Clement IX to Clement XI – Rosary, Immaculate Conception and Marian devotion (Pontifical Doctrine IV, nos. 194-204)

# Papal Documents on Mary (1667-1721)

## Collection: Doctrina Pontificia IV, Documents Marianos, nn. 194-204

### Popes:
– Clement IX (1667-1669)
– Clement X (1670-1676)
– Innocent XI (1676-1689)
– Alexander VIII (1689-1691)
– Innocent XII (1691-1700)
– Clement XI (1700-1721)

### Period: 1667-1721

## Clement IX (1667-1669), nn. 194-196

Clement IX’s brief pontificate produced three significant Marian briefs. The Brief *Augustissimae* (September 17, 1667) grants new privileges to Rosary confraternities. *Sincera Nostra* (October 21, 1667) addresses Marian devotion in the formation of clergy. *Exigit* (October 31, 1667) regulates Marian feasts in certain dioceses.

## Clement X (1670-1676), n. 197: *”Ad pastorale”*

Clement X’s Brief *Ad pastorale* (August 20, 1671) is notable for its language on Mary as the “*Pastor of souls alongside the Good Shepherd*.” Clement X asserts that Mary cooperates with Christ in the pastoral work of the Church, foreshadowing the co-redemption and co-pastorship theology developed in the 19th and 20th centuries.

## Innocent XI (1676-1689), nn. 198-200

Innocent XI, who organized a Christian league against the Ottomans at the Battle of Vienna (1683), issued three Marian briefs. *Apostolatus Officium* (March 24, 1679) protects the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception from Jansenist attacks that presented it as incompatible with the doctrine of original sin.

> *”Immaculatam Virginis Mariae Conceptionem… tanta a Sede Apostolica semper fuit auctoritate munita, ut eam negare aut in dubium vocare grave delictum constituat”*
>
> The Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary… has always been so firmly established by the Apostolic See that to deny it or put it in doubt constitutes a serious offense.

## Alexander VIII (1689-1701), n. 201: Decree of December 7, 1690

Alexander VIII’s decree of December 7, 1690, on the eve of the Immaculate Conception, condemned Jansenist propositions that denied Christ died for all men, including the denial of Mary’s universal mediation.

## Innocent XII (1691-1700), nn. 202-203

Innocent XII’s two documents include the Brief *In Excelsa* (May 15, 1693) on Marian feasts for the Visitation and Assumption, and the Bull *Sacrosancta* (August 5, 1698) on devotion to Mary’s Heart.

## Clement XI (1700-1721), n. 204: Bull *”Commissi Nobis”*

The Bull *Commissi Nobis* (December 6, 1708) of Clement XI is one of the most important Marian documents of the 18th century. Clement XI declared the feast of the Immaculate Conception mandatory for the entire universal Church on December 8, previously only a facultative or regional celebration. This is the greatest elevation of the Immaculate Conception before 1854. The text states:

**Quote:**

> We decree and declare that the Feast of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary throughout the Church by all the faithful of Christ… is to be observed as a feast of obligation.

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**Supplementary Reading:**

– Explore Mariology
– Ineffabilis Deus
– Marialis Cultus
– Postgraduate Mariology

Learn how to pray the Rosary in our guide: How to Pray the Rosary, Step by Step.

Find out more about the Immaculate Conception: Immaculate Conception.