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 Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception December 8, 2015 Beginning of the Holy Year of Mercy Scott 1609 (2015) The Feast of the Immaculate Conception, more formally known as the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, is celebrated on the liturgical calendar on December 8. It is a patronal feast in the United States. The dogma of the Immaculate Conception was celebrated by the Church for centuries, but it was not formally proclaimed until 1854 by Pope Pius IX in his encyclical "Ineffabilius Deus", a portion of which states: "Accordingly, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, for the honor of the Holy and undivided Trinity, for the glory and adornment of the Virgin Mother of God, for the exaltation of the Catholic Faith, and for the furtherance of the Catholic religion, by the authority of Jesus Christ our Lord, of the Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul, and by our own: “We declare, pronounce, and define that the doctrine which holds that the most Blessed Virgin Mary, in the first instance of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege granted by Almighty God, in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, the Savior of the human race, was preserved free from all stain of original sin, is a doctrine revealed by God and therefore to be believed firmly and constantly by all the faithful."Simply stated, the dogma defines the belief that the Blessed Virgin Mary, mother of Jesus Christ, was free from original sin from the moment of her conception. The concept of the Immaculate Conception expands upon the beliefs affirmed by the Council of Trent, which had previously claimed that Mary was free from personal sin. The dogma of the Immaculate Conception is one of the four Marian Dogmas of the Catholic Church which affirm ’Mary's personal relationship with God and her role in human salvation’: Divine Motherhood: proclaimed at the Council of Ephesus in 431 AD, this led to the use of various names to identify Mary's role as mother of Jesus, including ‘Mother of God’. This comes from the Greek term ‘Theotokos’, or ‘Birthgiver of God’. Perpetual Virginity: titles such as ‘Blessed Virgin Mary’, ‘Mary, Ever-Virgin’ and ‘Mary the Virgin’ express the perpetual virginity of Mary. From its earliest days, Christianity has professed that Jesus Christ was conceived by the Holy Spirit, without human seed, in the womb of the Virgin Mary. This dogma holds ‘that Mary was and is Virgin before, in and after Christ's birth’. This was codified at the Lateran Council of 649 AD. Immaculate Conception: proclaimed as dogma on December 8, 1854, it states that the: ’most Blessed Virgin Mary, from the first moment of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege from Almighty God and in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, was kept free of every stain of original sin.’ The dogma confirms Mary’s ‘all-holiness’ and, that as a consequence of being free from original sin, she was permanently and intimately related to God. The dogma declares that from her beginning, Mary was exceptionally holy and in constant union with the sanctifying grace of the Holy Spirit. Mary’s Assumption: proclaimed by Pope Pius XII on November 1, 1950 in his encyclical Munificentissimus Deus, the dogma states: ’Mary, Immaculate Mother of God ever Virgin, after finishing the course of her life on earth, was taken up in body and soul to heavenly glory.’ The centenary of the proclamation of the Dogma of the Immaculate Conception was celebrated on a six-stamp set issued on May 26 1954. The stamp set also ushered in the Marian Year of 1954, as proclaimed by Pope Pius XII. The L3, L6 and L20 stamps show Pope Pius IX with a tablet remembering the issuance of the Dogma in 1854. The L4, L12 and L35 stamps picture Pope Pius XII with a tablet announcing the start of the Marian Year on December 8, 1953, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. 
 
 Centenary of the Dogma of the Immaculate Conception and the Proclamation of the Marian Year Scott 176-181 (1954) In addition, the Dogma of the Immaculate Conception is represented on one of the stamps issued to commemorate the centennial of the death of Pope Pius IX: 
 Centennial of the Death of Pope Pius IX: Middle Stamp Illustrates the Seal from the Encyclical Formally Proclaining the Dogma Of The Immaculate Conception in 1854 Scott 632-634 (1978) REFERENCES: |
