Corona of the Immaculate Conception

                                                                 

Holy Mother Church honors Mary under the title of the Immaculate Conception with a holy day of obligation on December 8, and in 1846 our Lady of the Immaculate Conception was proclaimed the Patroness of the United States of America.  A beautiful prayer we can recite to honor our Lady on her feast day is the Corona of the Immaculate Conception, written by Father Marquette.

Father Marquette probably is best known for being a Jesuit missionary to America who helped explore the Mississippi River.  However, as this FSSP article states, his superior Father Claude Dablon  knew him as a very devout and kind priest.

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"We might say much of the rare virtues of this noble missionary: of his zeal, which prompted him to carry the faith so far, and proclaim the gospel to so many peoples who were unknown to us; of his gentleness, which rendered him beloved by all, and made him all things to all men...; of the childlike candor with which he disclosed his heart to his superiors, and even to all kinds of persons, with an ingenuousness which won all hearts; of his angelic chastity; and of his uninterrupted union with God. But that which apparently predominated was a devotion, altogether rare and singular, to the Blessed Virgin, and particularly toward the mystery of her Immaculate Conception...  All his conversations and letters contained something about the Blessed Virgin Immaculate — for so he always called her. From the age of 9 years, he fasted every Saturday; and from his tenderest youth began to say the Little Office of the Conception, inspiring every one with the same devotion."

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Corona of the Immaculate Conception

To pray this prayer to Our Lady:

+ Recite the Creed.  

+ After the Creed, there is said once the Our Father and Hail Mary.

+ Then recite 4 times the following prayer: 

Hail Daughter of God the Father, Hail Mother of God the Son, Hail Spouse of the Holy Ghost, Hail Temple of the entire Trinity. Through thy holy virginity and Immaculate Conception, O Virgin most pure, cleanse my heart and my flesh. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.

+Conclude with the Glory Be.

***Repeat the whole sequence of prayers three times.***

God bless!

+JMJ+

Prayers for the Feast of the Immaculate Conception

 Holy Mother Church honors our Lady under the title of the Immaculate Conception on December 8th, a holy day of obligation. In 1854 Pope Pius IX, defining the Immaculate Conception, wrote,

“He [God] so wonderfully filled her, more than all angelic spirits and all the Saints, with an abundance of all heavenly gifts taken from the treasury of the divinity, that she, always free from absolutely every stain of sin, and completely beautiful and perfect, presented such a fullness of innocence and holiness that none greater under God can be thought of, and no one but God can comprehend it."

This following prayer, dedicated to Mary Immaculate, was composed by Pope Pius XII for the Marian Year (December 8, 1953---December 8, 1954), which was proclaimed to mark the centenary of the definition of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception. Through its recitation may we honor our Lady and beg her intercession for the help needed to attain eternal salvation.

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Prayer of Pope Pius XII

Enraptured by the splendor of thy heavenly beauty, and impelled by the anxieties of the world, we cast ourselves into thine arms, O Immaculate Mother of Jesus and our Mother, Mary, confident of finding in thy most loving heart appeasement of our ardent desires, and a safe harbor from the tempests which beset us on every side.

Though degraded by our faults and overwhelmed by infinite misery, we admire and praise the peerless richness of sublime gifts with which God has filled thee, above every other mere creature, from the first moment of thy conception until the day on which, after thine assumption into Heaven, He crowned thee Queen of the Universe.

O crystal fountain of faith, bathe our minds with the eternal truths! O fragrant Lily of all holiness, captivate our hearts with thy heavenly perfume! O Conqueress of evil and death, inspire in us a deep horror of sin, which makes the soul detestable to God and a slave of Hell!

O well-beloved of God, hear the ardent cry which rises up from every heart. Bend tenderly over our aching wounds. Convert the wicked, dry the tears of the afflicted and oppressed, comfort the poor and humble, quench hatreds, sweeten harshness, safeguard the flower of purity in youth, protect the holy Church, make all men feel the attraction of Christian goodness. In thy name, resounding harmoniously in Heaven, may they recognize that they are brothers, and that the nations are members of one family, upon which may there shine forth the sun of a universal and sincere peace.

Receive, O most sweet Mother, our humble supplications, and above all obtain for us that, one day, happy with thee, we may repeat before thy throne that hymn which today is sung on earth around thine altars: Thou art all-beautiful, O Mary! Thou art the glory, thou art the joy, thou art the honor of our people! Amen.

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The following prayer recited by St. Gertrude and St. Mechitildi, expresses our love to Mary and beautifully honors her virtues. Pope Innocent VIII attached an Indulgence to its recitation.

Act of Joy in the 

Immaculate Conception

HAIL, glorious Virgin, Morning-star that dost outshine the sun, gracious Mother of my God, sweeter than the dropping honeycomb: thou art that fair one in comparison with whom all beauty is pale and dim; thou art redder than the rose and more dazzling white than the lily; all virtues adorn thee, thou purer than the seraphim; and every Saint doth give thee honour, thou that hast thy higher throne in the heavens. Amen.

God bless!

+JMJ+

For the Feast of the Immaculate Conception

 On December 8 Holy Mother Church celebrates the feast of Mary as the Immaculate Conception. This feast, a holy day of obligation, honors the immaculate conception of Mary in the womb of St. Anne. Mary's conception was unique since it was at this moment that God preserved her from the stain of original sin. The Blessed Virgin, like all people, needed redemption, but she received it at conception, which preserved her soul completely from sin, making her “full of grace,” sinless.

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In 1854 Pope Pius IX, defining the Immaculate Conception, wrote, “He [God] so wonderfully filled her, more than all angelic spirits and all the Saints, with an abundance of all heavenly gifts taken from the treasury of the divinity, that she, always free from absolutely every stain of sin, and completely beautiful and perfect, presented such a fullness of innocence and holiness that none greater under God can be thought of, and no one but God can comprehend it."

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As we honor our holy, pure, Immaculate Mother, let us pause to thank God for preserving her from original sin and sing Mary's praises in love and devotion. The following prayer was penned by St. Ephrem the Syrian, a Doctor of the Church who died in 373. He is one of the Fathers of the Church most often invoked in support of the dogma of Mary's Immaculate Conception.

Prayer of Praise to Immaculate Mary

O pure and immaculate and likewise blessed Virgin, who art the sinless Mother of thy Son, the mighty Lord of the universe, thou who art inviolate and altogether holy, the hope of the hopeless and sinful, we sing thy praises. We bless thee, as full of every grace, thou who didst bear the God-Man: we all bow low before thee; we invoke thee and implore thine aid. Rescue us, O holy and inviolate Virgin, from every necessity that presses upon us and from all the temptations of the devil. Be our intercessor and advocate at the hour of death and judgment; deliver us from the fire that is not extinguished and from the outer darkness; make us worthy of the glory of thy Son, O dearest and most clement Virgin Mother. Thou indeed art our only hope, most sure and sacred in God's sight, to whom be honor and glory, majesty and dominion for ever and ever world without end. Amen.

--Saint Ephrem the Syrian

+JMJ+

God bless!