Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Joachim and Anna, the parents of the Virgin Mary greeted each other joyfully after an angel visited each of them,
and announced that they would have a daughter who would be sacred, and who would give birth to the son of the Lord.
Image source: Look and Learn; Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

First off, the Feast of the Immaculate Conception is very confusing for most Catholics!

The Immaculate Conception does not have anything to do with the Annunciation and the conception of Jesus.  The Immaculate Conception is referring to the conception of Mary in the womb of Saint Anne. 

Blessed be her Holy and Immaculate Conception!

THE HOLY AND IMMACULATE CONCEPTION OF MARY 

FROM THE VISIONS OF BLESSED ANNE CATHERINE EMMERICH 

Anne had the assurance, the firm belief that the coming of the Messiah 

was very near, and that she herself would be of the number of His 

relatives according to the flesh. Her prayer was continuous and she 

constantly aimed at greater purity. It had been revealed to her that she 

was to bring forth a child of benediction. Her firstborn daughter, who had 

remained with her grandfather Eliud, Anne recognized and loved as her 

own and Joachim's child; but she felt certain that she was not the child 

whom, by interior enlightenment, she knew that she was to bear. For 

nineteen years and five months after the birth of this first child, Joachim 

and Anne were childless. They lived in continued prayer and sacrifice, in 

mortification and continency. I frequently saw them dividing their herds, 

which rapidly multiplied again. Joachim often remained far away with his 

flocks in humble supplication to God. 

 

The anxiety of both and their longing after the promised blessing had 

reached their height. Many of their acquaintances upbraided them 

because of their sterility, which they attributed to some wickedness. They 

said that the child living with Eliud was not really Anne's daughter, 

otherwise she would have it with her. When Joachim, absent with the 

herds, went again to the Temple to offer sacrifice, Anne used to send 

servants out to the fields to him with numbers of things, doves, and other 

birds in baskets and cages. Joachim loaded two asses from the meadow 

with them, also with three little long-necked animals, white and nimble, 

and lambs and kids in wicker baskets. He carried a lantern at the end of a 

stick; it looked like a light in a scooped out gourd. I saw him with his 

offerings journeying over a beautiful green field between Bethania and 

Jerusalem. I often saw Jesus in the same spot. Toward evening, Joachim 

reached the Temple. The asses were stabled in the same place as 

subsequently at Mary's Presentation, and the offerings were carried up the 

steps of the Mount that led to the Temple. When they had been received 

by the attendants, Joachim's servants returned while he himself went on 

into the hall in which were the water basins for the cleansing of the gifts. 

 

Thence he passed through a long corridor to a hall upon the left of the 

Sanctuary where were the altar of incense, the table of show bread, and 

the seven-branched candlestick. The hall was filled with those that had 

brought offerings. Joachim was received in a very contemptuous manner 

by a priest named Reuben, who would scarcely admit him. He was shoved 

into a corner behind a grating, and his offerings were not, like those of 

others, conspicuously placed behind the gratings to the right of the 

courtyard, but indifferently set on one side. The priests were around the 

altar of incense, upon which an offering was being made. Lamps were 

burning, and lights were lit on the seven branched candlestick, but not all  

seven at once. I have often noticed that different arms of the candlestick 

were lighted on different occasions. 

 

I saw Joachim leaving the Temple in great trouble. He went from 

Jerusalem through Bethania, and into the country of Macharus, where he 

sought consolation in the house of an Essenian. The Prophet Manahem 

had once dwelt here, and also in the family of an Essenian at Bethania. 

This Prophet had foretold to Herod while still a child his future kingdom 

and wickedness. From this place, Joachim went to his most distant herds 

on Mount Hermon. The way led through the wilderness of Gaddi and over 

the Jordan. Hermon is a long, narrow, unbroken mountain whose sunny 

side is green and blooming when the other is still covered with snow. 

Joachim was so dejected, so mortified that he would not allow his people 

to inform Anne where he was staying, while the trouble of the latter when 

she heard how things had gone at the Temple and saw that Joachim did 

not return home, was indescribable. For five months Joachim thus 

remained in concealment on Her-mon. I saw him praying and weeping. 

 

When he went to look after his flocks and his lambs, he was often so 

overcome by sadness that he cast himself with covered face prostrate on 

the ground. His servants questioned him upon the cause of his grief. But 

he did not tell them that it was because he was childless. Again he divided 

his magnificent herds into three parts. The best he sent to the Temple, 

the second to the Essenians, and the least he kept for himself. 

