#immaculate-conception — Public Fediverse posts

St. Bernadette Soubirous

Also known as Bernadette of Lourdes; religious name: Marie-Bernarde.

She was a miller’s daughter from Lourdes (Lorda in Occitan), in the department of Hautes-Pyrenees in France. She’s best known for having Marian apparitions of a “young lady” who asked for a chapel to be built at the nearby grotto. These Marian apparitions occurred between February 11th & July 16, 1858, & the young lady who appeared to her identified herself as the “Immaculate Conception.”

After an investigation, Bernadette’s reports were eventually declared “worthy of belief” on February 18, 1862, & the Marian appartion became as Our Lady of Lourdes. In 1866, Bernadette joined the Sisters of Charity of Nevers at their convent in Nevers where she spent the last years of her life.

Her body is said by the Catholic Church to remain internally incorrupt. The grotto where the apparitions occurred became a major ligrimage site & Marian shrine known as the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes, attracting around 5 million pilgrims do all denominations each year.

Pope Pius XI beatified Bernadette on June 14, 1925 & 8 years later canonized her on December 8, 1933. Her feast day is April 16, the date of her death. Initially specified her feast day as February 18, the day that Mary promised to make her happy, not in this life, but in the other/next.

She was born of January 7, 1844 & baptized at the local parish church (St. Pierre’s) 2 days after her birth (which was her parents’ wedding anniversary). She learned very little French, only studying French in school after 13. At that time, she could only read & write very little due to her frequent illness.

She spoke the language of Occitan. It was spoken by the local population of the Pyreness region at that time & to a residual degree today. It’s sometimes called Provencal.

On February 11, 1858, a 14 year old Bernadette was out collecting firewood with her sister, Toinette, & a friend near the grotto of Massabielle (Tuta de Massavielha) when she experienced her 1st vision/apparition. When the other girls crossed a little stream in front of the grotto & walked on, Bernadette stayed behind. Because she was looking for a place to cross the stream so she wouldn’t get her stockings wet.

She finally sat down to take her shoes off so she could cross the stream. She was lowering her stocking when she heard the sound of rushing wind. But nothing moved. A wild rose in a natural niche in the did move. From the niche (or a dark alcove behind it) “came a dazzling light, & a white figure.” Her sister, & friend, said they didn’t see anything.

On February 14th (Valentine’s Day), after Sunday Mass, Bernadette with her sister Marie & some other girls went back to the grotto. Bernadette knelt down immediately, saying she saw the apparition again. 1 of the girls threw holy water at the niche.

Another threw a rock from that shattered on the ground the apparition disappeared. On her next visit (February 18), Bernadette said that “the vision” asked her to return to the grotto every day for a fortnight (or 14 days). This period of almost daily visions came to be known as la Quinzaine sacree (“holy fortnight”). Initially, Bernadette’s parents (especially her mom) were embarrassed & tried to forbid her to go.

The supposed apparition didn’t identify herself in the 17th vision. Although the townspeople who believed she was telling the truth assumed she saw the Virgin Mary, Bernadette never claimed it to be Mary, consistently using the word aquero (Gascon Occitan for “that”). She described the lady as wearing a white veil, a blue girdle, & with a yellow rose on each foot.

Bernadette’s story caused a sensation among the townspeople, who were divided in their opinions on whether or not she was telling the truth. Some believed her to have a mental illness & demanded she put in an asylum. On February 25, she explained that the vision had told her “to drink of the water of the water of the spring, to wash in it & to eat the herb that grew there,” as an act of penance.

To everyone’s surprise, the next day the grotto was no longer muddy but clear water flowed. On March 2, at the 13th apparition, Bernadette told her family that the lady said that “a chapel should be built & a procession.”

The 16th vision, which Bernadette stated went on for over an hour, was on March 25. According to her account, during that visitation, she again asked for her name. But the lady just smiled back. She repeated the question 3 more times & finally heard the lady say, in Gascon Occitan, “I’m the Immaculate Conception.”

Despite being rigorously interviewed by officials of both the Catholic Church & the French government, she stuck consistently to her story. On April 7, Bernadette had another vision, during which her hand was apparently not burnt while being in contact with the flame of a candle for several minutes.

On June 8, 1858, the mayor of Lourdes decided to barricade the grotto & put guards to prevent public access. On July 16, Bernadette came back to see the grotto from the other side of the river & experienced her 18th, & last, apparition of the lady.

After investigation, Catholic Church authorities confirmed the authenticity of the apparitions in 1862. In the 160 years since Bernadette dug up the in the spring, 72 cures have been verified by the Lourdes Medical Bureau as “inexplicable.”

Bernadette’s request to the local priest to build a chapel at the site of her visions eventually gave rise to a number of chapels & churches at Lourdes. The Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes is now 1 of the major Catholic pilgrimage sites in the world.

