Already celebrated by the 11th century, this solemnity is inserted in the context of Advent-Christmas, uniting the messianic expectation and the glorious return of Christ with the admired memory of the Mother.
In this sense, this liturgical period should be considered a particularly suitable time for the worship of the Mother of the Lord.
Mary is the all-holy one, immune from all stain of sin, almost formed by the Holy Spirit and made a new creature. Already prophetically foreshadowed in the promise made to the parents of the victory over the serpent, Mary is the Virgin who will conceive and give birth to a son whose name will be Emmanuel.
The dogma of the Immaculate Conception was proclaimed by Pius IX in 1854.
Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, who truly is full of grace and blessed among women, in view of the birth and saving death of the Son of God, was from the first moment of her conception, by a singular privilege of God, preserved immune from any stain of original sin, as solemnly defined by Pope Pius IX, on the basis of a doctrine of ancient tradition, as a dogma of faith, precisely on the day that is celebrated today.
Not the memory of a Saint, we commemorate today: but the highest and most precious solemnity of Her who is called Queen of the Saints. The Immaculate Conception of Mary was proclaimed in 1854 by Pope Pius IX.
But the history of devotion to Mary Immaculate is much older. It predates the proclamation of the dogma by centuries, even millennia, which, as always, has not introduced anything new, but has simply crowned a very long tradition. Even the Fathers of the Eastern Church, in extolling the Mother of God, had used expressions that placed her above original sin.
They had called her: "Ashamed, guilty, beauty of innocence, purer than the Angevins, purest lily, unpoisoned seed, cloud more splendid than the sun, immaculate."
In the West, however, the theory of the Immaculate Conception encountered strong resistance, not out of aversion to the Virgin, who remained the most sublime of creatures, but to uphold the doctrine of Redemption, accomplished solely through the sacrifice of Jesus. If Mary had been immaculate, that is, if she had been conceived by God outside the law of sin, the doctrine would have been incompatible with the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception.
Original sin, common to all the children of Eve, meant that she would not have needed Redemption, and therefore Redemption could no longer be called universal. The exception, in this case, did not confirm the rule, but rather destroyed it. The Franciscan John Duns Scotus, called Scotus because he was a native of Scotland, and known as the "Subtle Doctor," managed to overcome this doctrinal obstacle with a subtle but convincing distinction. The Virgin Mary, too, had been redeemed by Jesus, but with a preventive Redemption, before and after time. She was preserved from original sin in anticipation of the merits of her divine Son. This was fitting, it was possible, and therefore it was done. John Duns Scotus died at the beginning of the 14th century. After him, the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception made great progress, and devotion to her spread ever more widely.
From 1476 onwards, the feast of the Immaculate Conception of Mary was introduced into the Roman calendar. In the squares of Italy, celebrated preachers wove praises of the Immaculate Virgin: among them, Saint Leonard of Port Maurice and Saint Bernardino of Siena, who with his witty and moving voice said to the Sienese: "Now tell me: what shall we say of the knowledge of Mary being filled with the Holy Spirit, having been born without any sin, and thus remaining always clean and pure, always serving God?"
In 1830, the Virgin Mary appeared to Saint Catherine Labouré, who then promoted a "miraculous medal" bearing the image of the Immaculate Conception, that is, the one "conceived without sin." This medal sparked intense devotion, and many bishops petitioned Rome for the official definition of this dogma, which was already in the hearts of almost all Christians.
Thus, on December 8, 1854, Pius IX proclaimed the "woman clothed with the sun" exempt from original sin, all pure, that is, Immaculate. It was an act of great faith and extreme courage, which aroused joy among the faithful of the Virgin and indignation among the enemies of Christianity, because the dogma of the Immaculate Conception was a direct denial of the naturalists and materialists. But four years later, the apparitions of Lourdes appeared as a wondrous confirmation of the dogma that had proclaimed the Virgin "all beautiful," "full of grace," and without any stain of original sin. A confirmation that seemed like an expression of gratitude for the abundance of graces that flow from the heart of the Immaculate Conception upon humanity. And from the devotion to the Immaculate Conception came the immediate spread, in Italy, of the feminine name Concetta, in Spain that of Concepción: a name that repeats the highest attribute of Mary, "sine labe originali concepta", that is, conceived without stain of sin, and, therefore, Immaculate.
Source: (Parish Archives)
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