Since the 2nd Sunday of Advent falls on 8 December, the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception will be celebrated on Monday 9 December. Because of this the feast day is not a Holy Day of Obligation this year.
The dogma of the Immaculate Conception was declared in 1854 by Pope Pius IX:
“The Most Holy Virgin Mary was, in the very first moment of her conception, by a unique gift of grace and privilege of Almighty God and in view of the merits of Jesus Christ the Redeemer of mankind, preserved free from all stain of original sin.” (Ineffabilis Deus, Apostolic Constitution of Pope Pius IX on the Immaculate Conception, 8 Dec 1854)
The Catechism of the Catholic Church summarizes Our Lady’s unique divine gifts:
“Through the centuries the Church has become ever more aware that Mary, ‘full of grace’ through God, was redeemed from the moment of her conception . . . The ‘splendour of an entirely unique holiness’ by which Mary is ‘enriched from the first instant of her conception’ comes wholly from Christ: she is ‘redeemed, in a more exalted fashion, by reason of the merits of her Son’” (nos. 491-2).
Masses in Our Lady Queen of Peace:
7:30am, 12 noon & 9pm (no 10am Mass)
