In the spirit of Fabius’ call to remembrance of oft forgotten days of national significance, I thought I would send out a friendly reminder that today is the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. Why is this significant to the average American Joe, you may ask. Because under the title of the Immaculate Conception, Mary was proclaimed the patroness of these United States all the way back in 1846, which just happened to be eight years before Pope Pius IX declared the infallible doctrine of Mary’s Immaculate Conception, the best part of which I include below:
And indeed it was wholly fitting that so wonderful a mother should be ever resplendent with the glory of most sublime holiness and so completely free from all taint of original sin that she would triumph utterly over the ancient serpent.
So stop by your local parish and say a Hail Mary in honor of our patroness. May she continue to shelter us under her mantle of protection from the dangers of the ancient serpent and crush his head.
I’ll leave you with a picture of where I plan on making my little wayside chapel visit today. It’s a little place known as the National Basilica Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.
December 8th, 2009 at 8:11 pm
Happy Feast day!! and I love that the parking lot in the picture is full.