Although it is difficult to find resources on popular faith little inclined to written testimony but rich in attitudes of faith , we have indirect testimony of some theologians.
We find one of the earliest testimonies to the “extraordinary holiness of” Mary in the Proto-Gospel of James, an apocryphal volume of the 2nd century which narrates the immaculate conception of Mary, by her mother Anna. This fact, not historically reliable and rejected by Epifanio and Bernard, reveals as, Laurentin says in the book Maria in the history of salvation, “keen awareness of the perfect and original holiness of Mary at her conception”.
Another connotation typical of early Christianity in the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception is parallelism between Eve and Mary, for a twofold relation of similarity and opposition. On the basis of the former, just as Eve was fashioned without spot by the hand of God, to Mary was created Immaculate by God. Mary who was to be the restorer of the ruin caused by Eve could not be touched by sin.
This parallel is taken up in a pertinent and effective manner by the Second Vatican Council in the Constitution Lumen Gentium, 56: “The Father of mercies willed that the incarnation should be preceded by the acceptance of her who was predestined to be the mother of His Son, so that just as a woman contributed to death, so also a woman should contribute to life. That is true in outstanding fashion of the mother of Jesus, who gave to the world Him who is Life itself and who renews all things, and who was enriched by God with the gifts which befit such a role. It is no wonder therefore that the usage prevailed among the Fathers whereby they called the mother of God entirely holy and free from all stain of sin, as though fashioned by the Holy Spirit and formed as a new creature.(5*) Adorned from the first instant of her conception with the radiance of an entirely unique holiness, the Virgin of Nazareth is greeted, on God's command, by an angel messenger as "full of grace",(286) and to the heavenly messenger she replies: "Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it done unto me according to thy word".(287) Thus Mary, a daughter of Adam, consenting to the divine Word, became the mother of Jesus, the one and only Mediator. Embracing God's salvific will with a full heart and impeded by no sin, she devoted herself totally as a handmaid of the Lord to the person and work of her Son, under Him and with Him, by the grace of almighty God, serving the mystery of redemption. Rightly therefore the holy Fathers see her as used by God not merely in a passive way, but as freely co-operating in the work of human salvation through faith and obedience. For, as St. Irenaeus says, she "being obedient, became the cause of salvation for herself and for the whole human race."(6*) Hence not a few of the early Fathers gladly assert in their preaching, "The knot of Eve's disobedience was untied by Mary's obedience; what the virgin Eve bound through her unbelief, the Virgin Mary loosened by her faith."(7*) Comparing Mary with Eve, they call her "the Mother of the living,"(8*) and still more often they say: "death through Eve, life through Mary."(9*) ».
Hyppolitus speaking of the Saviour describes him as: “An ark made of wood (Mary) free of the putrefaction of sin.”
From the 4th century onwards, the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception becomes more explicit.
Ephrem the Syrian places Mary’s purity on the same level as that of Christ, stating that this purity is a unique privilege of both: “You alone O Lord and your Mother are all beautiful because there is in you O Lord no spot, neither is there any spot in your Mother.”
In the 5th century, Procolus speaks of God’s special intervention in the creation of the future Mother of God who was to be a new creature, fashioned out of “new soil” like Adam before he sinned.
Teodosius of Ancira opposes Mary and Eve when he says that although “although Mary, a woman is part of the human race she was nevertheless preserved from the evil of that race she was an innocent Virgin without stain, or fault, irreproachable, a holy soul who bloomed among the thorns.”
St Augustine made two interventions with regard to the Immaculate Conception: the first and most important was in response to Pelagius and he affirms that all the just of the Old Testament sinned during their life “except for the Virgin Mary with regard to whom. For the honour of the Lord, when it is a question of sins, I will not debate, because we know since she merited to conceive and give birth to the One who clearly was free of sin, she was given more Grace than necessary to conquer all sin.” This text was judged to be such a worthy demonstration as to be included in the papal bull Ineffabilis Deus.
The other text taken from Contra Iulianum, is a response to Giulianus who objected to the fact that for Augustine, given the universality of sin, Mary was subject to the power of Satan. Augustine replied: “… we shall not consign Mary to the devil because of her condition of birth, but for this: because the condition of birth is solved by the grace of re-birth”. This statement shows clearly that for Augustine the absence of sin in Mary was the effect of God’s grace.
The contribution offered by the Christian people towards the maturation of the theological aspect of the Immaculate Conception was seen from the 9th century onwards when on the one hand the feast of the Immaculate Conception is celebrated and on the other from the outrage when preachers denied the Marian privilege or affirmed the presence of Mary of original sin.