Traditional Catholic Calendar Immaculate Conception of The Blessed Virgin Mary December 8th Holy Day of Obligation “This truth of Mary’s Immaculate Conception, ...revealed to the Apostles by the divine …More
Traditional Catholic Calendar
Immaculate Conception of The Blessed Virgin Mary
December 8th
Holy Day of Obligation
“This truth of Mary’s Immaculate Conception, ...revealed to the Apostles by the divine Son of Mary, inherited by the Church, taught by the Holy Fathers, believed by each generation of the Christian people with an ever increasing explicitness, this truth, we say, was implied in the very notion of a Mother of God. To believe that Mary was Mother of God, was an implicitly believing that she, on whom this sublime dignity was conferred, had never been defiled with the slightest stain of sin, and that God had bestowed upon her an absolute exemption from sin... the Immaculate Conception of Mary rests on an explicit Definition dictated by the Holy Ghost. Peter has spoken by the mouth of Pius [IX]; and when Peter has spoken, every Christian should believe; for the Son of God has said: I have prayed for thee, Peter, that thy faith fail not. (Luke 22:32) And again: The Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things, and bring all things to your mind, whatsoever I shall have said to you. (John 14:26)
The Symbol of our faith has therefore received not a new truth, but a new light on a truth which was previously the object of the universal belief. On that great day of the Definition, the infernal serpent was again crushed beneath the victorious foot of the Virgin-Mother [Genesis 3:15], and the Lord graciously gave us the strongest pledge of his mercy. He still loves this guilty earth, since he has deigned to enlighten it with one of the brightest rays of his Mother’s glory. How this earth of ours exulted! ... we shall look forward to the future with renewed confidence; for if the Holy Ghost bids us tremble for the days when Truths are diminished among the children of men, he would, consequently, have us look on those times as blessed by God in which we receive an increase of truth; an increase both in light and in authority...
The Greek Church... kept this feast even in the 6th century, as is evident from the ceremonial or... the Type, of St. Sabas. In the West, we find it established in the Gothic Church of Spain as far back as the 8th century. A celebrated calendar which was engraved on marble in the 9th century for the use of the Church of Naples, attests that it had already been introduced there. Paul, the Deacon, Secretary to the Emperor Charlemagne, and afterwards Monk & Monte-Cassino, composed a celebrated Hymn on the mystery of the Immaculate Conception; we will insert this piece later on, as it is given in the manuscript copies of Monte-Cassino & Benevento. In 1066, the Feast was first established in England, in consequence of the pious Abbot Helsyn’s being miraculously preserved from shipwreck; and shortly after that, was made general through the whole Island by the zeal of the great St. Anselm, Monk of the Order of St. Benedict, and Archbishop of Canterbury. From England it passed into Normandy, and took root in France. We find it sanctioned in Germany, in a council held in 1049, at which St. Leo IX was present; in Navarre, 1090, at the Abbey of Irach; in Belgium, at Liege, in 1142. Thus did the Churches of the West testify their faith in this mystery, by accepting its Feast, which is the expression of faith.
Lastly, it was adopted by Rome herself, and her doing so rendered the united testimony of her children—the other Churches—more imposing than ever. It was Pope Sixtus IV who, in the year 1476, published the decree of the feast Our Lady’s Conception for the City of St. Peter. In the next century, 1568, St. Pius V published the universal edition of the Roman Breviary, and in its Calendar was inserted this feast as one of those Christian solemnities which the faithful are every year bound to observe. It was not from Rome that the devotion of the Catholic world to this mystery received its first impulse; she sanctioned it by her liturgical authority, just as she confirmed it by her doctrinal authority...
The three great Catholic Nations of Europe—Germany, France, and Spain—vied with each other in their devotion to this mystery of Mary’s Immaculate Conception. France, by her King Louis XIV, obtained from Clement IX that this feast should be kept with an Octave throughout the kingdom; which favor was afterwards extended to the universal Church by Innocent XII. For centuries previous to this, the Theological Faculty of Paris had always exacted from its Professors the oath that they would defend this privilege of Mary; a pious practice which continued as long as the University itself.
