The Immaculate Conception - Devotion for December

Wherefore, in humility and fasting, we unceasingly offered our private prayers as well as the public prayers of the Church to God the Father through his Son, that he would deign to direct and strengthen our mind by the power of the Holy Spirit. In like manner did we implore the help of the entire heavenly host as we ardently invoked the Paraclete. Accordingly, by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, for the honour of the Holy and undivided Trinity, for the glory and adornment of the Virgin Mother of God, for the exaltation of the Catholic Faith, and for the furtherance of the Catholic religion, by the authority of Jesus Christ our Lord, of the Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul, and by our own: "We declare, pronounce, and define that the doctrine which holds that the most Blessed Virgin Mary, in the first instance of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege granted by Almighty God, in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the human race, was preserved free from all stain of original sin, is a doctrine revealed by God and therefore to be believed firmly and constantly by all the faithful."

Hence, if anyone shall dare -- which God forbid! -- to think otherwise than as has been defined by us, let him know and understand that he is condemned by his own judgement; that he has suffered shipwreck in the faith; that he has separated from the unity of the Church; and that, furthermore, by his own action he incurs the penalties established by law if he should dare to express in words or writing or by any other outward means the errors he think in his heart.

Ineffabilis Deus (Pope Pius IX, December 8th, 1854)

Pictures and Text ex: Catholic Church Conservation

Read the complete text of Ineffabilis Deus, Apostolic Constitution of Pope Pius IX on the Immaculate Conception (December 8, 1854)

Salve Regina - Hail Holy Queen - Video (2)

Gregorian Chant, Salve Regina, Irish Tenors

Original Text
English Translation

Salve Regina, mater misericordiae!
Vita, dulcedo et spes nostra, salve!
Hail to thee, Queen, mother of mercy!
Our life, our consolation, and our hope, hail to thee!

Ad te clamamus exules filii Evae.
Ad te suspiramus, gementes et flentes,
in hac lacrymarum valle.
To thee we cry, we, the banished children of Eve.
To thee we sigh, sorrowing and weeping,
in this vale of tears.

Eja ergo, advocata nostra,
oculos tuos ad nos converte.
Oh thou, our advocate,
turn thine eyes upon us.

Et post hoc exilium ostende nobis Jesum,
fructum ventris tui,
And after our exile show to us Jesus,
the fruit of thy womb.

O clemens, o pia,
o dulcis virgo Maria!
Oh compassionate, oh pious,
oh sweet Virgin Mary!