Immaculate Conception facts for kids

An image of the Virgin Mary. Her halo, in French writing, reads "I am the Immaculate Conception."

The Immaculate Conception is the Catholic doctrine which says that Mary, the mother of Jesus, was conceived in the womb of her mother, Saint Anne, without original sin. The Catholic Church teaches this because they believe that Jesus, as God, had to be conceived in a mother whose soul was without any kind of sin, since God does not like sin. The Immaculate Conception became official Catholic teaching in 1854, announced by Pope Pius IX. Four years later, people claimed that Mary appeared to a girl named Bernadette in Lourdes, France, and that Mary told Bernadette: "I am the Immaculate Conception."

The Immaculate Conception does not mean the conception of Jesus in the womb of his mother Mary. This is correctly called the Incarnation.

The Feast of the Immaculate Conception is celebrated on December 8 each year.

Images for kids

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  Altar of the Immaculata by Joseph Lusenberg, 1876. Saint Antony's Church, Urtijëi, Italy.

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  The procession of the Quadrittu of the Immaculate Conception taken on December 7 in Saponara, Sicily

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  Giotto, Meeting at the Golden Gate, 1304–1306

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  Piero di Cosimo, Immaculate Conception with Saints, 1505

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  El Greco, The Immaculate Conception with St John the Evangelist, c. 1585

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  Rubens, Immaculate Conception, 1628–1629

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  Zurbarán, Immaculate Conception, 1630

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  Murillo, Immaculate Conception, 1650

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  Murillo, Immaculate Conception, 1660

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  Murillo, Immaculate Conception, 1678

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  Carlo Maratta, 1689

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  Juan Antonio Escalante, 17th century

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  Santa Maria degli Angeli, Rome

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  Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo, The Immaculate Conception with Saint Lawrence and Saint Francis of Paola, early 1770s

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  Baroque altar in Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception Church, Portugal

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  Caxias do Sul museum, Brazil

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  Statue, Porto Alegre, Brazil, 19th century

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  Palmi, Calabria, Immaculate Conception, 1925

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  Nicaragua, Immaculate Conception, 1950

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  Our Lady of Aparecida, Brasilia

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  The Immaculate Conception, Church of the Immaculate Conception in Santa Cruz de Tenerife (Spain).

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  A bronze statue of the Immaculate Conception at the Manila Cathedral in Intramuros, Manila, Philippines

See also

In Spanish: Inmaculada Concepción para niños