The Immaculate Conception

8 December  ·  Solemnity  ·  White

She stands on the moon with the twelve stars about her head and her hands joined, and nothing of the earth touches her. The feast of the Conception of Mary was kept in the monasteries of Palestine by the end of the seventh century, at Naples in the ninth, and in England at Winchester before the Norman Conquest; the Council of London approved it in 1129. Sixtus IV adopted it for the whole Latin Church on 28 February 1476. On 8 December 1854 Pius IX, in the bull Ineffabilis Deus, defined as a dogma of faith that the Blessed Virgin Mary, in the first instant of her conception, was preserved exempt from all stain of original sin. The painting is the dogma before it was written: she was never anything but this.

Frederick Holweck, “Immaculate Conception”, The Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. 7 (1910): newadvent.org

The Gospel of the feast

²⁶And in the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God into a city of Galilee, called Nazareth, ²⁷To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David: and the virgin's name was Mary. ²⁸And the angel being come in, said unto her: Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women. ²⁹Who having heard, was troubled at his saying and thought with herself what manner of salutation this should be. ³⁰And the angel said to her: Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found grace with God. ³¹Behold thou shalt conceive in thy womb and shalt bring forth a son: and thou shalt call his name Jesus. ³²He shall be great and shall be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of David his father: and he shall reign in the house of Jacob for ever. ³³And of his kingdom there shall be no end. ³⁴And Mary said to the angel: How shall this be done, because I know not man? ³⁵And the angel answering, said to her: The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee and the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee. And therefore also the Holy which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. ³⁶And behold thy cousin Elizabeth, she also hath conceived a son in her old age: and this is the sixth month with her that is called barren. ³⁷Because no word shall be impossible with God. ³⁸And Mary said: Behold the handmaid of the Lord: be it done to me according to thy word. And the angel departed from her.

Luke 1:26–38, Douay-Rheims (Challoner)

In painting

The feasts of the year  ·  The Rosary