The Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception celebrates the belief that the Blessed Virgin Mary was conceived free from Original Sin in the womb of her mother, St. Ann (the patron saint of Detroit). As one of the most important Marian feasts, it is universally celebrated in the liturgical calendar of the Roman Catholic Church on each December 8th, nine months before the feast of the Nativity of Mary on September 8^th.

The feast was first solemnized as a Holy Day of Obligation on December 6, 1708, by Pope Clement XI, and was defined as a dogma of Catholic faith on December 8, 1854, by Pope Pius IX.  At Mass on December 8^th, following Communion, we will pray:
 
“O Lord our God, heal in us the wounds of that fault from which in a singular way you preserved Blessed Mary in her Immaculate Conception.  Through Christ our Lord.”

The Catholic Lawyers Society of Metropolitan Detroit sends out a short First Friday reflection every month, composed with help from our Spiritual Advisor, Msgr. Ronald Browne.