Urban VIII, Innocent X, and Alexander VII – the Queenship of Mary and the Immaculate Conception
The popes Urban VIII (1623-1644), Innocent X (1644-1655), and Alexander VII (1655-1667) belong to a period of great ecclesiastical tension (the Thirty Years’ War, Jansenism, the controversy over the Immaculate Conception). Their Marian documents show how the papacy uses Mary as a point of reference for the unity of the Christian faith.
| Collection | Doctrina Pontificia IV: Marian Documents, nn. 185-193 |
| Popes | Urban VIII (1623-1644) | Innocent X (1644-1655) | Alexander VII (1655-1667) |
| Topic | Queenship of Mary; intercession; protection of Marian doctrine |
Urban VIII (1623-1644), nn. 185-189
Urban VIII is the pope of Michelangelo Merisi (Caravaggio) and of Galileo Galilei, but also the pope who deepened the theology of the Queenship of Mary. His five Marian documents include:
- n. 185, Bull “Imperscrutabilis” (February 12, 1623): On the unfathomable mysteries of God manifested through Mary
- n. 186, Invocation (November 18, 1625): A papal prayer to Mary, of great poetic and theological richness
- n. 187, S. Congr. of the Holy Office (January 23, 1627): A decree that forbids calling the sin of denying the Immaculate Conception “venial”
- n. 188, Brief “Sanctae” (November 26, 1631): On Marian confraternities and their importance in the life of the Church
- n. 189, the Queenship of Mary: A text on the Queen of Heaven, an anticipation of the encyclical Ad Caeli Reginam of Pius XII (1954)
«Beata Virgo Maria in caelis regnat, et super omnes creaturas exaltata, a sanctis angelis et hominibus regina et domina veneratur»
The Blessed Virgin Mary reigns in heaven, and, exalted above all creatures, she is venerated by the holy angels and by men as queen and lady.
Innocent X (1644-1655)
The pontificate of Innocent X, famous for the portrait by Velázquez, did not produce specific Marian documents listed with a number of their own in Doctrina Pontificia IV, but his pontificate is the context of the struggle against Jansenism, a heresy that minimized Mary’s role in salvation, reducing grace to a determinism that excluded human cooperation, and therefore Mary’s “fiat”.
Alexander VII (1655-1667), nn. 190-193: sollicitudo omnium
The Apostolic Constitution Sollicitudo omnium Ecclesiarum (December 8, 1661) is the Mariological peak of this period, already developed in the previous post. The four numbers (190-193) cover the principal Constitution and three complementary decrees of application. This Constitution is the decisive step between Sixtus IV (1483) and Pius IX (1854) on the path to the definition of the Immaculate Conception.
Further reading
Explore Mariology, the Ineffabilis Deus, the Ad Caeli Reginam (the Queenship of Mary), and the Postgraduate Program in Mariology.
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