The feast of the immaculate conception, also known as the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, is an important date in the Catholic calendar. Often called Immaculate Conception Day, it is celebrated on December 8 every year.
It celebrates the sinless and perfect life of the Virgin Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ. The feast is one of the most Marian feasts in the liturgical calendar of the Roman Catholic Church celebrated across the globe. So let’s find out in detail about this important celebration.
What Is The Feast Of The Immaculate Conception?
Also known as the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception or Immaculate Conception Day, the feast has a long and interesting history attached to it.
Celebrated on December 8, nine months before the feast of the Nativity of Mary, it is a celebration of the Virgin Mary’s sinless and perfect life. Some reports state that it was first celebrated on December 9 in 5th century Syria.
Originally, the title focused on Jesus Christ’s grandmother and Mary’s mother Saint Anne. In the 7th century, the feast became widely popular in the East. After its translation to the Western Church in the next century, people started to celebrate the feast on December 8.
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Feast’s Orthodoxy
The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church has been celebrating the feast on August 13. The Eastern Orthodox Churches, on the other hand, celebrate it on December 9.
They deny the dogmas of the Roman Catholic and call it the “Feast of the Conception by Saint Anne of the Most Holy Theotokos”. The feast had spread from the Eastern Roman Empire to England, France, Germany, Southern Italy, and Rome.
The collect for the feast reads the proper as follows. “O God, mercifully hear the supplication of thy servants who are assembled together on the Conception of the Virgin Mother of God, may at her intercession be delivered by Thee from dangers which beset us.”
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