MARY IMMACULATE

In February 1849, Pope Pius IX had consulted all the bishops of the world asking their opinion on possibly proclaiming the dogma of the Immaculate Conception

What do you have to say about the beautiful decision to be taken concerning the Immaculate Conception of the Most Holy Virgin? We are happy to have been called upon to concur with our vote in this great event. I wrote to the Pope that never a decree of the Holy See could have been more magnificent in resting on the judgement of the whole Church dispersed in all parts of the world. It is more than a General Council. I have responded to the interpellation of the Head of the Church like the Fathers of the Councils, “judicans subscripsi.” That is what the Pope demands.

Letter to Bishop Bourget in Montreal. 10 May 1849, EO I, n 117

REFLECTION

“Today we contemplate the humble girl of Nazareth who, by an extraordinary and ineffable privilege, was preserved from the contagion of original sin and from every fault, so that she could be a worthy dwelling-place for the Incarnate Word. In Mary, the New Eve, Mother of the New Adam, the Father’s original, wondrous plan of love was re-established in an even more wondrous way.

Therefore the Church gratefully acclaims: “Through you, immaculate Virgin, the life we had lost was returned to us. You received a child from heaven, and brought forth to the world a Saviour” (St John Paul 2)