Well, apparently she was! And December 8 is a national holiday in Italy!  We didn’t even have school today!  Whoppee!  I’m like a child again with a free day!

In 1854, Pius IX declared the 8th December as an official Feast Day, which may actually have been his political response to the new Italian nationalism of the Risorgimento. The Pope was to lead the Church into zones of obscurantism unvisited by most of his predecessors. When in 1854 he asserted that the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception – the belief that the Virgin Mary herself was conceived without sin – had been revealed by God, the rest of the modern world was puzzled.  Pope Pius IX had reacted to Rome’s capture in 1870 by excommunicating ‘the sub-Alpine usurper’ (Victor Emanuel) and refusing to recognize united Italy.

The pope, who liked to describe himself as ‘the prisoner of the Vatican’, was still resentful of the conquest, the closure of convents and the loss of his territories, he refused to have any dealings with the government and continued to insist that he was the rightful ruler of the Papal States. More recently, in 1870, Pius had proclaimed the doctrine of Papal Infallibility, which asserted that the pope himself could make no errors when speaking, in his capacity as Bishop of Rome, on matters of faith and morals.

Yet he and his four successors were curiously reluctant to exercise the power he had insisted upon. No pope claimed infallibility until 1950, when Pius XII declared that ‘the ever Virgin Mary’ had been ‘assumed in body and soul to heavenly glory’.

 

(Gilmour, David (2011-10-25). The Pursuit of Italy: A History of a Land, Its Regions, and Their Peoples (Kindle Locations 4430-4431). Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Kindle Edition.)

You can also see more at: http://www.italymagazine.com/featured-story/roundup-best-events-and-festivals-december-italy#sthash.8Brh7JxC.dpuf

I had to look up the festa: and here’s what Wiki says:

Feast of the Immaculate Conception

Significance Belief in the most pure and sinless conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary without Original Sin; Celebrations Festive pageantry, grand fireworks, cultural dancing, ethnic food; Observances Mass and other liturgical celebrations; Date December 8; Related to Nativity of Mary; Part of a series on the Mariology of the Catholic Church.

The Feast of the Immaculate Conception celebrates the solemn belief in the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It is universally celebrated on December 8, nine months before the feast of the Nativity of Mary, which is celebrated on September 8. It is one of the most important Marian feasts in the liturgical calendar of the Roman Catholic Church, celebrated worldwide.

By Pontifical designation and decree, it is the patronal feast day of Argentina, Brazil, Korea, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Philippines, Spain, the United States and Uruguay. By royal decree, it is also designated by as the Patroness of Portugal. It is celebrated by the Roman Catholic Church as well as a few other closely related Christian churches.

On this day since 1854, the Holy See through the Sacred Congregation of Rites grants the Spanish crown the expressed privilege of permitting blue vestments for their present and former territories. Since 1953, the Pope as Bishop of Rome visits the Column of the Immaculate Conception in Piazza di Spagna to offer expiatory prayers commemorating the solemn event.

The feast was first solemnized as a Holy Day of Obligation on 6 December 1708 under the Papal Bull Commissi Nobis Divinitus by Pope Clement XI and is often celebrated with Holy Mass, parades, fireworks, processions, ethnic foods, and cultural festivities in honor of the Blessed Virgin Mary and is generally considered a Family day, especially in many Catholic countries.

Well that was more than you wanted to know?  Correct!

Then let’s look at what the Florentine has to say about it:

Let there be light! The Feast Day of the Immaculate Conception on December 8 marks the official beginning of the Christmas season in Florence, and the annual tree lighting in piazza del Duomo is an appropriately ceremonial kickoff for the community. Against the striking backdrop of Santa Maria del Fiore, Mayor Dario Nardella will switch on the big tree’s bulbs in one of the year’s merriest moments. Bundle up and arrive early! In addition to ushering in the festive season, this year the event will launch the F-LIGHT Festival.

All I know is this: it is a gorgeous day to be alive in Florence, Italy!  The sound is shining. the temperature is mild, and the view from my window is breathtaking!

Happy Immaculate Conception of Mary Day, wherever you are!