Articles / Special

Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception
(Credit : Francisco Rizi, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)

The Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception celebrates the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary on 8 December, nine months before the feast of the Nativity of Mary on 8 September. It is one of the most important Marian feasts in the liturgical calendar of the Latin Church. The feast honors the conception of Mary without original sin. It is celebrated on December 8, though it may be moved to Monday, December 9, if December 8 falls on the Second Sunday of Advent.

The Feast was approved in 1476 by Pope Sixtus IV. It was extended to the universal Church by Pope Clement XI in 1708.

Acknowledging the belief held for centuries by the Fathers and Doctors of the Church, of councils and his predecessors, Pope Pius IX solemnly proclaimed the Dogma of the Immaculate Conception in 1854 in his papal bull Ineffabilis Deus. The dogma states that Mary was conceived without original sin, the sin that all humans are conceived with after the sin of Adam and Eve. The Immaculate Conception does not refer to the virginal birth of Christ, but rather to Mary being conceived without original sin.

Several years later, in 1858, the Blessed Mother gave her name to St. Bernadette at Lourdes stating, "I am the Immaculate Conception."

The Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception is a time to celebrate the great joy of God’s gift to humanity in Mary, and to recognize with greater clarity, the truth that each and every human being has been created by God to fulfill a particular mission that he and only he can fulfill.

- Article by Catholic Time Staff