The meaning of 'virgo Immaculata'



As you will see from the stained glass window the name given to the image is Virgo Immaculata.   Mary was the virgin who remained sinless and spotless.  Yes she would have been tempted by Satan, but as the image shows she kept close to God in prayer and all the wiles of Satan, the forbidden fruit he offered, depictdd by the apple, ended up stuck in his throat while the right foot of Mary crushed his head.

"I will put enmity between Thee and the woman and between thy seed and her seed", God tole the serpent in Genesis   Satan was no match for Jesus who was God made Man but he had overcome a mere mortal before in Eve, What a triumph it would have been to destroy she whom Jesus loved above al others - his mother.   But Mary kept close to Jesus and to God, the new Eve, and mother of the new children that the death of Jesus brought into being.    And as Revelations 12 tells us having failed to destroy the birth of Jesus Satan  went after her other children - us.      

When pilgrims came to the shrine this window represents, and it is a stained glass window of a shrine, they would have had much to ponder and give thanks for, and in their lives they too could stand beside their mother and overcome their weakness and crush Satan   And when they fall they can rise again and reach out for the  hands of Mary whom they knew would one day lead them to her Blessed Son.

Hail full of Grace!!

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