8th December - Feast of the Immaculate Conception - Independent Catholic News

8th December - Feast of the Immaculate Conception - Independent Catholic News: The dogma of the Immaculate Conception holds that Mary, the mother of Jesus, was free from Original Sin from the very moment of her conception. The Immaculate Conception of Mary is often confused with the virginal conception of Jesus. Today's feast was first approved by Pope Sixtus IV in 1476. In 1830 St Catherine Laboure experienced a vision in which she saw Our Lady standing on a globe with rays of light emanating from her hands.