From 1800, the Virgin statue in Rome is paid a flower tribute on the 8th December
The Virgin Mary festivity is one of the most important according to the Catholic religion. It celebrates the Virgin Mary was born without the original sin.
She was chosen by God to give birth to his Child. For this reason, the Creator gave this Woman the privilege of being free by the original sin, since she was conceived.
That’s why Pope Pio IX was exiled to Gaeta, from Rome, in 1849. In the capital, after the Mazzini revolution, the Second Roman Republic was established. The state has a very peculiar origin, as it is very Masonic and anti-Christian.
The Pope didn’t recognize the Second Roman Republic at all and he didn’t tolerate his exile from Rome.
One day, Pio IX went to visit the chapel dedicated to the Virgin Mary. During his prays, he promised the Virgin to take a very important decision, if she offered him the possibility to go back to Rome, and if she reestablished the Christian order in Europe, cancelled by the numerous patriotic rebellions. So he promised to dedicate himself to make the Holy Virgin dogma official.
In 1851, Pope Pio iX finally got back Rome and, according to his grace, started working on the creation of an extraordinary document.
It was the Ineffabilis Deus, promulgated on the 8th December 1854: by that papal bull, the Pope officially established the Holy Mary dogma, telling the Holy Mary had never been affected by the original sin, since she was conceived.
We must underline there is no connection with the fact she gave birth to Christ, being virgin. This festivity celebrates the privilege of being free by the original guilty, thanks to God.
The dogma of the Virgin Mary received its confirmation by Heaven above: four years later, in 1858, Lourdes hosted an extraordinary event. The Holy Mary appeared to Bernadette. During the show, the Virgin appeared to Bernadette, telling her she was the Holy Mary. Just a further confirmation the decision the Pope took by the Ineffabilis Deus bull was absolutely right and valid.
Since 1854, there is the Holy Mary festivity in Rome: the Virgin statue in Rome is paid a flower tribute!
Thanks to his official document, Pope Pio IX established the 8th December has to be celebrated by all the Catholic supporters.
There’s one more decision connected to the Ineffabilis Deusi: the Pope said he wanted a monument able to rightly represent the Virgin Mary dogma.
In 1777, there were some works in progress in the capital, to renovate the Benedictines Convent, in Campo Marzio.
During the works, they discovered a big marble column, from Roman times. It is 12 metres high and it got abandoned near Montecitorio, in via Missione.
After Pio IX decision of looking for a monument to celebrate the Holy Mary festivity, they decided to use that column.
So the monument was moved from via Missione to Mignanelli square, near Spagna square. They selected hundreds of criminals to move it, lately benedict, becoming the Column of the Holy Mary or Mariana.
The architect Luigi Poletti made it decorating it with bronze and iron circles, as the cipollino marble it was made of was very damaged.
Giuseppe Obici, a great sculptor, was commissioned to make the statue of the Holy Mary, to be put on the Colonna Mariana. According to some witnesses, the artist made it on his mother-in-law inspiration.
Obici created a bronze statue, 4 metres high, of 20 thousand pounds weight. Its position had to be the top of the column.
On the 8th December 1857, the monument was inaugurated in Spagna square, thanking Ferdinand II, Reign of Naples sovereign, for having paid for it.
The Pope, together with many cardinals, in front of many supporters, inaugurated the Holy Column.
So 200 firemen started working, lifting the statue on the top of the monument.
At the same time, they put many flowers in front of it, too. The Pope sent a bunch of flowers to pay tribute to the Virgin on the Holy Mary Day, too.
Lately, also Giovanni XXIII went to Spagna square to put a basket of little white roses in front of the statue.
The habit of paying tribute to the statue of the Holy Mary in Mignanelli square on the 8th December got a recurring appointment for all the following Popes.
The firemen put the flowers at the bottom of the statue, but the first bunch is always the Spanish Ambassador one.
The tradition still goes on nowadays, even if it started in 1800.
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