December 8

Today, we have an extract from the Tudor Society “Christmas in Tudor Times” e-book, which is free for all Tudor Society members to download and read, along with the rest of the Tudor Society e-book series.

The 8th December is the Feast of the Immaculate Conception in the Catholic Church. It is a feast day that dates back to the 7th century when Eastern churches began celebrating the conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. That is the origin of the feast, but the feast day as we know it today in the West dates back to around the 11th century.

The “immaculate conception” does not refer to the conception of Christ by the Holy Spirit but, instead, refers to Mary’s own immaculate conception in the womb of her mother, St Anne, which meant that Mary had been conceived free from the taint of original sin.

On the 8th December 1854, Pope Pius IX explained it in “Ineffabilis Deus”, the Apostolic Constitution:

“We declare, pronounce, and define that the doctrine which holds that the most Blessed Virgin Mary, in the first instance of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege granted by Almighty God, in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, the Savior of the human race, was preserved free from all stain of original sin, is a doctrine revealed by God and therefore to be believed firmly and constantly by all the faithful.”

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