Feast of the Immaculate Conception

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The Feast of the Immaculate Conception celebrates belief in the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It is universally celebrated on December 8, nine months before the feast of the Nativity of Mary, which is celebrated on September 8.

It is the patronal feast day of Spain, Korea, Portugal, Nicaragua, Brazil, the Philippines and the United States of America. It is celebrated by the Roman Catholic Church as well as a few other closely related Christian churches.

The feast was first solemnized as a Holy Day of Obligation[1] on December 6, 1708 under the Papal Bull Commissi Nobis Divinitus[2][3] by Pope Clement XI[4] and is often celebrated with Holy Mass, parades, fireworks, processions, ethnic foods, and cultural festivities in honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary and is generally considered a "family day", especially in many Catholic countries.



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 5th century in Syria.

By the 7th century, the feast was already widely known in the East. However, when the Eastern Church called Mary achrantos (spotless or immaculate), it did not define exactly what this meant. Today the majority of Orthodox Christians would not accept the Scholastic definition of Mary's preservation from original sin before her birth that subsequently evolved in the Western Church after the Great Schism of 1054.[5] After the feast was translated to the Western Church in the eighth century, it began to be celebrated on December 8. It spread from the Byzantine area of Southern Italy to Normandy during the period of Norman dominance over southern Italy. From there it spread into England, France, Germany, and eventually Rome.[6]

According to the Papal Bull "Commissi Nobis Divinitus" dated on 6 December 1708, Pope Clement XI mandated the feast as a day of Solemnity and a Holy Day of Obligation which is to be celebrated in future years by the faithful.[7] Furthermore, the pontiff requested that the papal bull be notarized in the Vatican to be further copied and reproduced for dissemination.



The proper for the feast of the Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Medieval Sarum Missal, perhaps the most famous in England, merely addresses the action of her conception.

The collect for the feast reads:



Cultural impact[edit]

It is a public holiday in Andorra, Argentina, Austria, Chile, Colombia, East Timor, Equatorial Guinea, Guam, Italy, Liechtenstein, Macau, Malta, Monaco, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Portugal, San Marino, Seychelles, Spain, Vatican City, Venezuela, and in the Catholic Cantons of Switzerland.[11] In some countries, though December 8 is not a public holiday, their respective Episcopal Conference however declared this day as a Holy Day of Obligation, as it is in the United States, the Philippines and Ireland.

December 8 is also celebrated as Mother's Day in Panama in honor of this holiday and is therefore a national holiday.

The University of Dayton, in Dayton, Ohio, celebrates Christmas on Campus every December 8 in conjunction with the Feast of the Immaculate Conception.

In Leon, Nicaragua, the feast is celebrated with a tradition called Griteria composed of grand parades, fireworks, songs and various religious activities related to the conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary and her maternal role in Roman Catholicism. Similar practices are observed in various other Catholic countries.

Anglican Communion[edit]

In the Church of England, the "Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary" may be observed as a Lesser Festival on 8 December. The situation in other constituent churches of the Anglican Communion is similar. Many Anglo-Catholic parishes observe the feast using the traditional Roman Catholic title, the "Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary". See this article and the Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission 2004 statement on Mary: [1]

Eastern Orthodoxy[edit]

While the Eastern Orthodox Churches have never accepted the Roman Catholic dogma of the Immaculate Conception, they do celebrate December 9 as the Feast of the Conception by St. Anne of the Most Holy Theotokos. While the Orthodox believe that the Virgin Mary was, from her conception, filled with every grace of the Holy Spirit, in view of her calling as the Mother of God, they do not teach that she was conceived without original sin as their understanding of this doctrine differs from the Roman Catholic articulation.[12] The Orthodox do affirm that Mary is "all-holy" and never committed a personal sin during her lifetime.



Although the Lutheran churches teach that Mary was immaculately conceived,[13] they have nothing on their calendar for December 8. But some individual Lutheran churches may choose to celebrate the "Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary" (Roman Catholic title) on December 8 as a lesser festival.[14]

See also[edit]


  2. ^ http://books.google.com/books?id=nzTkg_A6CWkC&pg=PA1004&lpg=PA1004&dq=commissi+nobis+1708&source=bl&ots=NkwzN6AMyt&sig=kODY69G6sHaeDPmhXhxapIKI0Z0&hl=en&sa=X&ei=56CqUfzzEae7iwKp-4D4Bg&ved=0CDwQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=commissi%20nobis%201708&f=false
  3. ^ http://campus.udayton.edu/mary/resources/documents/popescoun3.html
  4. ^ De Maria Nunquam - http://books.google.com/books?id=mZXN1N7u99kC&pg=PA7&lpg=PA7&dq=commissi+nobis+1708&source=bl&ots=yiAqipwBf6&sig=KyLPnFQxz3PYYPmd3JBsweDV5go&hl=en&sa=X&ei=56CqUfzzEae7iwKp-4D4Bg&ved=0CEUQ6AEwBA#v=onepage&q=commissi%20nobis%201708&f=false
  7. ^ Commissi Nobis Divinitus - IV Decembris 1708 - Clementis XI, Papam - Sincera itaque nostra erga eamdem augustissimam caeli reginam, patronam, advocatam, nostram, devotione incitati festum conceptionis ipsius beatae mariae virginis immaculatae ubique terrarum in posterum ab omnibus et singulis utriusque sexus christifidelibus sicut alia festa de praecepto observationis festorum comprehendi auctoritate apostolica, tenore praesentium decernimus praecipimus et mandamus. Non obstantibus constitutionibus et ordinationibus apostolicis, ceterisque contrariis quibuscumque. Volumus autem ut earumdem praesentium literrarum transumptis, seu exemplis etiam impressis, manu alicuius notarii publici subscriptis, et sigillo personae in ecclesiastica dignitate constitutae munitis, eadem prorsus fides adhibeatur ipsis praesentibus si forent exhibitae vel ostensae.
  11. ^ Earth Calendar
  13. ^ Sermons of Martin Luther, 291
  14. ^ LCMS Immaculate Conception

External links[edit]