1 of the churches built at the site, the Basilica of St. Pius X, can accommodate 25,000 people & was dedicated by the future Pope John XXIII when he was the Papal Nuncio to France. In 2013, 715,000 & in 2016, 570,000 pilgrims attended pilgrimage events.

Bernadette disliked the attention she was attracting, she went to the hospice school run by the Sisteres of Charity of Nevers where she had learned to read & write. Although she considered joining the Carmelites, her health precluded her from entering any of the strict contemplative orders.

On July 29, 1866, with 42 other candidates, she took the religious habit of a postulant & joined the Sisters of Charity at their mother house, the St. Gildard Convent at Nevers. The Mother Superior at the time gave her the name Marie-Bernarde in honor of her godmother who was named “Bernarde.”

Bernadette repent the rest of her brief life at the mother house, working as an assistant in the infirmary & later as a sacristan, creating ornate embroidery for altar cloths & vestments. A sacristan is a room in Christian churches for the keeping of vestments & other church furnishings, sacred vessels, & parish records. Her contemporaries admired her humility & spirit of sacrifice.

One day, asked about the apparitions, she said: “The Virgin used me as a broom to remove the dust. When the work is done, the broom is put behind the door again.” Bernardette had followed the development of Lourdes as a pilgrimage shrine while she still lived at Lourdes.

But wasn’t present for the consecration of the Bascilica of the Immaculate Conception there in 1876. Bernadette’s childhood bout of cholera left her with severe, chronic asthma, & eventually she contracted tuberculosis of the lungs & bones. For several months prior to her death, she was unable to take an active part in convent life. She eventually died of her long-term illness at the age of 35 on April 26, 1879 (Easter Wednesday), while praying the Holy Rosary.

On her deathbed, as she suffered from severe pain & in keeping with the Virgin Mary’s admonition of “Penance, Penance, Penance,” Bernadette proclaimed that “all this is good for Heaven.” Her final words were, “Blessed Mary, Mother of God, pray for me.” Bernadette’s body was laid to rest in the St. Joseph Chapel, in the grounds of her convent.

Bernadette was declared blessed on June 14, 1921 by Pope Pius XI. She was canonized by Pius XI on December 8, 1933, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. She’s celebrated in the liturgical calendar of the Catholic Church of April 16.

In France, her liturgical celebration is an optional memorial & is held on February 18, which commemorates Bernadette’s 3rd vision. During which the “lady” told her that she doesn’t promise to make happy in this world, but in the other.

Bishop Gauthey of Nevers & the Catholic Church exhumed Bernadette’s body on September 22, 1909. This is in the presence of representatives appointed by the postulators of the cause, 2 doctors & a sister of the community. They claimed that although the crucifix in her hand & her rosary had both oxidized, her body appeared incorrupt – preserved from decomposition. This was cited as 1 of the miracles to support her canonization.

They washed & reclothed her body before re-burial in the Chapel of St. Joseph in a new double casket. The church exhumed the corpse a 2nd time on April 3, 1919, on the occasion of the approval of Bernadette’s canonization. Again, he body was returned to the vault of St. Joseph’s chapel.

In 1925, the church exhumed the body for a 3rd time. They took relics, which was sent to Rome. A precise imprint of the face was molded to make a wax mask based on the imprints & on some genuine photos to be placed on her body. This was common practice for relics in France as it was feared that the blackish tinge to the face & the sunken eyes & nose would be viewed as corruption by the wax casts. The remains were then placed in a gold & crystal reliquary in the Chapel of St. Bernadette at the main church of the convent.

In 1970, the convent at Nevers was converted into a pilgrimage center dedicated to Bernadette, run by volunteers & a few sisters & known as Espace Bernadette Soubirous Nevers. In the spring of 2015, the town of Lourdes lobbied for Bernadette’s remains to be returned to Lourdes, a move opposed by the city of Nevers.

The Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes has a few bodily relics which traveled in several European dioseses from 2017 to be exposed for the veneration of people. In 2019, a new reliquary was built for the travel of the relics. In 2022, the reliquary visited the United States & the United Kingdom.

The relics 1st travedled to the United States from April-August 2022, visiting around 30 dioceses. In September & October 2022, the relics were exposed in around 50 places in England, Scotland, & Wales, including in the Westminster Cathedral & at the Carfin Lourdes Grotto.

The town of Lourdes became a major international pilgrimage sites attracting millions of visitors each year. Several churches & infrastructures were built around the cave where the apparitions occurred, forming together the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Lourdes.

The sanctuary is reputed for the Loudes water steaming inside the cave from a spring discovered by Bernadette during the apparitions, which is said to have healing properties, attracting many sick pilgrims. The sanctuary also has a museum called the St. Bernadette Museum, dedicated to the history of the apparitions.

