Catholic Feast is special Non-Working Holiday

The House of Representatives approved on third and reading House Bill 5241 declaring December 8 of every year a special non-working holiday in the entire country to commemorate the Feast of the Immaculate Conception of Mary, the nation’s Principal Patroness.

The bill is authored by House Majority leader and Ilocos Norte First District Rep. Rodolfo Fariñas and was endorsed for plenary approval by the committee on revision of laws chaired by Rep. Marlyn Agabas (6^th District of Pangasinan).

Section 1 of the bill provides that December 8 of every year is declared a special non-working holiday in the entire country to commemorate the Feast of the Immaculate Conception of Mary, the Principal Patroness of the Philippines. Section 2 provides that the Act shall take effect 15 days after its publication in the Official Gazette or in a newspaper of general circulation

Fariñas said among the titles under which Mary is venerated in the country, the Immaculate Conception is one of the most prominent and its feast highly observed by members of the Catholic Church.

Fariñas said the country is predominantly Catholic and is the third largest Catholic country in the world.  As of 2013, there are about 76 million Catholic Filipinos, based on data collected by the Catholic Directory, said Fariñas.

On September 12, 1942, Fariñas said Pope Pius XII, through the Apostolic letter Impositi Nobis, declared the Virgin Mary, under the title of the Immaculate Conception, as the Principal Patroness of the Philippines.

The lawmaker said the invocation of the Immaculate Conception dates back to February 8, 1578. Pope Gregory XIII, in a Bull, issued a decree that the Manila Cathedral should be erected under the invocation of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. 

Following this, Pope Clement VIII decreed several cathedrals more to be erected under the same title. 

Moreover, one of the three ships that reached the Philippines in the voyage of Magellan in 1521 was the Concepcion, named after the Immaculate Conception, which travelled with the ships Trinidad and Victoria. 

“Thus, the country before being named Filipinas and even before the name of Christ had begun to be preached, saw on these shores  the name of Mary under her title of the Immaculate Conception,” said Fariñas.

Fariñas said December 8 was declared a holy day of obligation by Pope Clement XI in 1708 for Catholics all over the world, in honor of the holiness and purity of the Blessed Virgin Mary.  

According to Fariñas, the Catholic Church has continuously propagated the doctrine concerning the original innocence of the undefiled Blessed Virgin Mary and by this most significant fact, the Church declared that the conception of Mary  must be venerated as extraordinary, wonderful, eminently holy, and different from the conception of all other human beings. 

“Hence, the Church requires public devotion and veneration of the faithful during the Feast of the Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary.  In fact, in some countries such as Guam and Malta, Catholics take the day off from work and school to observe said feast,” said Fariñas.

He said as contained in the Ineffabilis Deus, the Apostolic Constitution issued by Pope Pius IX in 1854, “let all the children of the Catholic Church, who are all so very dear to us, hear these words of ours.  With a still ardent zeal for piety, religion and love, let them continue to venerate , invoke and pray to the most Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God, conceived without original sin.  Let them fly with utter confidence to this most sweet Mother of mercy and grace in all dangers, difficulties, needs, doubts, and fears.”