It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas: Buon Immacolata!

Christmas decorations have been going up in Rome steadily for the last several weeks.

However, the semi-official start of the Christmas season happened only last Thursday, December 8, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. Not to be confused with the conception of Jesus, this feast celebrates the doctrine that Mary was conceived free of “original sin.”

As a side note, in Late Night Catechism, the long-running comedy-show-cum-catechism-class, Sister always asks, “What is the Immaculate Conception?” I have a little plastic Mary statue at home, my prize for getting the right answer. Sister also made me class monitor during the intermission but that is another story … twelve years of Catholic school counts for something!

To commemorate the Pope’s official recognition of the doctrine, a memorial was erected in Piazza di Spagna, just to the right from the bottom of the Spanish Steps. A statute of Mary sits high above the square atop an ancient Roman column sitting on an elaborate base with four large statues of biblical figures, including Moses (left) and King David (right, striking that chord that pleased the Lord). 

On December 8, using ladder trucks, Roman firefighters place wreaths at the foot of the statue and around Mary’s outstretched arm. 

Many other groups, mainly other labor unions, also place huge wreaths at the base of the memorial. 

Later in the day, the Pope comes to venerate. It’s big! Brad and I made our way over there mid-afternoon and waded into the crowd at first. But it got thicker and thicker as the Pope’s arrival got closer. 

We relented after a while, dropping back to where the crowd was thinner. Piazza di Spagna and the street leading into it (Via Condotti) are very high-end: Check out the workers with their smartphones, waiting on the Prada balcony (first balcony to the left above, and below) to catch the Pope's arrival.

And here is a night shot of Via Condotti lit up in the background with a wild, fireworks Christmas tree in the foreground. The tree sits on the main landing of the Spanish Steps, reminiscent of the fireworks that marked their September re-opening after refurbishment, all financed by the Bulgari jewelry company.

We finally gave up waiting on the Pope and went into a little English tea room, Babbingtons, which has been there at the foot of the Steps since 1893. A little later, we could hear the crowd outside cheering as we enjoyed our tea and wine and sweets…