In the city center of Lourdes, pilgrims can visit the house where Bernadette was born & the room where here family was staying at the time of the apparitions. The Espace Bernadette Sourbirous Nevers is dedicated to her memory. This is where her body has been kept after her death. Her body is now exposed for the veneration of visitors. The city of Nevers also has a museum dedicated to the life of Bernadette, called the “Bernadette Museum.”

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Immaculate Conception

This is the doctrine that the Virgin Mary was/is free from original sin from the moment of her conception. It’s 1 of the 4 Marian dogmas of the Catholic Church. The feast day of the Immaculate Conception is December 8.

It wasn’t defined as a dogma until 1854, by Pope Pius IX in the papal bull Ineffabilis Deus. While the Immaculate Conception asserts Mary’s freedom from original sin, the Council of Trent (1545-1563) had previously affirmed her freedom from personal sin non-dogmatically.

Many Protestant churches reject this doctrine as unscriptural. Some Anglicans accept this as a pious devotion. The teaching of the Immaculate Conception among Oriental Orthodoxy varies. The Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church & the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church accept it.

Anne (who eventually becomes a saint), the mom of the Virgin Mary & Jesus’ maternal grandma, shows up for the 1st time in the 2nd-century apocryphal Gospel of James. Anne & her husband Joachim (who also became a saint) were infertile. But God heard their prayers. Mary was then conceived.

Within the Gospel of James, Mary’s conception happens without physical sexual intercourse between Anne & Joachim. This is to demonstrate Mary’s purity. The Eastern Orthodox Church believes that Mary was conceived by her parents like we all were.

Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, & Cyrus of Jerusalem came up with the idea of Mary as the new Eve. While yet immaculate & incorrupt, she wasn’t subject to original sin. Ephraim the Syrian said she was as innocent as Eve before the Fall.

Ambrose asserted Mary’s incorruptibility, attributing her virginity to grace & immunity from sin. Severus, the Bishop of Antioch, agreed to affirm Mary’s purity & immaculateness. John of Damascus extended the supernatural influence of God to Mary’s parents. This suggests they were purified by the Holy Spirit during her generation. According to John of Damascus, even the material of Mary’s origin was deemed pure & holy.

By the 4th century, the idea of Mary being free from sin was more widespread. But her being free from original sin, passed down from the OGs Adam & Eve, raised questions. The question became more acute when the feast of Mary’s conception brought the objection that, as adult spicy time is sinful, & to celebrate Mary’s conception was to celebrate a sinful act. (Let’s get 1 thing straight: God doesn’t make married adult spicy time between 2 consenting MARRIED adults a sin! He (God) in fact encourages a healthy marital sex life. “Be fruitful & multiply,” ring any bells! And how exactly do we multiply? This is the conclusion of our TED talk.)

The feast of Mary’s conception came from the Eastern Church in the 7th century. It reached England in the 11th century. From there, it spread out to Europe. It was given official approval in 1477 & extended to the whole church in 1693. The word “immaculate” wasn’t used until 1854.

This doctrine caused a “civil war” between the Franciscans & the Dominicans during the Middle Ages. The Franciscan “Scotists” were in favor & the Dominican “Thomists” against it.

The English ecclesiastic & scholar Eadmer (circa 1060-circa 1126) reasoned that Mary might have been conceived without original sin because of God’s omnipotence. It was also appropriate for her role as Mother of God. Potuit, decuit, fecit: “it was possible, it was fitting, therefore it was done.”

Others, like St. Bernard of Clairvaux (of the St. Bernard dog breed fame, 1090-1153) & Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) objected because if Mary were free of original sin at her superfluous conception. Then she would have no need of redemption. Thus making Christ’s saving redemption unneeded.

In 1439, the Council of Basel, in schism with Pope Eugene IV (who lived at the Council of Florence), declared the Immaculate Conception a “pious opinion” consistent with faith & Scripture. The Council of Trent made no explicit declaration on the topic. But did exempt her from the universality of original sin.

They also affirmed that she remained free from all stains of sin during her life, even the venial ones. By 1571, the revised Roman Breviary set out an elaborate celebration of the Feast of the Immaculate Conception on December 8.

Some devotees go so far as to hold that Anne had conceived Mary just by kissing her husband. They also believe that (St.) Anne’s dad & grandma had likewise been conceived without spicy adult time. However, (St.) Bridget of Sweden (circa 1303-1373) told how Mary herself had revealed to her that Anne & Joachim conceived their daughter through a spicy adult time, which was sinless because it was pure & free of sexual lust.

In the 16th & 17th centuries, Spain exploded with Immaculatist devotion. This led the Habsburg monarchs to demand the Holy See elevate this belief to the status of dogma.

In France in 1830, Catherine Laboure (May 2, 1806-December 31, 1876) saw a vision of Mary standing on a globe while a voice commanded her to have a medal made in imitation of what she saw. The medal said, “O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee,” which was a confirmation from Mary herself that she was conceived without sin. Laboure’s vision marked the beginning of a great 19th-century Marian revival.

