Information

Feast of the Immaculate Conception
A Holy Day of Obligation

MASSES 2023

Vigil Mass                     Thursday 7th December           Rushwee   7.30pm

Feast Day                      Friday 8th December                Grangegeeth 10am
                                                                                        Rathkenny    11am

We celebrate Mary who, from the first moment of her existence in the womb of her mother, St Anne, was, by a singular grace and privilege of almighty God, preserved free from all stain of original sin.

This feast, which is given the Rank of Solemnity in the liturgical calendar, has been celebrated since the seventh century.

The Immaculate Conception is one of the four Marian Dogmas.It was proclaimed as infallible teaching by Pope Pius IX on December 8th, 1854.

"The most Blessed Virgin Mary was, from the first moment of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege of almighty God and by virtue of the merits of Jesus Christ, Saviour of the human race, preserved immune from all stain of original sin."  - Catechism of the Catholic Church

In 1858 Our Lady appeared to St Bernadette Soubirous eighteen times and identified herself as the "Immaculate Conception", thus confirming the Dogma proclaimed in Rome four years earlier.

Dogma - a truth pertaining to faith or morals, revealed by God, transmitted from the Apostles in the Scriptures or by tradition, and proposed by the Church for the acceptance of the faithful. It might be described briefly as a revealed truth defined by the Church.  A dogma is a doctrine solemnly defined by the pope or by a general council. A dogma therefore implies a twofold relation: to Divine revelation and to the authoritative teaching of the Church.