What is the Feast of the Immaculate Conception?

Is December 8 the birthday of Mama Mary? Or is it the feast celebrating how Mary conceived Jesus in her womb without original sin?

None of the above.

The Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, which Catholics celebrate every December 8, refers to the conception of Mary in the womb of her mother, Saint Anne. 

(The birthday of Mary is celebrated every September 8, exactly nine months after the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. Meanwhile, the conception of Jesus in Mary’s womb is celebrated during the Feast of the Annunciation every March 25, exactly nine months before Christmas.)

Pope Pius IX explained the dogma of the Immaculate Conception in the church document Ineffabilis Deus on December 8, 1854. “The most Blessed Virgin Mary was, from the first moment of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege of almighty God and by virtue of the merits of Jesus Christ, Savior of the human race, preserved immune from all stain of original sin,” Pius wrote.

Based on Catholic theology, God gave Mary this grace because she would bear Jesus in her own womb. Citing the church document Lumen Gentium, the Catechism of the Catholic Church states that Mary is “redeemed, in a more exalted fashion, by reason of the merits of her Son.”

The Feast of the Immaculate Conception is a special nonworking holiday in the Philippines, following a law signed by former president Rodrigo Duterte on December 28, 2017.

“December 8 of every year is hereby declared a special nonworking holiday in the entire country to commemorate the Feast of the Immaculate Conception of Mary, the principal patroness of the Philippines,” reads Republic Act No. 10966.

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Senator Vicente Sotto III, in his explanatory note when the law was being proposed, noted that the Philippine Catholic Church observes only three “holy days of obligation” — or days when Mass is required, aside from Sundays. These are the Feast of Mary, Mother of God (January 1), the Feast of the Immaculate Conception (December 8), and Christmas (December 25).

Of these three holy days of obligation, only the Feast of the Immaculate Conception was not a holiday for the longest time.

The law would “allow Filipino Catholics to further strengthen their established devotion to Mary, Mother of God, through hearing Mass and through the exercise of other customary religious activities,” Sotto explained. – Rappler.com