As regards Germany, the Emperor Ferdinand III, in 1647, ordered a splendid monument to be erected in the great square of Vienna. It is covered with emblems and figures symbolical of Mary’s victory over sin, and on the top is the statue of the Immaculate Queen, with this solemn and truly Catholic inscription:
TO GOD, INFINITE IN GOODNESS AND POWER,
KING OF HEAVEN AND EARTH,
BY WHOM KINGS REIGN;
TO THE VIRGIN MOTHER OF GOD
CONCEIVED WITHOUT SIN,
BY WHOM PRINCE COMMAND,
WHOM AUSTRIA, DEVOUTLY LOVING, HOLDS AS HER
QUEEN AND PATRON;
FERDINAND III, EMPEROR,
CONFIDES, GIVES, CONSECRATES HIMSELF,
CHILDREN, PEOPLE, ARMIES, PROVINCES,
AND ALL THAT IS HIS,
AND ERECTS IN ACCOMPLISHMENT OF A VOW
THIS STATUE,
AS A PERPETUAL MEMORIAL.
...
But the zeal of Spain for the privilege of the holy Mother of God surpassed that of all other nations. In the year 1398, John I, King of Arragon, issued a Chart, in which he solemnly places his person and kingdom under the protection of Mary Immaculate. Later on, Kings Philip III and Philip IV sent ambassadors to Rome, soliciting, in their names, the solemn definition, which heaven reserved, in its mercy, for our days. King Charles III two centuries ago obtained permission from Clement XIII that the Immaculate Conception should be the patronal feast of Spain. The people of Spain, so justly called the Catholic Kingdom, put over the door, or on the front of their houses, a tablet with the words of Mary’s privilege written on it; and when they meet, they greet each other with an expression in honor of the same dear mystery. It was a Spanish Nun, Mary of Jesus, Abbess of the Convent of the Immaculate Conception of Agreda, who wrote God’s Mystic City, which inspired Murillo with his Immaculate Conception, the masterpiece of the Spanish School...
“... the Seraphic Order, the Order of St. Francis of Assisi, ... had [an immense share] in the earthly triumph of our Blessed Mother, the Queen of heaven and earth... Pius IX received from the hands of the children of St. Francis a tribute of homage and thankfulness, which the Scotist School, after having fought four hundred years in defense of Mary’s Immaculate Conception, now presented to the Pontiff.
In the presence of the 54 Cardinals, 42 Archbishops, and 92 Bishops; before an immense concourse of people that filled St. Peter’s, and had united in prayer, begging the assistance of the Spirit of Truth; the Vicar of Christ had just pronounced the decision which so many ages had hoped to hear. The Pontiff had offered the Holy Sacrifice on the Confession of St. Peter. He had crowned the Statue of the Immaculate Queen with a splendid diadem. Carried on his lofty throne, and wearing his triple crown, he had reached the portico of the basilica; there he is met by the two representatives of St. Francis: they prostrate before the throne: the triumphal procession halts: and first, there advances the General of the Friars Minor Observantines; he presents to the Holy Father a branch of silver Lilies: he was followed by the General of the Conventual Friars, holding in his hand a branch of silver Roses. The Pope graciously accepted both. The Lilies and Roses were symbolical of Mary’s purity and love; the whiteness of that orb, on which is reflected the light of the Sun;
for, as the Canticle says of Mary, “she is beautiful as the Moon.” (Song of Solomon 6:9) The Pontiff was overcome with emotion at these gifts of the family of the Seraphic Patriarch, to which we might justly apply what was said of the Banner of the Maid of Orleans: “It had stood the brunt of the battle; it deserved to share in the glory of the victory.” And thus ended the glories of that grand morning of the 8th of December, 1854.” (The Liturgical Year, 1841-1875, Dom Prosper Guéranger)
PRAYER
“It is thus, O thou the humblest of creatures, that thy Immaculate Conception has been glorified on earth! And how could it be else than a great joy to men, that thou art honored by them, thou the aurora of the Sun of Justice? Dost thou not bring them the tidings of their salvation? Art not thou, O Mary, that bright ray of hope, which suddenly bursts forth in the deep abyss of the world’s misery? What should we have been without Jesus? and thou art his dearest Mother, the holiest of God’s creatures, the purest of virgins, and our own most loving Mother!
