Roberta Franchi: Ambrose and the Immaculate Body of Christ: Its Theological and Soteriological Implications

The Son of God, born of a virgin, was born immaculate, because his flesh was not contaminated by the process of human generation. By applying the term immaculatus to Christ, Ambrose refers to the conception of Christ and to his virginal generation in contrast to natural generation, according to which every person has been contaminated (contagio maculamur) after the original sin. Immaculatusexpresses both the virginal birth and the immaculate nature of Christ’s body. If Christ’s immaculacy depends on the Virgin who generated him, his sinless body becomes a paradigm and a sacrament of virginity. Christ’s immaculate body has to be served by angelic creatures: Christian virgins. Ambrose traces a parallelism between the immaculate body of Christ and that of the virgin. If the body of Christ is ‘the temple of God’, the virgin’s body is ‘consecrated by the divine Spirit’, ‘consecrated to God’, and ‘consecrated at God’s altar’. Why did Ambrose emphasize the concept of the immaculate body of Christ and bestow significance on the consecrated virgin? His approach has theological and soteriological implications. On the one hand, it tries to contrast heretical doctrines about Christ’s generation; on the other hand, it strengthens female asceticism and the power of the bishop.