The early fourteenth century marks one of the most significant
periods in the development of the doctrine of the Immaculate
Conception. Not only did this period witness a profound
transformation in the theological understanding of the older feast of the
Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, but it also brought about the
active engagement of the laity in its celebration. In northern Italy the
first
lay confraternities dedicated to celebrating the feast of the Conception
were founded in the 1320s and 1330s under the direction of the
Franciscans, then the greatest advocates of the immaculist cause. This
coincidence between the theological definition of Mary's conception,
lay
participation in the feast's celebration, and Franciscan sponsorship
of
confraternities raises interesting questions about the nature of lay piety
and the role of lay associations in disseminating religious beliefs.
The question of when certain religious beliefs and their theological
formulations become known and understood by the majority of the
faithful is complex, particularly in the case of the Immaculate Conception.
No explicit mention of Mary's sinless conception exists in Scripture
or in
apostolic teaching. Belief in the Immaculate Conception emerged only
gradually, through centuries of reflection and disputation, and was not
proclaimed a dogma of faith until 1854. This gradual unfolding of the
doctrine has meant that identifying the shift from a general reverence
for
Mary's conception to an explicit belief in the sinlessness of her
conception
has proved difficult. A second difficulty is that for centuries the qualifier
‘immaculate’ was not attached to the name of the feast. During
the
Middle Ages the feast was referred to simply as the ‘Conception of
the
Blessed Virgin Mary’ The mere observance of the feast, therefore,
tells
us little about what the faithful actually believed.