The Catholic Church around the world celebrates ‘The Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception’ on December 8th every year. The feast honours the Blessed Mother's conception without the stain of original sin. It is celebrated seventeen days before the Nativity of our Lord.
From the very beginning, the Church believed and taught the Blessed Virgin’s Immaculate Conception. The Eastern Christian Church first celebrated a "Feast of the Conception of the Most Holy and All Pure Mother of God" on December 9, perhaps as early as the 7th century. It became popular in the Western Church in the eighth century. From the 11th century onwards, the feast came to be known as the Immaculate Conception of Mary. The Universal Church has celebrated this feast since the 18th century.
Pope Pius IX, on 8 December 1854, through the Apostolic Constitution, Ineffabilis Deus declared the Immaculate Conception of Mary as a Marian Dogma. The constitution states: "We declare, pronounce, and define that the doctrine which holds that the most Blessed Virgin Mary, from the first instance 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, is a doctrine revealed by God and therefore to be believed firmly and constantly by all the faithful.”
The Column of the Immaculate Conception, a nineteenth-century monument in central Rome depicting Mother Mary, is aptly placed in front of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples (offices for promulgating the faith). The 16-foot-tall figure of the Blessed Mother stands on the marble pillar about 100 feet high, blessing the eternal city. The column was dedicated on 8 December 1857, to mark the publication of Ineffabilis Deus. The figure was sculpted by Giuseppe Obici, an Italian sculptor. Mary is depicted wearing a 12-starred crown on her head, breaking the serpent's head.
The English poet, William Wordsworth, penned these beautiful lines in his poem “The Virgin” describing the blessed Mother’s maiden purity and state on untaintedness.
" Mother! whose virgin bosom was uncrost
With the least shade of thought to sin allied"
On the feast day, the people of Rome, together with the Pope, offer their tributes to the the Virgin in Piazza Mignanelli, near the Spanish Steps. The fire brigade begins the celebrations by placing a garland of flowers on the arm of the bronze Marian Statue. This is done to honour the 220 firefighters who in 1857, led by the architect Luigi Poletti, erected the the 11.81 meter high marble column. In the afternoon, the Pope participates in the traditional tribute of the city, praying in front of the monument. This has been a tradition since 1953, emphasising the special relationship between the Bishop of Rome and his city.
The basic element of the devotion to Mother Mary is her special relationship with Jesus, the incarnate son of God and His saving deeds. The atheist philosopher Ludwig Fireback writes in his book ‘The Essence of Christianity’, "Where faith in the mother of God sinks, there also sinks faith in the Son of God, and in God as the Father. "
Let us pray the same prayer that Pope Francis recited on the occasion of this solemn feast, "We thank you, Immaculate Mother, for reminding us that, by the love of Jesus Christ, we are no longer slaves to sin, but free, free to love, to love each other, to help each other as brothers and sisters, even if different from us."
Other Saints for the Day
- Pope Eutychian
- Saint Eucharius, First bishop of Trier