Immaculate Conception

Ambrose of Milan
"Come, then, and search out your sheep, not through your servants or hired men, but do it yourself. Lift me up bodily and in the flesh, which is fallen in Adam. Lift me up not from Sarah but from Mary, a virgin not only undefiled, but a virgin whom grace had made inviolate, free of every stain of sin" (Commentary on Psalm 118:22–30 [A.D. 387]).

Augustine
"Having excepted the holy Virgin Mary, concerning whom, on account of the honour of the Lord, I wish to have absolutely no question when treating of sins—for how do we know what abundance of grace for the total overcoming of sin was conferred upon her, who merited to conceive and bear him in whom there was no sin. (Nature and Grace 36:42 [A.D. 415]).

Ephraim the Syrian
"You alone and your Mother are more beautiful than any others, for there is no blemish in you, nor any stains upon your Mother. Who of my children [says the Father] can compare in beauty to these?" (Nisibene Hymns 27:8 [A.D. 361]).

The labour pains of a woman during childbirth are the result of original sin. (Gen 3:16) The following two quotes are a witness to the fact that Mary, being conceived without original sin, did not suffer these pains.

The Ascension of Isaiah
"[T]he report concerning the child was noised abroad in Bethlehem. Some said, ‘The Virgin Mary has given birth before she was married two months.’ And many said, ‘She has not given birth; the midwife has not gone up to her, and we heard no cries of pain’" (Ascension of Isaiah 11 [A.D. 70]).

The Odes of Solomon
"So the Virgin became a mother with great mercies. And she labored and bore the Son, but without pain, because it did not occur without purpose. And she did not seek a midwife, because he caused her to give life. She bore as a strong man, with will . . . " (Odes of Solomon 19 [A.D. 80]).

We fly to your patronage O Holy Mother of God, despise not our prayers in our necessities, but ever deliver us from all dangers, O Glorious and Blessed Virgin. Amen (250AD)