the soul (of Mary), give him the same grace that he grants to other souls at the moment of circumcision or baptism. In this way, in that first instant (his soul) would not have had original sin, just as another person, after having contracted it, does not have it after receiving baptism. And even if the flesh were stained, that would not imply original sin, nor the infection of the soul, in the same way that after baptism the contamination of the body remains, but the infection of the soul disappears absolutely”.

The ontological theory affirms that first is being and then being good. Duns Escoto considers that it is logical to think that Mary, as Adam's daughter, first had to exist in order to later receive grace, since grace can only act on her in a concrete existence. However, he also thinks that the important thing about grace is not the chronological, but the nature that receives it. Therefore, Scotus thinks, even if Adam had not sinned, the moment God grants life to Mary, he would have adorned her with the gift of original justice. But despite the fact that Adam has sinned, God has wanted, through the merits of his Son, to adorn her from the moment of her conception, with the gift of sanctifying grace.

The third idea against the Immaculate Conception was the universal need for redemption. The basis of this argument is found both in Scripture (Rm 5,12) and in the Tradition of the Church that affirm that we all have a need to be redeemed by Christ. And it is true, Mary, for the simple fact of being human, needs to be redeemed. The problem was to determine the moment in which this redemption takes place. What opponents of the Imaculated Conception were saying is that, in fact, Mary contracted original sin, and until a later time she was redeemed by Christ. The concern is that if Mary did not need to be redeemed, then Christ was not the universal Redeemer that Scripture affirms. Scotus himself presents this difficulty in his Reportatio Parisiensis:

“The Son was universal redeemer; in effect, he was the universal redeemer of anyone other than himself; consequently, the Blessed Virgin existed before in original sin, because Redemption is for those who exist before in sin, since otherwise she would not have been redeemed. In this way, ennoblement of the mother means lowering the nobility of the Son”.

To overcome this difficulty, Juan Duns proposes in two of his treatises (Reportatio Parisiensis and Opus Oxoniense) the supreme perfection of the universal Redeemer: the Son, being universal Redeemer, possesses the maximum in existence, that is, the most perfect. He is the Most Perfect Redeemer because he possesses and exercises the most perfect redemption, which consists in not only freeing a person from the evil that he already possesses, but also in preventing him from contracting it. Preventing original sin is the most perfect degree of mediation. Christ exercised such a degree of mediation only in Mary. Thus, if Christ had not preserved Mary from original sin, he would not have been the Most Perfect Mediator and Redeemer. Escoto deepens the idea through three arguments:

The first is the relationship between Christ the Mediator and the Trinity with which he reconciles him. The Triune God has been offended by sin, there is a situation of estrangement, of breakdown. The Perfect Mediator is the one who renews the bond by freeing the sinner from the sin he contracted, and also who he preserves from contracting it.

The second argument is the consideration of the evil that afflicts the person who is reconciled to God. Christ was the Perfect Mediator because he preserved her not only from sin itself, but from the wickedness of evil. And if Christ obtained for Mary the preservation of current sin, it is not understood why he would not do it from original sin.

Finally, the third argument says that the gratitude of the reconciled person towards his Mediator is proportionate to the evil from which he has freed him and the good that is granted him. The gratuity of which we speak will be greater if such liberation was perfect, if it has preserved the person from original sin. Blessed John Duns considers that preservation is a much greater benefit than liberation from sin already contracted.

Therefore, Escoto concludes, the Immaculate Conception does not detract from the glory of Christ the Redeemer and Universal Mediator. On the contrary, it increases it by the fact that Mary had more need of Christ for the preservation of original sin, than to be delivered from evil after contracting it. It should be said that these arguments are valid only for the person of Mary, because she is the Mother of the Lord.

However, as a good Minor, Scotus leaves the final decision to the judgment of the authority of Scripture and the Church. The conclusion of the Franciscan theologian is that if it is not contrary to the Holy Scriptures or the Tradition of the Church, the most excellent must be attributed to Mary. The Franciscan tradition associates Mary with the mystery of the Son. For some contemporary theologians, this Mariology could be a key that reveals the understanding of the new man in Christ, since the Immaculate Conception demands the unconditional primacy of grace.

Mary is the one full of grace, the woman of faith who has believed. That faith is the ultimate foundation of his freedom, it is his personal and definitive yes to the Father's proposal. Mary is happy because she is ready to accept the mystery of God in her life. By God's grace, she is a beautiful and beautiful creature, she is the Tota Pulchra.