In 1849, Pope Pius IX issued the encyclical Ubi primum, soliciting the bishops of the church for their views on whether the doctrine should be defined as dogma. 90% of those who responded were supportive. Although the Archbishop of Paris, Marie-Dominique-Auguste Sibour, warned that the Immaculate Conception “could be proved neither from the Scriptures nor from tradition.”

In 1854, the Immaculate Conception dogma was proclaimed with the bull Ineffabilis Deus. Ineffabilis Deus found the Immaculate Conception in the Ark of Salvation (Noah’s Ark), Jacob’s Ladder, the Burning Bush at Sinai, the Enclosed Garden from the Song of Song/Song of Solomon, & many more passages.

The pope’s advisors singled out 2 Bible passages: Genesis 3:15 – “I’ll put enmity between you & the woman.” This is a prophecy which reached fulfillment in the figure of the Woman in Revelation, crowned with stars & trampling the Dragon underfoot. Luke 1:28 – Specifically the phrase “full of grace” by which Gabriel greeted Mary was another reference to her Immaculate Conception: “she was never subject to the curse & was, together with her Son, the only partaker of perpetual benediction.”

Four years after the proclamation of the dogma, in 1858, the young Bernadette Soubirous (of the Lourdes grotto fame) said that Mary appeared to her at Lourdes in southern France, to announce that she was the Immaculate Conception. The Catholic Church later endorsed the apparition as authentic. There are other “approved” Marian apparitions in which Mary identified herself as the Immaculate Conception. For example, Our Lady of Gietrzwald in 1877, Poland.

The feast day of the Immaculate Conception is December 8. The Roman Missal (which contains texts & rubrics (a set of rules)) & the Roman Rite Liturgy of the Hours (a set of Catholic prayers) include references to Mary’s Immaculate Conception in the feast of the Immaculate Conception.

Its celebration seems to have begun in the Eastern church in the 7th century & may have spread to Ireland by the 8th century. The earliest well-attested record in the Western Church is from England early in the 11th century. It was suppressed there after the Norman Conquest (1066). The 1st thorough exposition of the doctrine was a response to this suppression. It continued to spread through the 15th century despite accusations of heresy from the Thomists & strong objections from several prominent theologians.

Beginning around 1140, St. Bernard of Clairvaux (Yes, like the dog breed. That’s where the dog breed got its name.), a Cistercian monk (This is a religious order of monks & nuns that branched off from the Benedictines.), wrote to Lyons Cathedral to express his surprise & dissatisfaction that it had recently begun to be observed there.

But in 1477, Pope Lixtus IV, who was a devoted Immaculist, put it on the Roman calendar via the papal bull called Cum praexcelsa. In 1481 & 1483, Pope Sixtus IV published 2 more bulls which prohibited anyone from preaching or teaching against the Immaculate Conception, or for either side to accuse the other of heresy, under threats of excommunication.

Pope Pius V kept the Feast on the Tridentine calendar. But suppressed the word “Immaculate.” Pope Gregory XV, in 1622, prohibited any public or private assertion that Mary was conceived in sin. In 1624, Pope Urban VIII allowed the Franciscans to establish a military order dedicated to the Virgin of the Immaculate Conception.

The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo & Eritrean Orthodox Tewahed Churches believe in the Immaculate Conception of the Theotokos. The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church celebrates the Feast of the Immaculate Conception on August 13 (Nehasie 7).

Eastern Orthodoxy does not exempt Mary from original sin. But they do affirm Mary’s purity & preservation from personal sin.

In the mid-1800s, some Catholics who were unable to accept the doctrine of papal infallibility left the Roman Church & formed the Old Catholic Church. They reject the Immaculate Conception.

Protestants overwhelmingly condemned the announcement of Ineffabilis Deus. Protestants teach that Mary was a sinner, saved through grace, like everyone else.

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@MelissaBearTrix

*puts big hat and dark glasses on*

QuangoBaud?
I've never heard of an angel by that name.

*scuttles away*

#ImmaculateConception 😇

Knicks, HSS honor Astoria’s Kokkinos | https://www.rawchili.com/nba/641353/ #astoria #Basketball #ImmaculateConception #JerryKokkinos #Knicks #NBA #NewYork #NewYorkKnicks #NewYork #NewYorkKnicks #Sports

Pastor Nick Park, executive director of the #EvangelicalAlliance Ireland, said #EnochBurke’s disrespectful treatment of “everyone” led to his incarceration.

The Evangelical Alliance are #fundamentalist headbangers and #transphobes. They share Burke's obsession with "#BiologicalSex", which is a hilarious stance for a religion based on #immaculateConception. 🤣

But the #BurkeFamily antics are too much for even the #EA.

screenshot from https://archive.is/H9qqb

#trans #transgender #iepol #lgbt

St. Anne

According to Christian tradition, St. Anne was the mom of the Virgin Mary, wife of St. Joachim, & was Jesus’ maternal grandma.

