om entering the heavenly kingdom. If therefore she had
died then, it seems that she would have entered the gates of heaven.
But this was not possible before the Passion of Christ, according to
the Apostle (Heb. 10:19): "We have [Vulg.: 'having'] therefore a
confidence in the entering into the Holies by His blood." It seems
therefore that the Blessed Virgin was not sanctified before her birth
from the womb.

Obj. 4: Further, original sin is contracted through the origin, just
as actual sin is contracted through an act. But as long as one is in
the act of sinning, one cannot be cleansed from actual sin. Therefore
neither could the Blessed Virgin be cleansed from original sin as
long as she was in the act of origin, by existence in her mother's
womb.

_On the contrary,_ The Church celebrates the feast of our Lady's
Nativity. Now the Church does not celebrate feasts except of those
who are holy. Therefore even in her birth the Blessed Virgin was
holy. Therefore she was sanctified in the womb.

_I answer that,_ Nothing is handed down in the canonical Scriptures
concerning the sanctification of the Blessed Mary as to her being
sanctified in the womb; indeed, they do not even mention her birth.
But as Augustine, in his tractate on the Assumption of the Virgin,
argues with reason, since her body was assumed into heaven, and yet
Scripture does not relate this; so it may be reasonably argued that
she was sanctified in the womb. For it is reasonable to believe that
she, who brought forth "the Only-Begotten of the Father full of grace
and truth," received greater privileges of grace than all others:
hence we read (Luke 1:28) that the angel addressed her in the words:
"Hail full of grace!"

Moreover, it is to be observed that it was granted, by way of
privilege, to others, to be sanctified in the womb; for instance, to
Jeremias, to whom it was said (Jer. 1:5): "Before thou camest forth
out of the womb, I sanctified thee"; and again, to John the Baptist,
of whom it is written (Luke 1:15): "He shall be filled with the Holy
Ghost even from his mother's womb." It is therefore with reason that
we believe the Blessed Virgin to have been sanctified before her
birth from the womb.

Reply Obj. 1: Even in the Blessed Virgin, first was that which is
natural, and afterwards that which is spiritual: for she was first
conceived in the flesh, and afterwards sanctified in the spirit.

Reply Obj. 2: Augustine speaks according to the common l