How thy gentle light gladdens our wearied eyes, sweet Mother! Generation had followed generation on this earth of ours. Men looked up to heaven through their tears, hoping to see appear on the horizon the Star, which they had been told should disperse the gloomy horrors of the world’s darkness; but death came, and they sank into the tomb, without seeing even the dawn of the Light, for which alone they cared to live. It was for us that God had reserved the blessing of seeing thy lovely rising, O thou fair Morning Star! which sheddest thy blessed rays on the sea, and bringest calm after the long stormy night! Oh! prepare our eyes that they may behold the divine Sun which will soon follow in thy path, and give to the world his reign of light and day. Prepare our hearts, for it is to our hearts that this Jesus of thine wishes to show himself. To see him, our hearts must be pure; purify them, thou O Immaculate Mother! The divine wisdom has willed that of the feasts which the Church dedicates to thee, this of thy Immaculate Conception should be celebrated during Advent; that thus the children of the Church, reflecting on the jealous care wherewith God preserved thee from every stain of sin, because thou wast to be the Mother of his divine Son—might prepare to receive this same Jesus by the most perfect renouncing of every sin and every attachment to sin.
O Mary! Ark of the Covenant, built of an incorruptible wood, and covered over with the purest gold! help us to correspond with those wonderful designs of our God, who, after having found his glory in thy incomparable purity, wills now to seek his glory in our unworthiness, by making us, from being slaves of the devil, his temples and his abode, where he may find his delight. Help us to this, O thou that by the mercy of thy Son hast never known sin! and receive this day our devoutest praise. Thou art the Ark of Salvation; the one creature unwrecked in the universal deluge; the white Fleece filled with the dew of heaven, while the earth around is parched; the Flame which the many waters could not quench; the Lily blooming amidst thorns; the Garden shut against the infernal serpent; the Fountain sealed, whose limpid water was never ruffled; the House of the Lord, of which such glorious things are said. (Psalms 86:3) We delight in telling all thy glorious titles, O Mary! for thou art our Mother, and we love thee, and the Mother’s glory is the glory of her children. Cease not to bless and protect all them that honor thy immense privilege, O thou that wast conceived on this day! May this feast fit us for that mystery, for which thy Conception, thy Birth, and thy Annunciation, are all preparations—the Birth of thy Jesus in Bethlehem: yea, dear Mother, desire thy Jesus—give him to us and satisfy the longings of our love.” (The Liturgical Year, 1841-1875, Dom Prosper Guéranger)
Immaculate Conception of The Blessed Virgin Mary
December 8th
Holy Day of Obligation
“This truth of Mary’s Immaculate Conception, ...revealed to the Apostles by the divine Son of Mary, inherited by the Church, taught by the Holy Fathers, believed by each generation of the Christian people with an ever increasing explicitness, this truth, we say, was implied in the very notion of a Mother of God. To believe that Mary was Mother of God, was an implicitly believing that she, on whom this sublime dignity was conferred, had never been defiled with the slightest stain of sin, and that God had bestowed upon her an absolute exemption from sin... the Immaculate Conception of Mary rests on an explicit Definition dictated by the Holy Ghost. Peter has spoken by the mouth of Pius [IX]; and when Peter has spoken, every Christian should believe; for the Son of God has said: I have prayed for thee, Peter, that thy faith fail not. (Luke 22:32) And again: The Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things, and bring all things to your mind, whatsoever I shall have said to you. (John 14:26)
The Symbol of our faith has therefore received not a new truth, but a new light on a truth which was previously the object of the universal belief. On that great day of the Definition, the infernal serpent was again crushed beneath the victorious foot of the Virgin-Mother [Genesis 3:15], and the Lord graciously gave us the strongest pledge of his mercy. He still loves this guilty earth, since he has deigned to enlighten it with one of the brightest rays of his Mother’s glory. How this earth of ours exulted! ... we shall look forward to the future with renewed confidence; for if the Holy Ghost bids us tremble for the days when Truths are diminished among the children of men, he would, consequently, have us look on those times as blessed by God in which we receive an increase of truth; an increase both in light and in authority...