Her name isn’t in the Bible’s canonical Gospels. In writing, Anne’s name, & Joachim’s come from New Testament apocrypha. The Gospel of Thomas (written circa 150 AD) seems to be the earliest that mentions them. She’s mentioned in the Quran, but not by name.

The Immaculate Conception was eventually made dogma by the Catholic Church following an increased devotion to Anne in the 12th century. In Eastern Christianity dedications start as early as 6th century.

In the Eastern Orthodox tradition, Anne & Joachim are attributed to the title Ancestor of God. Both the Nativity of Mary & the Presentation of Mary are celebrated as 2 of the 12 Great Feasts of the Orthodox Church.

The Dormition of Anne is also a minor feast in Eastern Christianity. In Lutheranism, it’s believed that Martin Luther chose to enter religious life as an Augustinian friar after invoking St. Anne was jeopardized by lightning.

In the 4th century, & in the 15th century, a belief arose that Mary was conceived of Anne without original sin. The Immaculate Conception is often confused with the Annunciation of the Incarnation (Mary’s virgin birth of Jesus). The 13th century Speculum Maius includes information regarding the life of St. Anne.

In the Eastern church, the veneration of Anne herself may go back as far as circa 550, when Justinian built a church in Constantinople in her honor. The earliest pictorial sign of her veneration in the West in an 8th century fresco in the church of Santa Maria Antique, Rome.

The Feast of the Conception of the Virgin Mary had reached southern Italy by the 9th century. In the Latin Church, St. Anne wasn’t venerated. Except, perhaps, in the south of France, before the 13th century. A shrine at Douai (in northern France) was 1 of the early centers of devotion to St. Anne in the West.

The Anna Selbdritt was a type of iconography showing 3 generations of the “Holy Family,” St. Anne, the Virgin Mary, & Jesus (grandma, mom, son). This style of iconography emphasized the humanity of Jesus. It drew on the earlier conventions of the Seat of Wisdom. (The Seat of Wisdom is/are icons/sculptures that shows the Virgin Mary is seated on a throne with Jesus, as a kid, on her lap.) This was popular in northern Germany in the 1500s.

Two well-known shrines to St. Anne is that of Ste-Anne-d’Auray in Brittany (France) & that of Ste.-Anne-de-Beaupre near the city of Quebec. The number of pilgrims to the Basilica of Ste.-Anne-de-Beaupre is the greatest of St. Anne’s Feast Day (July 26), & the Sunday before the Nativity of the Virgin Mary (September 8). In 1892, Pope Leo XIII sent a relic of St. Anne to the church.

By the middle of the 7th century, a distinct feast day, the Conception of St. Anne (Maternity of Holy Anne) celebrating Mary by St. Anne, was observed at the Monastery of St. Sabas.

It’s now known in the Greek Orthodox Church as the feast of “The Conception by St. Anne of the Most Holy Theotokos.” It’s celebrated on December 9th. In the Catholic Church, the Feast of Saints Anne & Joachim is celebrated on July 26. The alleged relics of St. Anne was brought from the Holy Land to Constantinople in 710 & was kept there in the church of St. Sophia as late as 1333.

During the 12th & 13th centuries, returning crusaders & pilgrims from the East brought St. Anne’s relics to some churches, including most famously those at Apt, in Provence, Ghent, & Chartres. St. Anne’s relics have been preserved & venerated in the many cathedrals & monasteries dedicated to her name.

For example, in Austria, Canada, Germany, Italy, & Greece in the semi-autonomous Mount Athos, & the city of Katerini. Duren has been the main place of pilgrimage for Anne since 1506, when Pope Julius II decreed that her relics should be kept there, after they were stolen from the church of St. Stephen in Mainz.

The Church of St. Anne in Beit Guvrin National Park was built by the Byzantines & the crusaders in the 12th century. This is known in Arabic as Khirbet Sandahanna, the mound of Maresha being called Tell Sandahanna.

St. Anne is the patroness of unmarried women, housewives, women in labor or who want to be pregnant, grandmothers, moms, & educators. She’s also a patroness of horseback riders, cabinet-makers, & miners.

As the mom of Mary, this devotion to St. Anne as the patron of miners arises from the medieval comparison between Mary & Jesus & the precious metals: gold & silver. Anne’s womb was considered the source from which these precious metals were mined.

