Today, December 8, the Church celebrates the Immaculate Conception of Our Lady.

Many people mistakingly believe that the Immaculate Conception refers to the birth of Jesus (i.e., the Nativity). Rather, the solemnity of the Immaculate Conception refers to Mary’s conception in the womb of her mother, Anne, and serves to mark the blessèd Virgin’s freedom from the original sin of pride. This concept is handed down by Tradition and is part of the dogmatic repository of the Faith, to be believed by all Catholics:

We pronounce, declare and define, unto the glory of the holy and indivisible Trinity, the honor and ornament of the holy Virgin, the Mother of God, for the exaltation of the Catholic faith and the increase of the Christian religion, by the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ and the blessed apostles Peter and Paul, and in our own authority, that the doctrine which holds the blessed Virgin Mary to have been from the first moment of her conception, by singular grace and privilege of almighty God, in view of the merits of Jesus Christ the Savior of mankind, preserved free from all stain of original sin was revealed by God and is therefore to be firmly and constantly believed by all the faithful.

Pope Pius IX
Ineffabilis Deus
December 8, 1854

The Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception is the patronal feast of the United States and a Holy Day of Obligation. Find out your local Mass times now!