One of the most important pre-Christmas holidays celebrated in Spain is the Immaculate Conception, dedicated to the Virgin Mary. We explain below, why is the Day of the Immaculate Conception celebrated, when is it?.
The biography of Jesus of Nazareth is also written with his mother, the virgin mary who was born on September 8, so it is considered that his conception occurred on December 8the day on which this festival is celebrated, which, as we have mentioned, is one of the most important on our calendar.
When is Immaculate Conception Day 2020
As we have just pointed out, The day of the Immaculate Conception is celebrated on December 8which this year will fall on a Tuesday, and which is part of the so-called “December bridge” in our country, if we take into account or remember that on December 6, Constitution Day is celebrated.
The celebration on this day has to do with the figure of the Virgin Maryaccording to the liturgy of the Church and the fact of celebrating the day on which she is considered to have been conceived.
The Immaculate Conception is a dogma proclaimed by Pope Pius IX on December 8, 1854with the bull “Ineffabilis Deus”: it sanctions how the Virgin Mary was preserved immune from original sin, from the first moment of her conception. The dogma therefore refers to original sin. The Catholic Church celebrates the Feast of the Immaculate Conception every December 8 and it has become in our country and in many other Catholic countries, a national holiday, which also advances the Christmas season. In devotion also, the Immaculate Conception is linked to the Lourdes apparitions of 1858 and, iconographically, also to the previous appearances of the Rue du Bac in Paris, in 1830.
The The day this bull was issued was December 8 and from there the anniversary originated.
What is celebrated on the Day of the Immaculate Conception
On December 8, therefore, the religious dogma is celebrated -which is a fundamental and incontestable principle for believers- in which it was sanctioned that the Virgin Mary, mother of Jesus Christ, was born and she was conceived without Original Sin.
According to the Christian religion, since Adam and Eve disobeyed God by tasting the Forbidden Fruit, all his descendants, that is, the whole human race, are born with such guilt that overwhelms your soul. Only after Baptism, therefore, according to Christianity, we return to being candid and pure!
In 1854, however, after centuries of theological theories and debates, Pope Pius IX issued the aforementioned bull Ineffabilis Deus that definitively sanctioned the “Immaculate Conception” of Mary. With this official communication it was establishedtherefore, that the Mother of Jesus not only was she born absolutely pure, but she was conceived in the womb devoid of Original Sin (and therefore “immaculate”, without stains).
The “Immaculate Conception”
The Immaculate Conception it literally means “immaculate conception” or “impeccable conception.” Though its name can be misleading, it is not related to the virginity of Mary and the conception of Jesus Christ through the work of the Holy Spirit. Instead, the party focuses solely and exclusively on the female figure, celebrating the fact that the Virgin Mary was preserved immune to original sin from the first moment of its conception. As we read in the bull of Pius IX, «lhe Most Holy Virgin Mary was preserved, by particular grace and privilege of Almighty God, in anticipation of the merits of Jesus Christ, Savior of humanity, immune to all stain of original sin from the first moment of his conception and this must therefore be , object of a sure and immutable faith for all the faithful «.
The Nativity of Mary
The Immaculate Conception is, therefore, linked to the conception of Mary herself by her parents San Joaquín and Santa Ana. The date of December 8 was identified by Pius IX precisely in relation to the birth of the Virgin and the feast of the Nativity of Mary, introduced in the West by Pope Sergius I in the seventh century, and set for September 8. The Immaculate Conception thus anticipates the Nativity of Mary exactly nine months.
The apparition of Lourdes
In confirmation of the dogma, the Catholic Church mentions what happened in Lourdes in 1858, when Bernadette Soubirousaged 14, told his parish priest that he saw in a cave to a «Miss» who, raising his eyes to heaven and joining his hands in a sign of prayer, had told him “I am the Immaculate Conception«.
The Immaculate Conception in Spain
The commemoration of the Immaculate Conception has a long tradition. In fact, in the XI century the Council of Toledo mentions the ascription to the Purisimasomething that all Christians fulfill as well as the kings of the time from Fernando III, to Carlos III who confessed to having devotion for the Immaculate. In our country it is also a statutory holiday since 1644although it was not until 1708 when it became a holy day of obligation throughout the Church by order of Pope Clement XI.
Along with the religious connection that the Immaculate Conception has in our country, the festival also has relation to an outstanding historical moment known as the “Miracle of Empel”, happened between December 7 and 8, 1585 during the 80-year War, when the Spanish army, being surrounded by Dutch ships, found an image of the Immaculate Virgin on Mount Empel, to which they put an improvised altar . During that night, the waters froze, so they were able to surprise the enemies and win the battle. It is as a result of this fact that the Immaculate Conception was celebrated since 1644, being also considered a national holiday, as it still is today.
Currently, the festival is remembered more for religious reasons than for the related history, although the truth is that for many people it is more a day to take advantage of a time of rest and above all, the prelude to Christmas.