DETROIT (ChurchMilitant.com) – The Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest is inviting the faithful around the world to join them in a novena honoring the life of Our Lady.
The online novena, hosted by Hozana, begins on Thursday and culminates on Dec. 8, the great Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The novena’s prayers and meditations focus on events in Our Lady’s life, highlighted by nine major Marian feasts celebrated throughout the liturgical year.
A priest of the ICKSP explains the history behind this nine-day call to prayer, telling Church Militant:
The Novena to the Immaculate Conception is a beautiful tradition whereby we prepare ourselves spiritually to celebrate Our Lady’s triumph, the first fruits of Her Divine Son’s victory over sin and death. In the great Basilicas of Rome and throughout France, public devotions and sermons on Our Lady were commonplace in the days preceding the great feast.
Another priest is urging the faithful to participate in the revival of the beautiful tradition in communion with the religious of the Institute: “Please join the canons and sisters of the Institute of Christ the King to pray for the Church and our society, remembering the original intention of this novena: to pray to Our Blessed Mother because of the extreme gravity of present events.” He adds, “We would certainly be very happy if this novena is shared with as many people as possible in these most troubled times.”
Each day of the novena, participants will receive an audio meditation by the members of the institute and a concluding prayer written by Pope St. Pius X. Each day focuses on a particular Marian feast:
The Nativity of Our Lady (Sept. 8)
The Most Holy Name of Mary (Sept. 12)
The Presentation of Our Lady (Nov. 21)
The Annunciation (March 25)
The Visitation (May 31)
The Purification (Feb. 2)
Our Lady of Sorrows (Sept. 15)
The Assumption (Aug. 15)
The Queenship of the Blessed Virgin Mary (Aug. 22)
The history of the devotion to Our Lady under the special title of the Immaculate Conception dates back hundreds of years and spans the globe.
The title was officially bestowed on Mary almost two hundred years ago in Rome. Pope Pius IX proclaimed the Immaculate Conception a dogma of the Church on Dec. 8, 1854, when the pope explained, “The Most Blessed Virgin Mary was, from the first moment of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege of Almighty God, and by virtue of the merits of Jesus Christ, Savior of the human race, preserved immune from all stain of original sin.”
Only four years later, Our Lady revealed herself to St. Bernadette Soubirous, in Lourdes, France, by saying, “I am the Immaculate Conception.”
Under the title of Immaculate Conception, Our Lady became the patroness of the United States. In 1846, U.S. bishops unanimously acknowledged her as such during the Sixth Provincial Council of Baltimore. Under that title, she is also the patroness of several other countries, including Spain, South Korea, Brazil and the Philippines.
She is also the patroness of several religious orders, including the ICKSP.
The novena can be found here.
