Day 9: The Solemnity

The ninth and last day of the Immaculate Conception Novena, prayed traditionally on 8 December itself or on the eve of the Solemnity, closes the nine days of preparation and welcomes the great Marian feast of Advent. Today the Catholic Church celebrates the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, a holy day of obligation in many Catholic countries, with Mass attended by the Catholic faithful in the parish churches across the world.

Today's invocation

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

Today's meditation

The Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception is celebrated on 8 December in the universal Roman Calendar. The date is calculated by counting nine months back from the Solemnity of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary on 8 September; the Catholic liturgical calendar honors Mary's conception (8 December) and her birth (8 September) with a nine-month interval, just as it honors the conception of the Lord at the Annunciation (25 March) with a nine-month interval before His Nativity at Christmas (25 December).

The Solemnity is celebrated with particular liturgical solemnity in the universal Catholic Church. The Mass propers for the day, drawn from the rich Catholic Marian liturgical tradition, include the famous Introit Gaudens gaudebo in Domino (I will rejoice greatly in the Lord) from the Book of Isaiah and the Marian Sequence appropriate to the feast. The Catholic faithful who attend the Solemn Mass on this day participate in one of the most distinctive Marian liturgies of the year.

In Catholic countries with a particular national patronage under the Immaculate Conception (the United States, Portugal, Spain, the Philippines, and others), the Solemnity is observed with greater civic and ecclesiastical solemnity. In Italy and the Vatican City, the Pope traditionally goes in procession to the Spanish Steps in Rome to crown the public statue of the Immaculate Conception with a wreath of flowers, in the Catholic civic devotion of the Roman Church.

Today's intention and act of thanksgiving

Bring to the Immaculate Mother for the last time in this novena the principal intention you have been carrying through these nine days. Whatever the visible state of the matter at the close of the novena, give thanks for her maternal attention.

A traditional Catholic act of thanksgiving and entrustment for the Solemnity:

Most Holy Virgin Mary, Immaculate Conception, my Mother and my Queen, on this day of your Solemnity, I commit my intention finally to your hands. Thank you for the maternal care you have shown me through these nine days. I promise to honor you all the days of my life, to pray the Holy Rosary daily, to wear the Miraculous Medal you gave to your servant Catherine Labouré, and to encourage devotion to your Immaculate Conception among my friends and family. Mother of God, my Mother, intercede for me at the hour of my death, that I may pass from the protection of your earthly maternal care into the eternal Kingdom of your Son. Amen.

Reflection

The Catholic devotion to the Immaculate Conception, like every Catholic Marian devotion, is meant to be the lifelong companion of the Catholic faithful. The novena ends, but the Solemnity is the beginning of a year of Catholic life under the Immaculate Mother's patronage. Many Catholic faithful keep the year between successive feasts of the Immaculate Conception (8 December to 8 December) as a unit of Marian discipline: a particular Marian intention to be brought through the year, a particular Catholic devotion to be cultivated, a particular family member to be commended to her care.

The Catholic spiritual writers have observed that the soul that lives the Catholic year under the Immaculate Conception's patronage is gradually formed in the Marian disposition that the novena has been teaching. The cumulative effect over a Catholic lifetime is the slow conformation of the soul to the Mother's own immaculate love for the Lord.

Practical follow-through

In the days following the close of the novena and the Solemnity, consider:

• Attending Mass on the Solemnity itself (a holy day of obligation in many Catholic countries).
• Receiving the Miraculous Medal as a Catholic sacramental and wearing it daily.
• Making or renewing the Marian consecration in the Montfort tradition.
• Praying the Holy Rosary daily.
• Praying this novena annually in the nine days before 8 December.

Conclusion of the novena

For the dogma of the Immaculate Conception, see the Immaculate Conception. For Mary, Mother of God more broadly, and for related devotions, see the Miraculous Medal Novena, the Mary Undoer of Knots Novena, and the Holy Rosary.

Closing prayers

Pray three Hail Marys in honor of the Immaculate Conception.

O Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.