conception of Mary by her mother, Saint Anne, and not the conception of Jesus. The feast of the Immaculate Conception, celebrated on December 8, was established in 1476 by Pope Sixtus IV, but the dogmatic definition came from Pope Pius IX in his constitution Ineffabilis Deus, on December 8, 1854. The dogma states that Mary possessed sanctifying grace from the first instant of her existence and by a special and unique gift of God was free from the lack of grace caused by the original sin from the beginning of human history. In Fulgens corona (item 10) Pope Pius XII reaffirmed the concept by stating: "Who will dare to doubt that she, who was purer than the angels and at all times pure, was at any moment, even for the briefest instant, not free from every stain of sin?" Ineffabilis Deus (as well as Pope Pius XII's Munificentissimus Deus on the Assumption) also teaches the predestination of Mary, in that she was preserved from sin due to the role reserved for her in the economy of salvation. This predetermination of Mary's role in salvation was referred to in Lumen gentium (item 61) which stated that she was "Predestined from eternity by that decree of divine providence which determined the incarnation of the Word to be the Mother of God." The definition in Ineffabilis Deus confirms the uniqueness of the Immaculate Conception as a gift from God to Mary, that Jesus might receive his body from one unstained by sin. Perpetual virginity of Mary This dogma states that Mary was a virgin before, during and after giving birth (de fide). This oldest Marian doctrine, (also held by Lutheran, Eastern Orthodox, and Oriental Orthodox, and many other Christians) affirms Mary's "real and perpetual virginity even in the act of giving birth to the Son of God made Man." Thus, by the teaching of this dogma, the faithful believe that Mary was ever-Virgin (Greek ) for the whole of her life, making Jesus her only biological son, whose conception and birth are held to be miraculous. The doctrine of perpetual virginity is distinct from the dogma of the Immaculate Conception of Mary, which relates to the conception of the Virgin Mary herself without any stain (macula in Latin) of original sin. Virginity before birth This means that Mary conceived by the Holy Spirit without participation of any man (de fide). The Greek term