YESTERDAY, December 8, was her feast day. In the Catholic Church the Solemnity of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception is a holiday of obligation. That means every Catholic, unless he or she is sick, must go to Mass every December 8 as if it were a Sunday.

We have only three holy days of obligation in the Philippines: Christmas Day, the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary (December 8) and the solemnity of Mary Mother of God (January 1).

The Immaculate Conception is supremely important to Filipino Catholics because she is the principal patroness of the Philippines. We have a secondary patroness, Our Lady of Guadalupe.

As all Catholics know, but we should explain here to non-Catholics, our principal and secondary patroness is the one and the same Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God (Jesus, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity) in two of her many visual manifestations.

This is why, cooperating with the Intramuros Administration, the Cofradia de la Inmaculada Concepcion (Confraternity of the Immaculate Conception) holds its annual Grand Marian Procession of different images—or visual presentations—of Mother Mary in Intramuros on the Sunday before December 8. The last one held last week was the 33rd the Cofradia organized. The various images of Our Lady borne in carriages in last Sunday’s procession were featured in Spirituality Times last Sunday.

Holy day of obligation
The feast or solemnity of the Immaculate Conception is a holy day of obligation in all Catholic countries. The Holy See (the Vatican) has granted permission to bishops all over the world to temporarily waive the duty of Catholics to attend Mass on some holy days of obligation, when the solemnity falls on a Saturday or a Monday. But the Feast of the Immaculate Conception is never waived in the Philippines and, presumably, in other countries whose patroness she is.

Pope Pius IX instituted this celebration when he proclaimed the dogma on December 8, 1854. Since the times of the early Christians, it has always been an article of our Faith that Mary, whom God had chosen among the billions of women to become His human Mother, was conceived free from the stain of original sin. When heresies began to emerge among Christians, questioning this article of faith, Pius IX proclaimed the dogma. (A dogma is a doctrine laid down by the Teaching Authority of the Church as incontrovertibly true, so that believing and proclaiming otherwise would be an act of unfaithfulness to the Church or even heresy).

In that definition, Pius IX expressed the exact meaning of the truth of Mary’s Immaculate Conception and affirmed the constant faith of the Church that she was conceived free from the stain of original sin unlike all other human beings.

The Immaculate Conception has been celebrated in the East [where the Eastern rite and Orthodox Catholic—not Roman—churches are] since the eighth century and one century later also in many places in the West [by Roman rite Catholics].

“This privilege of Mary is the most beautiful fruit of her Son’s Redemption. Chosen as Mother of the Savior, Mary received the benefits of salvation from the first instance of her conception. Christ came to take away the sin of mankind; he did not allow it to contaminate Mary. The sanctity of our Blessed Mother is a model for all Christians. We seek her intercession to get rid of our sins and achieve sanctity.”

Because Mary the Immaculate Conception is the titular Patroness of the Philippines, many parishes and towns are named Concepcion in her honor. The most celebrated shrine of The Immaculate Conception is the Manila Cathedral in Intramuros, Manila. The second most well-known shrine is the Parish of the Immaculate Conception in Malabon.

Image in the Manila Cathedral
The most important image of Our Lady The Immaculate Conception is the one in the Manila Cathedral (which is now being repaired).

The church that is now the Manila Cathedral was built in 1571 by Fr. Juan de Vivero. Pope Gregory XIII elevated it to the status of a cathedral. The first bishop of Manila, Domingo de Salazar, established the first episcopal see as a subsidiary of the Church in Mexico under the patronage of the Most Pure and Immaculate Conception. Thereafter it became the venue for the most important Masses celebrated by the archbishops of Manila.

In 1981, Pope John Paul II raised the cathedral to the status of a Basilica Minore (minor basilica) and reconsecrated it to the Blessed Virgin as the Basilica de la Inmaculada Concepcion.

The statue of the Immaculate Conception at the Basilica’s altar is by the Italian artist, Maestro Enzo Assenza [from the website of the Arzobizado de Manila]. It was designed to copy the face of the Blessed Virgin painted by the Spanish artist, Murillo. Consecrated by Pope Pius XII’s Papal Bull Impositi Nobis in 1942, the Immaculate Conception is honored as the Principal Patroness of the Basilica. The photograph on the cover was taken by Noli Yamsuan.

In most countries, December 8’s solemnity in honor of the Immaculate Conception is the most attended holy day of obligation.

Many Catholics worldwide observe the tradition of doing a novena (a nine-day period of prayer and meditation) in preparation for the feast day.

Jose Rizal’s poem
Our most popular and respected national hero, Jose Rizal, wrote this poem dedicated to Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception.

To the Virgin Mary

Mary, sweet peace, solace dear
Of pained mortals! You’re the fount
Whence emanates the stream of succor,
That without cease our soil fructifies.

