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The Feast of the Immaculate Conception celebrates the solemn belief in the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It is universally celebrated on December 8, nine months before the feast of the Nativity of Mary, which is celebrated on September 8. It is one of the most important Marian feasts celebrated in the liturgical calendar of the Roman Catholic Church celebrated worldwide. By Pontifical designation and decree, it is the patronal feast day of Argentina, Brazil, Korea, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Philippines, Spain, the United States and Uruguay. By royal decree, it is also designated by as the Patroness of Portugal. It is celebrated by the Roman Catholic Church as well as a few other closely related Christian churches. On this day since 1953, the Pope as Bishop of Rome visits the Column of the Immaculate Conception in Piazza di Spagna to offer expiatory prayers commemorating the solemn event. The feast was first solemnized as a Holy Day of Obligation〔Clementis XI, Papam - CXX - Mandatur ut Festum Conceptionis beatae Mariae Virginis Immaculatae de praecepto ubique observetur - Commissi Nobis Divinitus sacrosancti apostolatus officii exigit ratio, ut gloriossimae Virginis Dei genitricis Mariae cuius Conceptio gaudium annuciavit universo mundo, venerationem et cultum, plurium Romanorum Pontificum praedecessorum nostrorum more, ampliare studentes in terris, illius, quae super choros angelorum exaltata pro populo Christiano sedula exoratrix apud eum, quem genuit, assidue intercedit in caelis, potentissimam opem in toltantisque, quibus premimur, Christianae reipublicae et Catholicae Ecclesiae necessitatibus, quantum nobis ex alto conceditur, promereri iugiter satagamus. Datum Romae, apud Sanctum Petrum, sub annulo Piscatoris, die 6 Decembris 1708 Pontificatus Nostri Anno IX. - http://www.icar.beniculturali.it/biblio/pdf/bolTau/tomo_21/02_T21_189_368.pdf (PP. 338)〕 on 6 December 1708 under the Papal Bull ''Commissi Nobis Divinitus''〔(''Encyclopedia of Christian Theology'' )〕〔("Teachings of the Popes and Councils on the Blessed Virgin Mary" )〕 by Pope Clement XI〔 (''De Maria Numquam Satis: The Significance of the Catholic Doctrines on the Blessed Virgin Mary for All People'', Judith Marie Gentle, Robert L. Fastiggi eds., University Press of America, 2009, ISBN 9780761848479 )〕 and is often celebrated with Holy Mass, parades, fireworks, processions, ethnic foods, and cultural festivities in honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary and is generally considered a Family day, especially in many Catholic countries. ==History== The Eastern Christian Church first celebrated a "Feast of the Conception of the Most Holy and All Pure Mother of God" on December 9, perhaps as early as the 5th century in Syria. The original title of the feast focused more specifically on Serming it ''"Bòśšôm tes hagias kai theoprometoros Annas"'' ("The Conception of Saint Anne, the ancestress of God").〔(Holweck, Frederick. "Immaculate Conception." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 7. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1910. 23 Aug. 2014 )〕 By the 7th century, the feast was already widely known in the East. However, when the Eastern Church called Mary ''achrantos'' ("spotless" or "immaculate"), this was not defined. At present time, the majority of Orthodox Christians do not accept the scholastic definition of Mary's preservation from original sin before her birth that subsequently evolved in the Western Church after the Great Schism of 1054.〔Timothy Ware (Bishop Kallistos). ''The Orthodox Church'' (London: Penguin Books, 1963), pp. 263-264.〕 After the feast was translated to the Western Church in the 8th century, it began to be celebrated on December 8. It spread from the Byzantine area of Southern Italy to Normandy during the period of Norman dominance over southern Italy. From there it spread to England, France, Germany, and eventually Rome.〔Francis X. Weiser. ''Handbook of Christian Feasts and Customs'' (New York: Harcourt, Brace & World, 1958), p. 292.〕 In 1568, Pope Pius V revised the Roman Breviary and though the Franciscans were allowed to retain the Office and Mass written by Bernardine dei Busti, this office was dropped for the rest of the Church and the office of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin was substituted instead, the word "Conception" being substituted for "Nativity."〔(Habig O.F.M., Marion A. "Land of Mary Immaculate", ''The American Ecclesiastical Review'', June 1954 )〕 According to the Papal Bull ''Commissi Nobis Divinitus'', dated 6 December 1708, Pope Clement XI mandated the feast as a day of ''Solemnity'' and a Holy Day of Obligation which is to be celebrated in future years by the faithful.〔''Commissi Nobis Divinitus - VI Decembris 1708 - Clementis XI, Papam - Sincera itaque nostra erga eamdem augustissimam caeli reginam, patronam, advocatam, nostram, devotione incitati festum conceptionis ipsius beatae mariae virginis immaculatae ubique terrarum in posterum ab omnibus et singulis utriusque sexus christifidelibus sicut alia festa de praecepto observationis festorum comprehendi auctoritate apostolica, tenore praesentium decernimus praecipimus et mandamus. ...Volumus autem ut earumdem praesentium literrarum transumptis, seu exemplis etiam impressis, manu alicuius notarii publici subscriptis, et sigillo personae in ecclesiastica dignitate constitutae munitis, eadem prorsus fides adhibeatur ipsis praesentibus si forent exhibitae vel ostensae.''〕 Furthermore, the pontiff requested that the papal bull be notarized in the Vatican to be further copied and reproduced for dissemination. Prior to Pope Pius IX's definition of the Immaculate Conception as a Roman Catholic dogma in 1854, most missals referred to it as the Feast of the Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The festal texts of this period focused more on the action of her conception than on the theological question of her preservation from original sin. A missal published in England in 1806 indicates the same collect for the feast of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary was used for this feast as well.〔(The Roman Missal in English ) Tr. John England (Philadelphia: Eugene Chummiskey, 1843), p. 529.〕 The first move towards describing Mary's conception as "immaculate" came in the 11th century. In the 15th century Pope Sixtus IV, while promoting the festival, explicitly tolerated both the views of those who promoted it as the Immaculate Conception and those who challenged such a description, a position later endorsed by the Council of Trent.〔 The proper for the feast of the Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Medieval Sarum Missal, perhaps the most famous in England, merely addresses the fact of her conception. The collect for the feast reads: O God, mercifully hear the supplication of thy servants who are assembled together on the Conception of the Virgin Mother of God, may at her intercession be delivered by Thee from dangers which beset us.〔(The Sarum Missal in English ) Tr. A. Harford Pearson (London: The Church Printing Co., 1834), p. 332.〕 In 1854, Pius IX made the infallible statement ''Ineffabilis Deus'': "The most Blessed Virgin Mary, in the first instant of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege granted by almighty God, in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, the saviour of the human race, was preserved free from all stain of original sin."〔(''Ineffabilis Deus'' ) the Apostolic Constitution of Pope Pius IX on the Immaculate Conception (December 8, 1854), in the Acta Pii IX, pars 1, Vol. 1, p. 615.〕 When December 8 falls on Sunday the feast of the Immaculate Conception is celebrated on 9 December. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Feast of the Immaculate Conception」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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