faithful from the earliest
days of the Church.

In Genesis we read: "I will put enmities between thee and the woman, and
thy seed and her seed; she shall crush thy head."(236) All Catholic
commentators, ancient and modern, recognize in the Seed, the Woman and the
serpent types of our Savior, of Mary and the devil. God here declares that
the enmity of the Seed and that of the Woman toward the tempter were to be
identical. Now the enmity of Christ, or the Seed, toward the evil one was
absolute and perpetual. Therefore the enmity of Mary, or the Woman, toward
the devil never admitted of any momentary reconciliation which would have
existed if she were ever subject to original sin.

It is worthy of note that as three characters appear on the scene of our
fall--Adam, Eve and the rebellious Angel--so three corresponding personages
figure in our redemption--Jesus Christ, who is the second Adam;(237) Mary,
the second Eve, and the Archangel Gabriel. The second Adam was
immeasurably superior to the first, Gabriel was superior to the fallen
Angel, and hence we are warranted by analogy to conclude that Mary was
superior to Eve. But if she had been created in original sin, instead of
being superior, she would be inferior to Eve, who was certainly created
immaculate. We cannot conceive that the mother of Cain was created
superior to the mother of Jesus. It would have been unworthy of a God of
infinite purity to have been born of a woman that was even for an instant
under the dominion of Satan.

The liturgies of the Church, being the established formularies of her
public worship, are among the most authoritative documents that can be
adduced in favor of any religious practice.

In the liturgy ascribed to St. James, Mary is commemorated as "our most
holy, immaculate and most glorious Lady, Mother of God and ever Virgin
Mary."(238)

In the Maronite Ritual she is invoked as "our holy, praiseworthy and
immaculate Lady."(239)

In the Alexandrian liturgy of St. Basil, she is addressed as "most holy,
most glorious, immaculate."(240)

The Feast of Mary's Conception commenced to be celebrated in the East in
the fifth, and in the West in the seventh centuries. It was not introduced
into Rome till probably towards the end of the fourteenth century. Though
Rome is always the first that is called on to sanction a new festival, she
is often the last to take part in it. She is the first that is expected to
give the key-note, but frequently