 

Anne, in the midst of her anxiety, had much to endure also from an 

insolent maid servant who bitterly taunted her with her sterility. She bore 

with her a long time, but at last she sent her from the house. The maid 

had requested permission to go to a feast. This was not in accordance 

with the strict discipline of the Essenians. Anne refused the permission, 

and then the maid reproached her, telling her that she deserved to be 

sterile and abandoned by her husband on account of her harsh and 

unreasonable temper. Then Anne sent her, with gifts and accompanied by 

two servants, back to her parents, that they might receive her safe and 

sound as she had come to her. She sent them also the message that she 

could no longer take charge of their daughter. After the girls departure, 

Anne went in sadness to her chamber and prayed. When evening closed, 

she threw a long scarf over her head and enveloped herself entirely in it, 

took a covered light beneath her mantle, went out under a spreading tree 

that stood in the courtyard, lit the lamp and prayed. This tree was one of 

those whose branches strike root again and again, and thus form a whole 

tract of covered walk under their foliage. Its leaves are very large. I think 

it was with such that Adam and Eve clothed themselves in Paradise. The 

whole tree had the characteristics of that of the forbidden fruit. The pearshaped 

fruit  hung usually in fives at the end of the branches. It was fleshy inside with blood 

colored veins; in its center was a hollow space in which reposed the kernel. The Jews 

made use of the large leaves chiefly at the Feast of Tabernacles. They adorned the 

walls with them, laying them like the scales of a fish, so that their edges closely fitted 

together. The tree was surrounded by groves and seats. 

 

When Anne had long besought God not to separate her from Joachim, her 

pious husband, although He had been pleased to deprive her of children, 

an angel appeared to her. He hovered above her in the air. He told her to 

set her heart at rest, for the Lord had heard her prayer; that she should 

on the following morning go with two of her maid servants to the Temple 

of Jerusalem; that there under the Golden Gate, entering by the side of 

the valley of Josaphat, she should meet Joachim, who was even now on 

his way thither, that Joachim's offering would be accepted, that his prayer 

would be heard, that he (the angel) had appeared also to him. The angel 

likewise directed Anne to take some doves with her as an offering, and 

promised that the name of the child she was soon to conceive should be 

made known to her. 

 

Anne thanked the Lord and returned to the house. When, after her 

lengthy prayer, she lay on her couch asleep I saw light descending upon 

her. It surrounded her, yes, even penetrated her. I saw her, upon an 

interior perception, tremblingly awake and sit upright. Near her, to the 

right, she saw a luminous figure writing on the wall in large, shining 

Hebrew characters. I read and understood the writing word for word. It 

was to this effect: that she should conceive, that the fruit of her womb 

should be altogether special, and that the Blessing received by Abraham 

was to be the source of this conception. I saw Anne's anxiety as to how 

she should communicate all that to Joachim; but the angel reassured her 

by telling her of Joachim's vision. I received then a clear explanation of 

Mary's Immaculate Conception. I saw that, in the Ark of the Covenant, a 

sacrament of the Incarnation, of the Immaculate Conception,. a Mystery 

for the restoration of fallen humanity was contained. I saw Anne, with 

surprise and joy, reading the red and golden letters of this luminous 

writing. Her gladness increased to such a degree that, when she arose to 

set out for Jerusalem, she looked far younger than before. I saw on Anne's 

person at the instant the angel appeared to her a beam of light and in her 

a shining vessel. I cannot better describe it than by saying that it was like 

a cradle, or a tabernacle which had been closed but was now opened, and 

made ready to receive a holy thing. How wonderfully I saw this, is not to 

be expressed; for I saw it as if it were the cradle of salvation for the 

whole human race, and also as a kind of sacred vessel now opened, and 

the veil withdrawn. I saw it quite naturally as if one and the same holy 

thing. 

 

I saw, too, the apparition of the angel to Joachim. The angel commanded 

him to take his offering up to the Temple, promised that his prayer should 

be heard, and told him that he should pass under the Golden Gate. At this 

announcement, Joachim was troubled. He felt very timid about going 

again to the Temple. But the angel assured him that the priests had  

already been enlightened with regard to him. It was the time of the Feast 

of Tabernacles. Joachim and his shepherds had already erected their 

tabernacles. With a large herd of cattle as an offering, Joachim reached 

Jerusalem on the fourth day of the feast, and put up near the Temple. 

