Carlo Maria Viganò, Archbishop: An Act of Veneration on the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Chosen before the ages, established in the Church, Our Lady intercedes for us in the holy abode, she lives among us, and of us she is Queen. She has chosen us as a glorious people, a legacy of her divine Son, a host of saints. And it is significant that, through a singular symmetry, the hymn of the Dedication of a church Cœlestis urbs Jerusalem [“The heavenly city Jerusalem”] composed by St. Ambrose – whose feast we celebrated yesterday – can be applied to Our Lady: “O sorte nupta prospera, dotata Patris gloria, respersa Sponsi gratia, Regina formosissima, Christo jugata principi, cœli corusca civitas.” “Married by providential destiny, adorned with glory by the Father, crowned with the grace of the Bridegroom, most beautiful Queen, united with Christ the Prince, shining City of Heaven.”

On this blessed day, let us remember the proclamation of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, preserved from every stain of original sin to be the living and uncontaminated tabernacle of the Most High. And while the world, corrupt and enslaved by sin, offers as a model a corrupt and vicious femininity, despising virginity, purity, and motherhood, we honor in the Ever-Virgin Mother of God She who rightly is also the Mother of the Church and our Mother.

We are children of the Blessed Virgin Mary and children of the Church, because the Virgin begets us in Christ to the Father, and at the foot of the Cross we have been entrusted to her by Him as children, and she to us as Mother. …

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