The Greek Church... kept this feast even in the 6th century, as is evident from the ceremonial or... the Type, of St. Sabas. In the West, we find it established in the Gothic Church of Spain as far back as the 8th century. A celebrated calendar which was engraved on marble in the 9th century for the use of the Church of Naples, attests that it had already been introduced there. Paul, the Deacon, Secretary to the Emperor Charlemagne, and afterwards Monk & Monte-Cassino, composed a celebrated Hymn on the mystery of the Immaculate Conception; we will insert this piece later on, as it is given in the manuscript copies of Monte-Cassino & Benevento. In 1066, the Feast was first established in England, in consequence of the pious Abbot Helsyn’s being miraculously preserved from shipwreck; and shortly after that, was made general through the whole Island by the zeal of the great St. Anselm, Monk of the Order of St. Benedict, and Archbishop of Canterbury. From England it passed into Normandy, and took root in France. We find it sanctioned in Germany, in a council held in 1049, at which St. Leo IX was present; in Navarre, 1090, at the Abbey of Irach; in Belgium, at Liege, in 1142. Thus did the Churches of the West testify their faith in this mystery, by accepting its Feast, which is the expression of faith.
Lastly, it was adopted by Rome herself, and her doing so rendered the united testimony of her children—the other Churches—more imposing than ever. It was Pope Sixtus IV who, in the year 1476, published the decree of the feast Our Lady’s Conception for the City of St. Peter. In the next century, 1568, St. Pius V published the universal edition of the Roman Breviary, and in its Calendar was inserted this feast as one of those Christian solemnities which the faithful are every year bound to observe. It was not from Rome that the devotion of the Catholic world to this mystery received its first impulse; she sanctioned it by her liturgical authority, just as she confirmed it by her doctrinal authority...
The three great Catholic Nations of Europe—Germany, France, and Spain—vied with each other in their devotion to this mystery of Mary’s Immaculate Conception. France, by her King Louis XIV, obtained from Clement IX that this feast should be kept with an Octave throughout the kingdom; which favor was afterwards extended to the universal Church by Innocent XII. For centuries previous to this, the Theological Faculty of Paris had always exacted from its Professors the oath that they would defend this privilege of Mary; a pious practice which continued as long as the University itself.
As regards Germany, the Emperor Ferdinand III, in 1647, ordered a splendid monument to be erected in the great square of Vienna. It is covered with emblems and figures symbolical of Mary’s victory over sin, and on the top is the statue of the Immaculate Queen, with this solemn and truly Catholic inscription:
TO GOD, INFINITE IN GOODNESS AND POWER,
KING OF HEAVEN AND EARTH,
BY WHOM KINGS REIGN;
TO THE VIRGIN MOTHER OF GOD
CONCEIVED WITHOUT SIN,
BY WHOM PRINCE COMMAND,
WHOM AUSTRIA, DEVOUTLY LOVING, HOLDS AS HER
QUEEN AND PATRON;
FERDINAND III, EMPEROR,
CONFIDES, GIVES, CONSECRATES HIMSELF,
CHILDREN, PEOPLE, ARMIES, PROVINCES,
AND ALL THAT IS HIS,
AND ERECTS IN ACCOMPLISHMENT OF A VOW
THIS STATUE,
AS A PERPETUAL MEMORIAL.
...
But the zeal of Spain for the privilege of the holy Mother of God surpassed that of all other nations. In the year 1398, John I, King of Arragon, issued a Chart, in which he solemnly places his person and kingdom under the protection of Mary Immaculate. Later on, Kings Philip III and Philip IV sent ambassadors to Rome, soliciting, in their names, the solemn definition, which heaven reserved, in its mercy, for our days. King Charles III two centuries ago obtained permission from Clement XIII that the Immaculate Conception should be the patronal feast of Spain. The people of Spain, so justly called the Catholic Kingdom, put over the door, or on the front of their houses, a tablet with the words of Mary’s privilege written on it; and when they meet, they greet each other with an expression in honor of the same dear mystery. It was a Spanish Nun, Mary of Jesus, Abbess of the Convent of the Immaculate Conception of Agreda, who wrote God’s Mystic City, which inspired Murillo with his Immaculate Conception, the masterpiece of the Spanish School...
“... the Seraphic Order, the Order of St. Francis of Assisi, ... had [an immense share] in the earthly triumph of our Blessed Mother, the Queen of heaven and earth... Pius IX received from the hands of the children of St. Francis a tribute of homage and thankfulness, which the Scotist School, after having fought four hundred years in defense of Mary’s Immaculate Conception, now presented to the Pontiff.
