Introduction
C atholics venerate Mary, the mother of Jesus in a very special way. She is called as the Mother of God by the Catholic and Orthodox Churches and considered as the most blessed woman in the history. Among various attributions to her is the Catholic one: the Immaculate Conception. The Church teaches that Mary was conceived in her mother’s womb immaculate and therefore, she was free of sin unlike other human beings.
The members of the Order of Preachers (Dominicans) who are considered to be the doctrinal watchdogs of the Catholic Church throughout the history had opposed the concept of Immaculate Conception of Mary until it was defined as a Dogma, in the name of defending the teachings of one of their own, St. Thomas Aquinas renowned as the Angelic Doctor. But one would wonder how Thomas could do such a doctrinal mistake being a teacher and defender of the Catholic faith as well as an ardent lover and devotee of the blessed Virgin. In this book, I would like to investigate whether the later Dominicans and other Thomists, had failed to understand correctly what Thomas had intended to teach in accordance with the understanding of his own time and thus to find answers to the out-of-context arguments against his thoughts inasmuch as I can.
To speak of Thomas, he is considered as the foremost theologian and philosopher in the Catholic Church and the crowning glory of Scholasticism. He was born in AD 1225 in the kingdom of Sicily to a noble family. Against the wishes of his family, he joined the mendicant order of Dominicans and later was ordained a priest. He dedicated his love for the search of truth studying theology and philosophy. He, together with his master, St. Albert the Great, introduced the philosophy of Aristotle to the Christian faith. He wrote volumes of books in both disciplines among which the most celebrated work is Summa Theologiae. He died on March 7, 1274 at Fassanova. He was canonized on July 18, 1274 and was declared a Doctor of the Church. Eventually, the Church made his teachings her own and came to consider him as a model teacher for students. The so called Western thought is still being influenced by his thoughts and his contributions to the developments of the modern philosophy is immense as it developed by either opposing or developing the ideas of this great teacher.