Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary

The dogma of the Immaculate Conception says that Mary was preserved from original sin from the very first moment of her conception. Pius IX proclaimed it on December 8, 1854, with the bull Ineffabilis Deus. It’s worth clearing up right away something that confuses almost everyone: it isn’t about the conception of Jesus. That’s the Annunciation, on March 25. This is about the conception of Mary herself by her parents — and that’s why the feast falls nine months before September 8, which is her birthday. The question was debated for centuries, and bitterly. The Dominicans were against it, the Franciscans in favor; Thomas Aquinas had doubts, Duns Scotus found the formulation that eventually prevailed. It took six hundred years to get to 1854. In Italy, December 8 is also the day when, by tradition, people put up the Christmas tree and the nativity scene. In Rome, in the afternoon, the pope goes to Piazza di Spagna to bring flowers to the column of the Immaculate Conception, and firefighters climb a ladder to place a wreath of flowers on the statue’s arm: they’ve been doing it since 1857, and it’s one of the city’s most recognizable images. The Smorfia puts the Madonna at number eight. If your name is Concetta, Immacolata or Mary, today is your name day — and in southern Italy Concetta is one of the most common names there is.