St. Anne is the patron saint of Brittany (France); Cuenca (Ecuador); Chinandega (Nicaragua); the Mi’kmaq people of Canada; Castelbuono (Sicily); Quebec (Canada); Santa Ana (California); Norwich (Connecticut); Detroit (Michigan); Adjunta (Puerto Rico); Santa Ana & Jucuaran (El Salvador); Berlin (New Hampshire); Santa Ana Pueblo, Seama, & Taos (New Mexico); Chiclana de la Frontera, Marsaskala, Tuadela, Atarfe & Fasnia (Spain); Town of Sta Ana Province of Pampanga, Molo, Iloilo City, Balasan; Iloilo, Hagnoy, Santa Ana, Taguig City, St. Anne Shrine, Malicboy, Pagbilao, Quezon, & Malinao, Albay (Philippines); Santana (Brazil); St. Anne (Illinois); Sainte Anne Island; Baie Sainte Anne & Praslin Island (Seychelles); Bukit Mertajam & Port Klang (Malaysia); Kl’ucove (Slovakia) & South Vietnam.

The parish church of Vatican City is Sant’ Anna dei Palafrenieri. There’s a shrine dedicated to St. Anne in the Woods in Bristol, United Kingdom.

Anne is also revered in Islam, recognized as a highly spiritual woman & as the mom of Mary. She’s not named in the Quran. She’s called “the wife of Imran.” The Quran describes her remaining childless until old age. One day, Anne saw a bird feeding its young while sitting in the shade of a tree, which awakened her desire to have kids of her own.

She prayed for a kid & eventually conceived. Imran, her husband, died before the kid was born. Anne expected the unborn kid to be a boy, so she vowed to dedicate “him” to isolation & service in the Second Temple.

Anne had a daughter (Mary) instead. Anne named her: Mary. Anne’s words upon delivering Mary reflect as a great mystic, realizing that while she’d had wanted a son, this daughter was God’s gift to her.

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The miracle of Jesus’s conception

... that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.
2 Corinthians 5:19

#faith #ImmaculateConception #jesus #Messiah #salvation #virginbirth

https://lightforthelastdays.co.uk/articles/jesus-and-judaism/the-miracle-of-jesuss-conception/

Lewistown's Festival of Ice has taken place for thirty years, and shows off our beautiful downtown. #festivalofice #icefestival #ice #lewistown #smalltown #allamericancity #christmaslights #holidaylights #holiday #kwanzaa #hanukkah #paganyule #immaculateconception #BodhiDay

Today's poem:

Duns Scotus's Oxford
- by Gerard Manley Hopkins

https://www.tumblr.com/ukdamo/796013190436749312/duns-scotuss-oxford?source=share

#poetry #ImmaculateConception #JohnDunsScotus #GerardManleyHopkins

It's pathetic and ridiculous it's necessary.... but can you spot a penis anywhere?? After pulling an allnighter?? That's how much I'm not the same person as my half-sibling.... #aphrodite #ivf #immaculateconception

The Immaculate Conception captivates with its dynamic arrangement and exquisite detailing. Crafted by Johann Pieter Wagner, it symbolizes the triumph of good over evil. How does this piece resonate with your views on faith and artistic expression?

#ClevelandArt #RenaissanceArt #ImmaculateConception
https://clevelandart.org/art/1963.674

Mary Immaculate, the "all beautiful," reflected God's grace in its fullness. Bishop Silvio José Báez says she was the "transparency of God."#ImmaculateConception

http://carmelitequotes.blog/2024/12/08/baez-beauty/

Quote of the day, 9 December: Silvio José Báez, ocd

In Mary’s life, the grace of God, which had filled her from the first moment of her being, was not “received in vain” (cf. 2 Cor 6:1). She was always “full of grace,” the “tota pulchra,” as we call her in the Marian antiphon.

What is the secret behind the beauty of Mary’s life? The Virgin Mary was the transparency of God.

Mary used to listen to God and spent much time in dialogue with Him. “The Word of God was her secret: close to her heart, it then became flesh in her womb. By dwelling with God, in dialogue with him in every circumstance, Mary made her life beautiful.” (Pope Francis, Angelus, 8 December 2017).

It is not the outward appearance that makes a person beautiful. What makes a life beautiful is having a heart that is open to God, docile to God, and full of God.

Beauty is like the gleam of harmony. It is essential to the notion of the beautiful that beauty should be united to truth and goodness. The irradiation of that harmony between truth and goodness is beauty.

God is supreme goodness, supreme truth, and supreme beauty, which in Christ has been fully revealed as redeeming love. The famous Russian writer Dostoyevsky said that beauty would save the world. Beauty awakens our spirituality, brings out the best in us, captivates us, makes us transcend the merely material, and makes us enter the world of generosity and contemplation.

Unfortunately, many people are deprived of beauty because where sin breaks down dialogue with God and distances us from love, beauty disappears. For this reason, we must turn our eyes to Mary, whose beautiful, luminous, inspiring existence continues to attract us, the disciples of her Son, who contemplate in her the best realization of the Gospel and the ideal of the Church’s vocation.

The Virgin Mary, the “all beautiful,” the “full of grace,” is the creature in whom the paschal beauty of the new life of the Risen Lord was reflected in the purest way.

