Archbishop William E. Lori announced that the observance of the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary will be transferred to Dec. 9 this year.
The solemnity is normally observed Dec. 8, but was moved because Dec. 8 is the Second Sunday of Advent this year.
In previous years, when Dec. 8 fell on a Sunday and the solemnity was observed on Monday, the obligation to attend Mass did not transfer with the observance, according to Archbishop Lori. This year will be different based on guidance provided by the Dicastery for Legislative Texts in Vatican City. Catholics in the archdiocese are asked to attend Mass on the solemnity as a holy day of obligation.
The solemnity celebrates the dogma that the Blessed Virgin Mary was conceived without original sin.
In 1846, while meeting in Baltimore, the U.S. bishops adopted a decree naming Mary, “conceived without sin,” as patroness of the United States. Pope Pius IX approved the choice and placed the United States under the patronage of the Immaculate Conception in 1857.
Catholics are required to attend Mass on holy days of obligation.
Also read: ‘Full of grace’
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