Immaculate Conception
Third window on the right side of the Church
From the earliest days of the Church, many of the faithful have always believed that Mary, because she was the Mother of Jesus, was free from all stain of Original Sin from the first moments of her conception - the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception. It wasn't until 1854 that the dogma was proclaimed by the Church. Many times since then, in many of Mary's apparitions, especially Lourdes, she has called herself "the Immaculate Conception".
The upper medallion of this window calls Mary by the title "Mother Most Chaste". Depicted is the tree from the Garden of Paradise, half of which is festooned with the fruit of the sin of Adam and Eve and the other half with the fully blooming flowers of Mary's chaste obedience to the work of God in her life. The large window is a beautiful image of Mary in contrasting shades of dark and light blue standing on the world and stepping on the serpent, the symbol of evil. The latter image is derived from Genesis 3:15, which the Scripture Scholars call the Protoevangelium (the First Gospel, Good News) because it is God's promise to send a redeemer, born of a woman, who would crush the head of the serpent.
The third panel shows Adam and Eve eating the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil in disobedience to God's command and thereby expressing original sin, which is the heritage of all human beings born into this world. The title of the panel is "The Fall of Man". The last image in the bottom shield of the window is a fleur de lis, the emblem of Mary's purity. The original painting of Assumption Church used this particular symbol throughout the sanctuary. The Immaculate Conception is the title under which the American bishops have consecrated our country to Mary.
Mary Immaculate, pray for us |
