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(Excerpts from the Catholic Encyclopedia entry) Immaculate Conception THE DOCTRINE In the Constitution Ineffabilis Deus, of 8 December, 1854, Pius IX pronounced and defined that the Blessed Virgin Mary "in the first instance of her conception, by a singular privilege and grace granted by God, in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the human race, was preserved exempt from all stain of original sin." PROOF FROM SCRIPTURE Genesis 3:15 No direct or categorical and stringent proof of the dogma can be brought forward from Scripture. But the first scriptural passage which contains the promise of the...

December 8, 2004Solemnity of the Immaculate Conceptionof the Blessed Virgin Mary Reading IGen 3:9-15, 20 After the man, Adam, had eaten of the tree,the LORD God called to the man and asked him, "Where are you?"He answered, "I heard you in the garden;but I was afraid, because I was naked,so I hid myself."Then he asked, "Who told you that you were naked?You have eaten, then,from the tree of which I had forbidden you to eat!"The man replied, "The woman whom you put here with me—she gave me fruit from the tree, and so I ate it."The LORD God then asked...

                       December 8, 2004 O Mary Conceived Without Sin, Pray For Us Who Have Recourse to Thee by Thomas A. Droleskey Words are so inadequate to communicate the beauty of the great feast of Our Lady's Immaculate Conception. As we begin the second week of Advent, the Church gives us a chance to meditate upon the great mystery of God 's Redemptive Love as He fashioned His own Mother in the womb of her Mother Saint Ann. Yes, as we continue to use Advent to reflect on the many comings of Christ in our lives--as well as His...

INEFFABILIS DEUS (The Immaculate Conception) Pope Pius IX Apostolic Constitution issued on December 8, 1854.God Ineffable—whose ways are mercy and truth, whose will is omnipotence itself, and whose wisdom "reaches from end to end mightily, and orders all things sweetly"—having foreseen from all eternity the lamentable wretchedness of the entire human race which would result from the sin of Adam, decreed, by a plan hidden from the centuries, to complete the first work of his goodness by a mystery yet more wondrously sublime through the Incarnation of the Word. This he decreed in order that man who, contrary to...

    |   Your Praises We Sing   by Bill DoddsOn the eve of the 150th anniversary of the proclamation of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception, a look at Mary's singular honor. In this article: St. Anne, St. Joachim and the Unborn Mary Lessons from the Bible and the Catechism Serious Doubts by Serious Saints St. Bernadette's Contribution   Scour the Old and New Testaments and you'll find no definitive word on Mary's being conceived without the stain of original sin.  Pore over the writings of early Christian theologians known as Church Fathers, or later saints and...

Immaculate Conception Question from Dan on 10-29-2003:Anthony, Thanks for you time and effort. Its a blessing. I was wondering do the Eastern Catholics accept the teaching on the Immucalute Concepation? Thanks! Answer by Anthony Dragani on 11-04-2003:Dan, Thank you for the kind words. Concerning the Eastern Catholic understanding of the Immaculate Conception, I will offer a very brief summary of the issue. First, the theological seeds of the Immaculate Conception originated in the East, and were later spread to the West. Since the earliest centuries the Eastern Churches have celebrated "St. Anne's Conception of the Theotokos," on December 9. Only...

December 9, 2002Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary Psalm: Monday Week 52 Reading I Responsorial Psalm Reading II Gospel Families Schools Adults Reading IGn 3:9-15, 20 After the man, Adam, had eaten of the tree,the LORD God called to the man and asked him, "Where are you?"He answered, "I heard you in the garden;but I was afraid, because I was naked,so I hid myself."Then he asked, "Who told you that you were naked?You have eaten, then,from the tree of which I had forbidden you to eat!"The man replied, "The woman whom you put here with me_she...