mention frequently made of the brethren of Jesus?(229)
Fortunately the Gospels themselves will enable us to trace the maternity
of those who are called His brothers, not to the Blessed Virgin, but to
another Mary. St. Matthew mentions, by name, James and Joseph among the
brethren of Jesus;(230) and the same Evangelist and also St. Mark tell us
that among those who were present at the Crucifixion were Mary Magdalen
and Mary the mother of James and Joseph.(231) And St. John, who narrates
with more detail the circumstances of the Crucifixion, informs us who this
second Mary was, for he says that there stood by the cross of Jesus His
mother and His Mother's sister, Mary of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalen.(232)
There is no doubt that Mary of Cleophas is identical with Mary, who is
called by Matthew and Mark the mother of James and Joseph. And as Mary of
Cleophas was the kinswoman of the Blessed Virgin, James and Joseph are
called the brothers of Jesus, in conformity with the Hebrew practice of
giving that appellation to cousins or near relations. Abraham, for
instance, was the uncle of Lot, yet he calls him brother.(233)

Mary is exalted above all other women, not only because she united "a
mother's love with maiden purity," but also because she was conceived
without original sin. The dogma of the Immaculate Conception is thus
expressed by the Church: "We define that the Blessed Virgin Mary in the
first moment of her conception, by the singular grace and privilege of
Almighty God, in virtue of the merits of Jesus Christ, the Savior of the
human race, was preserved free from every stain of original sin."(234)

Unlike the rest of the children of Adam, the soul of Mary was never
subject to sin, even in the first moment of its infusion into the body.
She alone was exempt from the original taint. This immunity of Mary from
original sin is exclusively due to the merits of Christ, as the Church
expressly declares. She needed a Redeemer as well as the rest of the human
race and therefore was "redeemed, but in a more sublime manner."(235) Mary
is as much indebted to the precious blood of Jesus for having been
_preserved_ as we are for having been _cleansed_ from original sin.

Although the Immaculate Conception was not formulated into a dogma of
faith till 1854, it is at least implied in Holy Scripture. It is in strict
harmony with the place which Mary holds in the economy of Redemption, and
has virtually received the pious assent of the