the-glories-of-mary

362 GLORIES OP MARY.
This opinion is only probable, but I adhere t
it, as being rnore glorious for my Lady. But,
then, I hold it for certain thai Mary has not con
tracted the sin of Adam, as Cardinal Everard,*
Duval,f Raynauld,J Lossada, Viva,] and many
others hold it for certain, and even proximately
definable as an article of faith, as they express
I omit, however, the revelations that confirm
it.
this opinion; especially those made to St. Bridget,
approved by Cardinal Torrecremata, and by four
supreme Pontiffs, and which we read in the sixth
book of the above-mentioned revelations, in vari
ous places.^ But I can by no means omit to men
tion here the opinions of the holy Fathers on this
point, in order to prove how uniform they have
been in conceding this privilege
to the divine
mother. St. Ambrose says
: Receive me not from
Sarah, but from Mary, as an uncorrupted Virgin,
a Virgin through grace preserved pure from
every stain of sin.** Ongen, speaking of Mary,
says: Neither was she infected by the breath of
the venomous serpent.ff And St. Ephrem: She
is immaculate, and remote from every taint of
sin.JJ St. Augustine, meditating on the words
of the angel, "Hail,
full of grace," says: By these
* In Exam. TheoU 1 1, 2, q. 2, do pecc.
$ Piet. Lugd. n. 89. Disc. Th. de 1mm. Cone.
I Qu. Prod, ad Trut. ^ C. xii. 49, 55.
** Suscipe me non ex Sara, sed ex Maria, ut incorrupta sit virgo,
sed virgo per gratiam ab omni integra labe peccati. Serm. 22, in
Paal. cxviii.
ft Nee serpentis venenosi afflatibug infecta est. Horn. 1.
$ Immaculata, et ab omni peccati labe alienissima. Tom. 5, or.
ad Dei Gen.