In the presence of the 54 Cardinals, 42 Archbishops, and 92 Bishops; before an immense concourse of people that filled St. Peter’s, and had united in prayer, begging the assistance of the Spirit of Truth; the Vicar of Christ had just pronounced the decision which so many ages had hoped to hear. The Pontiff had offered the Holy Sacrifice on the Confession of St. Peter. He had crowned the Statue of the Immaculate Queen with a splendid diadem. Carried on his lofty throne, and wearing his triple crown, he had reached the portico of the basilica; there he is met by the two representatives of St. Francis: they prostrate before the throne: the triumphal procession halts: and first, there advances the General of the Friars Minor Observantines; he presents to the Holy Father a branch of silver Lilies: he was followed by the General of the Conventual Friars, holding in his hand a branch of silver Roses. The Pope graciously accepted both. The Lilies and Roses were symbolical of Mary’s purity and love; the whiteness of that orb, on which is reflected the light of the Sun;
for, as the Canticle says of Mary, “she is beautiful as the Moon.” (Song of Solomon 6:9) The Pontiff was overcome with emotion at these gifts of the family of the Seraphic Patriarch, to which we might justly apply what was said of the Banner of the Maid of Orleans: “It had stood the brunt of the battle; it deserved to share in the glory of the victory.” And thus ended the glories of that grand morning of the 8th of December, 1854.” (The Liturgical Year, 1841-1875, Dom Prosper Guéranger)
PRAYER
“It is thus, O thou the humblest of creatures, that thy Immaculate Conception has been glorified on earth! And how could it be else than a great joy to men, that thou art honored by them, thou the aurora of the Sun of Justice? Dost thou not bring them the tidings of their salvation? Art not thou, O Mary, that bright ray of hope, which suddenly bursts forth in the deep abyss of the world’s misery? What should we have been without Jesus? and thou art his dearest Mother, the holiest of God’s creatures, the purest of virgins, and our own most loving Mother!
How thy gentle light gladdens our wearied eyes, sweet Mother! Generation had followed generation on this earth of ours. Men looked up to heaven through their tears, hoping to see appear on the horizon the Star, which they had been told should disperse the gloomy horrors of the world’s darkness; but death came, and they sank into the tomb, without seeing even the dawn of the Light, for which alone they cared to live. It was for us that God had reserved the blessing of seeing thy lovely rising, O thou fair Morning Star! which sheddest thy blessed rays on the sea, and bringest calm after the long stormy night! Oh! prepare our eyes that they may behold the divine Sun which will soon follow in thy path, and give to the world his reign of light and day. Prepare our hearts, for it is to our hearts that this Jesus of thine wishes to show himself. To see him, our hearts must be pure; purify them, thou O Immaculate Mother! The divine wisdom has willed that of the feasts which the Church dedicates to thee, this of thy Immaculate Conception should be celebrated during Advent; that thus the children of the Church, reflecting on the jealous care wherewith God preserved thee from every stain of sin, because thou wast to be the Mother of his divine Son—might prepare to receive this same Jesus by the most perfect renouncing of every sin and every attachment to sin.
O Mary! Ark of the Covenant, built of an incorruptible wood, and covered over with the purest gold! help us to correspond with those wonderful designs of our God, who, after having found his glory in thy incomparable purity, wills now to seek his glory in our unworthiness, by making us, from being slaves of the devil, his temples and his abode, where he may find his delight. Help us to this, O thou that by the mercy of thy Son hast never known sin! and receive this day our devoutest praise. Thou art the Ark of Salvation; the one creature unwrecked in the universal deluge; the white Fleece filled with the dew of heaven, while the earth around is parched; the Flame which the many waters could not quench; the Lily blooming amidst thorns; the Garden shut against the infernal serpent; the Fountain sealed, whose limpid water was never ruffled; the House of the Lord, of which such glorious things are said. (Psalms 86:3) We delight in telling all thy glorious titles, O Mary! for thou art our Mother, and we love thee, and the Mother’s glory is the glory of her children. Cease not to bless and protect all them that honor thy immense privilege, O thou that wast conceived on this day! May this feast fit us for that mystery, for which thy Conception, thy Birth, and thy Annunciation, are all preparations—the Birth of thy Jesus in Bethlehem: yea, dear Mother, desire thy Jesus—give him to us and satisfy the longings of our love.” (The Liturgical Year, 1841-1875, Dom Prosper Guéranger)