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Catholic Answers: The Immaculate Conception and Assumption – Brown Pelican Society of Lousiana

Catholic Answers: The Immaculate Conception and Assumption

Rev. Peter M.J. Stravinskas: Seven Considerations on the Immaculate Conception

December 8, 2025

Saint of the Day for December 9: St. Juan Diego

December 9, 2025

Peter Paul Rubens, “The Immaculate Conception”, ca. 1628 (photo: Public Domain)

By Catholic Answers, December 8th

What Is the Immaculate Conception?

The Immaculate Conception is a Catholic dogma that states that Mary, whose conception was brought about the normal way, was conceived without original sin or its stain. That’s what “immaculate” means: without stain.

The Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, celebrated each year on December 8, is a holy day of obligation.

It’s important to understand what the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception is and what it is not. Some people mistakenly think that the term refers to Christ’s conception in Mary’s womb without the intervention of a human father. Others think the Immaculate Conception means Mary was conceived “by the power of the Holy Spirit,” in the way Jesus was, but that, too, is incorrect.

The essence of original sin consists in the deprivation of sanctifying grace, and its stain is a corrupt nature. Mary was preserved from these defects by God’s grace; from the first instant of her existence she was in the state of sanctifying grace and was free from the corrupt nature original sin brings. …

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