Silvio José Báez, o.c.d.

Auxiliary Bishop of Managua

Translation from the Spanish text is the blogger’s own work product and may not be reproduced without permission.

Featured image: Giovanni Battista Tiepolo’s majestic image of The Immaculate Conception was part of a cycle of seven altarpieces commissioned in 1767 for the new royal church of San Pascual Bailón at Aranjuez, founded by Charles III in the same year.  The symbols in the altarpiece refer to the virtues and significance of the Virgin. She vindicates the original weakness of Eve by trampling on the serpent. The palm tree symbolizes her victory and exaltation and the mirror symbolizes her freedom from all stain. The crescent moon and twelve stars refer to the Woman of the Apocalypse (Rev 12:1-10), while the crescent itself is an ancient symbol of chastity. At the same time, the moon’s light derives from the sun, just as the special grace of Mary derives from the merits of Christ. The shimmering profile of an obelisk shape in the background is a further reference to traditional symbols associated with the Immaculate Conception—the Tower of David and the Tower of Ivory—with their evocations of impregnability, virginity, and purity. Image credit: Copyright ©Museo Nacional del Prado (Public domain)

#beauty #BishopSilvioJoséBáez #BlessedVirginMary #God #homily #ImmaculateConception #inspiration #spirituality

Immaculate Conception of El Viejo, patroness of Nicaragua: A statue tied to St. Teresa’s family, devotion spans centuries. #ImmaculateConception

http://carmelitequotes.blog/2024/12/06/stj-life1/

Quote of the day, 7 December: St. Teresa of Avila

Her undaunted spirit first began to show signs of itself when she was only seven and decided to set off with her brother Rodrigo for the land of the Moors to have her head cut off for Christ.

Kieran Kavanaugh, o.c.d.
The Collected Works of St. Teresa of Avila, Introduction

My brothers and sisters did not in any way hold me back from the service of God. I had one brother about my age. We used to get together to read the lives of the saints. (He was the one I liked most, although I had great love for them all and they for me). When I considered the martyrdoms the saints suffered for God, it seemed to me that the price they paid for going to enjoy God was very cheap, and I greatly desired to die in the same way. I did not want this on account of the love I felt for God but to get to enjoy very quickly the wonderful things I read there were in heaven. And my brother and I discussed together the means we should take to achieve this. We agreed to go off to the land of the Moors and beg them, out of love of God, to cut off our heads there.

Saint Teresa of Avila

The Book of Her Life, ch. 1, no. 4

The Fascinating Story of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception of El Viejo

Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception of El Viejo is the patroness of Nicaragua. The town of El Viejo was named in honor of one of St. Teresa of Avila’s brothers, who lived there in his old age. Many accounts suggest it was her brother Rodrigo.

Rodrigo shared one of St. Teresa’s earliest spiritual adventures. At seven years old, the young Teresa believed the quickest way to heaven was to travel to Moorish lands and be martyred for the faith. She persuaded Rodrigo, four years her senior, to embark on this mission with her. Thankfully, their uncle found the siblings and brought them back to their parents, much to the relief of their family—and the entire Church.

Decades later, Rodrigo, now an elderly man, traveled to Central America. He intended to go to Peru, but a storm forced his ship to land, and Rodrigo ended up in Chamulpa, Nicaragua, where he stayed.

When Rodrigo set sail for the Americas, he brought with him a statue of the Blessed Mother, believed to have belonged to St. Teresa. The people of Chamulpa quickly developed a deep devotion to the statue and were disappointed when Rodrigo decided to continue his journey to Peru, taking the statue with him. Once again, bad weather intervened, forcing the ship to return to Nicaragua with the statue.

This event convinced the people of Nicaragua that Our Lady had chosen them and desired to remain among them. The town of Chamulpa was later renamed El Viejo in honor of Rodrigo.

The statue first arrived in Nicaragua in the 16th century. It was solemnly crowned by the people in 1747. Pope John Paul II approved its papal coronation in 1989 and granted the shrine the status of a Minor Basilica in 1995. In 2001, the Nicaraguan Bishops’ Conference declared her the country’s patroness.

Documents linking the statue to St. Teresa of Avila and her family date back to the early 17th century. While most versions of the story agree on its essential details, some differ—such as whether Rodrigo reached Peru or remained in Nicaragua with the statue until his death. One version attributes the story to Lorenzo de Cepeda y Ahumada, another of St. Teresa’s brothers, who is said to have brought the statue to Nicaragua.

Even though the exact details remain uncertain, the connection between the statue and St. Teresa’s family is well-established.

When the image found its home in Chamulpa, local Franciscan friars encouraged people to visit the statue and bring it offerings of sweets and fruit. Over time, the blessings and favors received through Our Lady’s intercession far surpassed these simple gestures. To this day, local sweets are distributed to children every December 8 in honor of the Immaculate Conception of El Viejo.

