Novena to the Immaculate Conception

Prayed to: The Immaculate Conception
Intentions: Purity of heart, New beginnings and fresh starts, Trust in God
Prayed each year from: November 30

This novena is part of the app's one-time unlock, so its text is not published here.

About this text

Source: Built from three prayers of confirmed public-domain standing — the Memorare (traditional, medieval), the Salve Regina / Hail Holy Queen (attributed to the eleventh-century monk Hermannus Contractus), and titles from the Litany of Loreto (formally approved by Pope Sixtus V, 1587) — together with the defining language of Ineffabilis Deus, Pope Pius IX's 1854 apostolic constitution, now in the public domain as an official act of the Holy See. The opening prayer is the traditional Memorare, addressed to Mary. The devotion's historical and theological background is recorded here rather than repeated daily as the prayer text: on December 8, 1854, Pope Pius IX solemnly defined that the Blessed Virgin Mary, 'in the first instance of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege of almighty God, in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, the Savior of the human race, was preserved free from all stain of original sin.' This novena is traditionally prayed over the nine days leading up to the feast, beginning November 30 and ending on the feast itself, December 8; each day takes one title Mary has long been given in the Church's ancient Litany of Loreto.

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About The Immaculate Conception

A dogma of the Catholic Church, not a person distinct from Mary herself: the teaching that the Blessed Virgin Mary was preserved, from the first moment of her existence, from the stain of original sin, by a singular grace of God in view of the future merits of her Son. Defined formally by Pope Pius IX in 1854, the belief itself is far older, reflected for centuries in Marian liturgy, art, and popular devotion before its formal definition.

Ineffabilis Deus, Pope Pius IX, 8 December 1854 (public domain as an official act of the Holy See); Salve Regina, attributed to the eleventh-century monk Hermannus Contractus; Memorare, traditional, medieval origin; Litany of Loreto, formally approved by Pope Sixtus V, 1587 — all public domain.