The Feast of the Immaculate Conception in Jerusalem
Since the Tomb of the Virgin Mary resides on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem, the day has special significance for Catholic worshippers in the region. The shrine is a popular pilgrimage site that has significance for both Catholic Christianity and Islam.
History of the Feast of the Immaculate Conception
The history of this holiday is closely tied with the acceptance of the Immaculate Conception as Christian dogma. For example, the Eastern Orthodox Church does not accept the dogma, even though the earliest origins of the holiday were in the Eastern Church.
At that time, which was the seventh century, the Immaculate Conception of Mary was not regarded as a dogma. It was therefore possible to reject the belief without being considered a heretic. This tradition carried on even after the term “Immaculate Conception” became popularized, and was upheld by the Council of Trent in the sixteenth century. Those who promoted the Immaculate Conception and those who rejected it were both tolerated equally.
In the eighth century, the holiday became a feast of the Roman Catholic Church, and has remained so to this day. But it was only in the nineteenth century that the Immaculate Conception was decreed a bona fide dogma of the Catholic Church by Pope Pius IX in 1854.