Immaculate Conception of El Viejo, pray for us!

Ellen Mady, Aleteia

¿Conoces la conexión entre santa Teresa de Ávila, Nuestra Señora, y Nicaragua?
Aleteia, 8 March 2018

https://flic.kr/p/37P44h

Teresa of Avila, St. 1985, The Collected Works of St. Teresa of Avila, translated from the Spanish by Kavanaugh, K; Rodriguez, O, ICS Publications, Washington DC.

Translation from the Spanish text is the blogger’s own work product and may not be reproduced without permission.

Featured image: The Immaculate Conception by Italian artist Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (1696–1770) was one of the last paintings created by Tiepolo before his death. This majestic image was part of a cycle of seven altarpieces commissioned in 1767 for the new royal church of San Pascual Bailón at Aranjuez, founded by Charles III in the same year. The anonymous portrait of St. Teresa comes from the 16th century. They both flank the traditional blue and white flag of Nicaragua. Image credits: Museo del Prado, Discalced Carmelites (Public domain)

#ElViejo #ImmaculateConception #martyrdom #Muslims #Nicaragua #RodrigoCepedaDávilaAhumada #StTeresaOfAvila #statue

Quote of the day, 5 December: Père Jacques

We have also seen God’s remarkable preparation of the Virgin Mary for her role as Mother of the Word made flesh. God exempted her from original sin and its consequences.

She is pure creature; God is pure deity, totally independent. For the Virgin Mary, her virginity lies in being a pure creature of God, namely, a creature living in that total dependence on the will of God.

Indeed, when we examine the Virgin Mary’s life, when we gather the conclusions of the Fathers of the Church who dwelt on this Marian mystery, and when we study the works of theologians, we find that she was absolutely obedient to the will of God, even to the least indications of that will.

Servant of God Jacques de Jésus

Conference 6, Virginity in God and in Mary
Wednesday Evening, 8 September 1943

Jacques, P 2005, Listen to the silence: A retreat with Père Jacques, translated from the French and edited by Murphy F, ICS Publications, Washington DC.

Featured Image: This detail from The Annunciation by the Italian artist Orazio Lomi Gentileschi (1563–1639) is an oil on canvas painting executed in 1623 for Charles Emmanuel I, the Duke of Savoy. It is one of the masterpieces found in the collections of the Musei Reali di Torino. Image credit: Adobe Stock (stock photo)

#ImmaculateConception #MotherOfChrist #obedience #PèreJacquesDeJésus #ServantOfGod #VirginMary #virginity #willOfGod

Imahen ng La Immaculada Concepcion, ipinarada sa #Malabon City para sa pagdiriwang ng Pista ng Mangingisda sa lugar noong Disyembre 9.

#ImmaculateConception

Maligaya nating ipagdiwang ang Pista ng Immaculate Conception ng Mahal na Birheng Maria ngayong December 8. 🙏🏻💙

Nawa'y maging inspirasyon ang kaniyang mabuting katangiang nagdala ng pag-asa at grasya.

#ImmaculateConception
#BMPM

#Apes separated at #zoo secretly made a baby through a glory hole

https://boingboing.net/2023/02/09/apes-separated-at-zoo-secretly-made-a-baby-through-a-glory-hole.html

#ImmaculateConception

@tofugolem

Had no idea. #NotMyReligion; thanks for the #explanation #clarification

#ImmaculateConception of #Mary
vs.
#VirginBirth of #Jesus

@drlynnchiu I questioned #ChatGPT about "Do #insects #compete". (You might think that was easy, but it was the first question in my Biology Finals General paper, #ChatGPT would have failed with too short an answer); "Differences in #Catholic & #Protestant theology in interpretation of the #ImmaculateConception" (since it was yesterday, and I do not follow a denomination to have been taught).

O GOD, who in the foreknowledge of thy Son's most precious death didst consecrate for him a dwelling-place by the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary: mercifully grant that she who was preserved from all defilement, may evermore pray for us, until we attain unto thee in purity of heart; through the same Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord, etc.

#ImmaculateConception #Catholic #Ordinariate #VirginMary #NewEve​

@jmgilmore321

O GOD, who in the foreknowledge of thy Son's most precious death didst consecrate for him a dwelling-place by the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary: mercifully grant that she who was preserved from all defilement, may evermore pray for us, until we attain unto thee in purity of heart; through the same Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord, etc.

#ImmaculateConception #Catholic #Ordinariate #VirginMary #NewEve

On the vigil of the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception, Bishop Silvio José Báez, o.c.d. guides our meditation on the beauty of the Blessed Virgin’s life: she was the transparency of God.

Learn more from the bishop!
💙 https://carmelitequotes.blog

#VirginMary #ImmaculateConception #beauty #BishopSilvioJoseBaez #Catholic #Carmelite #quote