This day is a Holy Day of Obligation in Macau, a day on which to celebrate the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary. The Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception celebrates Mary’s conception, without sin. The Immaculate Conception is a uniquely Catholic feast.

Statue of Mary. Spanish Square. Rome

Ever since its dedication in 1857, it is a papal tradition to visit the Column of the Immaculate Conception on December 8th and crown the statue of Mary with a garland of flowers, following which the faithful would then place flowers at the base of the column in homage to the immaculate, sinless Mary.

Following the papal encyclical of Pius IX in 1854, the Column of the Immaculate Conception was erected near the Collegio Di Propaganda Fide (the Jesuit College for the propagation of the faith), at the southern end of the Piazza Di Spagna (Spanish Square). Designed by Luigi Poletti, it is an ancient Roman column topped by a statue of Mary, in honor of her Immaculate Conception.

Note that it is she, Mary herself, who is the Immaculate Conception; the day does not refer to Mary’s conceiving Jesus by the Holy Ghost, but to the conception of Mary in the womb of her mother, St. Anne, by Mary’s father, St. Joachim. What makes her conception immaculate is not that she was conceived by the Holy Ghost of a virgin, as was Christ Our Lord, but that from the very moment of her conception, she was filled with grace by God, Who knew, in His omniscience, that she would say “yes” to the Angel Gabriel and become the Mother of the Savior.

Photo Credit. Checco

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