Feast of Immaculate Conception

By: Fletcher Gould

On December 8th, we celebrate the Feast of the Immaculate Conception of Mary. This may be one of the most misunderstood feasts of the Church year. The Immaculate Conception is when Mary was conceived immaculately in her mother’s womb, which tradition calls Saint Ann, without the stain of Original Sin. Catholics believe that God chose Mary to bear his Son, even before she was conceived, so he preserved her from the “stain of sin” passed to all mankind from Adam and Eve.

  In 1854, Pope Pius IX infallibly declared. “The most Blessed Virgin Mary was, from the first moment of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege of almighty God and by the merits of Jesus Christ, Saviour of the human race, preserved immune from all stains of original sin.” 

Nine months before the Feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary (September 8th), the Church celebrates the Solemnity of her Immaculate Conception. The Feast was approved in 1476 by Pope Sixtus IV and was extended to the universal Church by Pope Clement XI in 1708.

We have been predestined, filled with every blessing, and chosen to be holy and immaculate. We do not only “admire” the Virgin Mary, therefore, with tenderness and awe. We are asked to “imitate” her so that God’s beauty might shine on the earth, thanks to the many “yeses” that men and women continue to say after the example and intercession of Mary, the Immaculate One.

Mary, the Immaculate Conception, is the patron saint of the United States. Regis will celebrate with solemnity at the Christ King Chapel and have mass on Thursday, December 8th.