December 8, 2023

Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Mary Immaculate, ora pro nobis
Deus, qui per immaculátam Virginis Conceptionem dignum Fílio tuo habitáculum præparásti: quæsumus; ut, qui ex morte ejúsdem Fílli tui prævísa, eam ab omni labe præservásti, nos quoque mundos ejus intercessióne ad te perveníre concédas. Per eúmdem Dóminum.
December 8th is the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, commemorating Our Lady being conceived free from the stain of original sin by virtue of the merits of her son Jesus Christ. A holy day of obligation, it is also the patronal feast day of these United States of America and the former Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. In celebration, I'm posting a Prayer to the Immaculate Conception in Latin and English. The accompanying photo of the gilt bronze and silver statue of Virgin of the Immaculate Conception (ca. 1680), probably after a model by Lorenzo Vaccaro, was taken at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Buona Festa dell'Immacolata!
Prayer to the Immaculate Conception
O God, Who by the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin, didst prepare a worthy dwelling for Thy Son, we beseech Thee that Thou, Who, by the death, forseen by Thee, of the same Thy Son, didst preserve her from all stain, wilt grant us also, by her intercession, to come to Thee pure in heart. Through the same.