From thy throne, from heaven high,
Kindly hear my sorrowful cry!
And may thy shining veil protect
My voice that rises with rapid flight.

Thou art my Mother, Mary, pure;
Thou’ll be the fortress of my life;
Thou’ll be my guide on this angry sea.
If ferociously vice pursues me,
If in my pains death harasses me,
Help me, and drive away my woes!

Daughter of St. Joachim and St. Anne
Church tradition, hallowed as sacred history, tells us, that the Blessed Virgin Mary was born to St. Joachim and St. Anne, to be the woman promised in the Proto-Evangelium who would crush the head of the serpent. By being exempt from original sin and living a life in perfect fulfillment of the Will of God, Mary was visited by the Archangel Gabriel who said:

“Hail Mary full of Grace, the Lord is with Thee.

Behold thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and shall bring forth a son; and thou shall call his name Jesus. He 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.”

She conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit the Savior of the world, Our Lord Jesus Christ.

Our Lady lived a humble life as the Mother of Our Savior, and as the spouse of St. Joseph. She lived the most virtuous life, and accompanied Jesus all the way to Calvary.

The Blessed Virgin Mary didn’t die in the human way of having the flesh corrupted because she was exempt from original sin, and she was immaculate. She passed from this physical existence into the realm of the spirit in an ecstasy of love. The Fathers of the Church speak about her “dormition”—her sleep—and that after three days she was assumed in body and soul into heaven.

She is the Queen of Heaven and the Queen of all Creation, her holiness surpasses the holiness of all the saints and angels put together. By her dignity of being the Mother of God, she is our advocate before Him and at the foot of the cross she was given to us, represented by John, as our Mother.

“Behold your mother” was one of Jesus’ last words on the Cross.

She always tells her devotee to “Do whatever He tells you” as in the marriage at Cana, where her entreaty forced Jesus to do a miracle before the time for Him to show his powers.

Here are some of the points in the Catechism of the Catholic Church on The Immaculate Conception:

490. To become the mother of the Savior, Mary, “was enriched by God with gifts appropriate to such a role. The angel Gabriel at the moment of the annunciation salutes her as “full of grace.” In fact, in order for Mary to be able to give the free assent of her faith to the announcement of her vocation, it was necessary that she be wholly borne by God’s grace.

491. Through the centuries the Church has become ever more aware that Mary, “full of grace” through God, was redeemed from the moment of her conception. That is what the dogma of the Immaculate Conception confesses, as Pope Pius IX proclaimed in 1854:

The most Blessed Virgin Mary was, from the first moment of her conception, by singular grace and privilege of Almighty God and by virtue of the merits of Jesus Christ, Savior of human race, preserved immune from all stain of original sin.

492. The “splendor of an entirely unique holiness” by which Mary is “enriched from the first instant of her conception” comes wholly from Christ: she is “redeemed, in a more exalted fashion, by reason of the merits of her Son.” The Father blessed Mary more than any other created person in “Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places” and chose her “in Christ before the foundation of the world, to be holy and blameless before him in love.”

493. The Fathers of the Eastern tradition call the Mother of God “the All-Holy” (Panagia), and celebrate her as “free from any stain of sin, as though fashioned by the Holy Spirit and formed as a new creation.” By the grace of God Mary remained free of every personal sin her whole life long.

494. At the announcement that she would give birth to “the Son of the Most High” without knowing man, by the power of the Holy Spirit, Mary responded with the obedience of faith, certain that “with God nothing will be impossible”: “Behold, I am handmaid of the Lord; let it be [done] to me according to your word.” Thus, giving her consent to God’s word, Mary becomes the mother of Jesus. Espousing the divine will for salvation wholeheartedly, without a single sin to restrain her, she gave herself entirely to the person and to the work of her Son; she did so in order to serve the mystery of redemption with him and dependent on him, by God’s grace:

As. St. Irenaeus says, “Being obedient she became the cause of salvation for herself and for the whole human race.” Hence not a few of the early Fathers gladly assert . . . : “The knot of Eve’s disobedience was untied by Mary’s obedience: what the virgin Eve bound through her disbelief, Mary loosened by her faith.” Comparing her with Eve, they call Mary “the Mother of the living” and frequently claim: “Death through Eve, life through Mary.”

Mary’s divine motherhood
495. Called in the Gospels “the mother of Jesus,” Mary is acclaimed by Elizabeth, at the prompting of the Spirit and even before the birth of her son, as “the mother of my Lord.” In fact, the One whom she conceived as man by the Holy Spirit, who truly became her Son according to the flesh, was none other than the Father’s eternal Son, the second person of the Holy Trinity. Hence the Church confesses that Mary is truly “Mother of God” (Theotokos).

WITH INPUTS FROM JOAQUIN B. SAR