Day 6: Patroness of Nations

The sixth day of the Immaculate Conception Novena turns to the universal civic patronage of the Mother of God under her title of the Immaculate Conception. The Blessed Virgin Mary has been declared the Patroness of many Catholic nations under this title, including the United States of America, Brazil, Portugal, Spain, the Philippines, and others. Today we contemplate this patronage and pray for the nations under her care.

Today's invocation

O Immaculate Virgin Mary, Mother of our Lord Jesus and our Mother... (the full opening prayer)

Today's meditation

The bishops of the United States gathered in the Sixth Provincial Council of Baltimore in May 1846 and unanimously declared the Blessed Virgin Mary, under her title of the Immaculate Conception, the principal Patroness of the United States of America. Pope Pius IX confirmed the declaration on 7 February 1847, eight years before he solemnly defined the Immaculate Conception as a dogma. The American bishops thus anticipated, in their civic patronage, the dogmatic definition that the Pope would make for the universal Catholic Church.

The Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C., is the principal Catholic shrine of the United States and the largest Roman Catholic church in North America. The Basilica was constructed over the course of the twentieth century (begun in 1920, with the major upper church completed in 1959 and the central dome completed in the early twenty-first century). It is one of the principal Catholic pilgrimage destinations of the United States and the principal site of the American Catholic Mass on the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception.¹

The patronage extends to other Catholic nations. Portugal received Our Lady of the Conception as principal Patroness in 1646, when King John IV consecrated the kingdom to her after the restoration of Portuguese independence. Spain has long had the Immaculate Conception as a principal Marian patroness. The Philippines has the Immaculate Conception as principal Patroness, with the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Manila. Brazil has Our Lady of Aparecida (a Marian title that includes the Immaculate Conception devotion) as Patroness of the nation.

Today's intention

Today, in addition to your principal intention, pray for the Catholic nations under the Immaculate Conception's protection. Immaculate Mother, Patroness of the United States, of Portugal, of Spain, of the Philippines, of Brazil, of all the Catholic nations that have placed themselves under your title, intercede for them. In the difficulties of our own time, defend the Catholic faith of these nations. Bless their families, their parishes, their bishops and priests.

If you are a Catholic citizen of one of these nations, today is an appropriate moment to bring the affairs of the nation under Mary's patronage. The Catholic faithful in our own time are sometimes tempted to despair over the moral and political condition of our societies. The novena's sixth day is the Catholic act of placing the situation under the Immaculate Conception's care.

Reflection

The Catholic doctrine of the patronage of saints over nations has been consistently held by the Catholic Church for a millennium. The patronage is not magical (the patronage does not guarantee the political success of the nation, which depends on the moral choices of its citizens), but it is real (the patron saint genuinely intercedes for the nation, particularly in moments of grave crisis). The history of Catholic nations records moments in which the patronage seems to have been particularly fruitful: the deliverance of Portugal in the seventeenth century, the conversion of Mexico after the Guadalupe apparitions in the sixteenth, the preservation of the American Catholic Church through periods of persecution, the survival of Filipino Catholicism through Spanish, American, and Japanese occupations.

The Catholic faithful in our own time, particularly in nations whose patronage by the Mother of God is being practically forgotten, are called to renew the patronage in their own families and parishes. The novena's sixth day is the Catholic invitation to do so.

Closing prayers

Pray three Hail Marys in honor of the Immaculate Conception.

O Mary, Patroness of our nation, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee.

Footnotes

1. Pope Pius IX, decree of 7 February 1847, confirming the patronage of the United States under the title of the Immaculate Conception. The Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception (Washington, DC) maintains comprehensive historical records of the American devotion. Available at the National Shrine's official website. ↩