by Padre Manuel
The Feast day of the Immaculate Conception is celebrated on Dec. 8 during the season of Advent. The feast day celebrates the belief that Mary was conceived without the stain of original sin. It is often misunderstood as the celebration of the conception of Jesus.
Mary under the title of the Immaculate Conception is the Patron Saint of Brazil and the United States.
The feast day became a celebration for the universal church in the 18th century. Pope Pius IX declare;
“The most Blessed Virgin Mary, in the first instant of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege granted by Almighty God, in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, the savior of the human race, was preserved free from all stain of original sin.”
Mary herself confirmed her title to St. Bernadette saying to her;
” I am the Immaculate Conception.”
The largest Marian shrine in the U S. is the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception located in Washington D.C.
Just as Eve was conceived without sin, Mary also was conceived without sin. Mary is considered, ‘the new Eve’.
Rather than disobeying God, Mary said, “Let it be.”
Purer than heaven’s purest angels, brighter than its brightest seraph:
Mary, after her Creator, God, made her and gave her all,
the most perfect of beings, the masterpiece of Infinite Wisdom,
Almighty Power and Eternal Love.
To such a being we cannot reasonably suppose that
a perfection was denied her which had been already
gratuitously bestowed on inferior creatures;
on the angelic spirits.
Quote of St. John N. Newmann; Feast day January 5
The Immaculate Conception in Art
December is the Month of the Divine Infancy