At this meeting of the Filii Dei, in preparation for the Solemnity of Mary, we’ll discuss the four Marian Dogmas of the Church. In advance, consider the following:
The Four Marian Dogmas:
The Marian dogmas of the Catholic Church are not devotional excesses nor medieval accretions, but Christological and ecclesiological affirmations organically developed within the Church’s reflection on Divine Revelation. Each dogma safeguards a truth about Christ Himself, the Incarnation, and the economy of salvation, functioning as doctrinal boundary markers rather than optional pieties. The four Marian dogmas are:
Mary as Theotokos (Mother of God)
Mary’s Perpetual Virginity
The Immaculate Conception
The Assumption of Mary
The Marian dogmas do not distract from Christ; they defend Him. Each dogma emerges from sustained reflection on Scripture within the living Tradition of the Church and is definitively interpreted by the Magisterium. Far from optional beliefs, they form a coherent theological system safeguarding the mysteries of the Incarnation, Redemption, and Resurrection.
Want the resources I’m using for this meeting in advance? Here you go!
1: Council of Ephesus (431), DS 252
2: St. Cyril of Alexandria, Third Letter to Nestorius
3: St. Athanasius, Orations Against the Arians
4: Lateran Council (649), DS 503
5: Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae III, q.28
6: Jerome, Against Helvidius
7: Jerome, Ep. 22
8: Augustine, Sermon 186
9: Pius IX, Ineffabilis Deus (1854)
10: Aquinas, ST III, q.27, a.2 (with later theological development)
11: Ephrem the Syrian, Carmina Nisibena
12: Pius XII, Munificentissimus Deus (1950)
13: Romans 5:12; cf. Aquinas, ST III, q.27
14: John Damascene, Homily on the Dormition