Anne arrived in Jerusalem also on the fourth day of the feast. She 

stopped with the family of Zacharias near the fish market, and met 

Joachim for the first time only at the end of the feast. 

 

When Joachim approached the Temple, two of the priests came out to 

meet him. They did this acting upon a divine inspiration. Joachim had 

brought with him two lambs and three kids. His offering was accepted, 

slaughtered, and burned at the customary place in the Temple. But a part 

of it was taken and burned at another place to the right of the entrance 

porch, in the center of which stood the large teachers desk. 

 

When the smoke arose, I saw a beam of light descend upon Joachim and 

the officiating priest. There was a pause, the beholders looked on in 

amazement, and I saw two priests go out to Joachim and lead him 

through the side apartments into the Sanctuary before the altar of 

incense. Then the priests laid incense upon the altar, not in grains but in 

the lump; it kindled of itself. The priests immediately retired to a distance 

and left Joachim alone before the altar. I saw him on his knees, his arms 

extended, while the incense offering slowly consumed itself. He remained 

shut up in the Temple all night, praying with great and ardent desires. I 

saw that he was in ecstasy. A luminous figure appeared to him in the 

same manner as to Zachary, and gave him a roll written in shining letters. 

 

On it were the three names: Helia, Hanna, Mirjam, and near the last one 

the picture of a little Ark of the Covenant, or a tabernacle. Joachim laid 

the roll on his breast under his garment. The angel spoke: "Anne will 

conceive an immaculate child from whom the Redeemer of the world will 

be born." The angel told him moreover not to grieve over his sterility 

which was not a disgrace to him, but a glory, for that what his spouse 

would conceive should not be from him but through him, a fruit from God, 

the culminating point of the Blessing given to Abraham. I saw that 

Joachim could not comprehend these words. Then the angel led him 

behind the curtain that concealed the grating before the Holy of Holies. 

 

The space between the curtain and the grating afforded standing room. 

Then the angel held up before Joachim's face a shining ball that reflected 

like a mirror. Joachim breathed upon it and gazed into it. When I saw the 

angel holding the ball so close to Joachim's face, I thought of a custom in 

use at our country weddings, where one kisses a painted head and gives 

fourteen pennies to the sexton. And now, as if called up by the breath of 

Joachim, appeared all kinds of pictures in the globe. He saw them clearly, 

for his breath did not dim them. It seemed to me that the angel then said 

to him that Anne should conceive although remaining just as unsullied by 

him as this ball. The angel then took it from Joachim and raised it on 

high. I saw it hovering in the air and, as if through an opening,  

innumerable and wonderful pictures went into it. They were like a whole 

world, one picture growing out of another. Up in the highest point 

appeared the Most Holy Trinity, and below, to one side, were Paradise, 

Adam and Eve, the Fall, the Promise of a Redeemer, Noe, the Ark, scenes 

connected with Abraham and Moses, the Ark of the Covenant, and 

numerous symbols of Mary. I saw cities, towers, gateways, flowers, all 

wonderfully connected together by beams of light like bridges. They were 

all assaulted and combated by beasts and spirits, which, however, were 

everywhere beaten back by the streams of light that burst upon them. 

I saw also a garden enclosed by a dense thorn hedge. All kinds of horrible 

animals were trying to enter, but could not. I saw a tower stormed by 

numerous warriors who were, however, always repulsed. 

 

And in this way I saw innumerable pictures all bearing some reference to 

Mary. They were bound together by passages or bridges. In them I saw 

obstacles, hindrances, struggles, all of which were overcome, and the 

pictures disappeared successively on the opposite side of the globe, as if 

they had entered into the Heavenly Jerusalem. But as I gazed at them 

dissolving in the interior of the globe, the globe itself mounted on high 

and I saw it no more. 

 

The angel now removed something from the Ark of the Covenant, though 

without opening the door. It was the Mystery of the Ark, the Sacrament of 

the Incarnation, the Immaculate Conception, the Consummation of the 

Blessing of Abraham. I beheld it under the appearance of a luminous 

body. The angel blessed or anointed Joachims forehead with the tip of his 

thumb and forefinger; then he slipped the shining body under Joachims 

garment and it entered into him, how I cannot say. He also gave him 

something to drink out of a glittering chalice which he held supported by 

two fingers. The chalice was of the same shape as that used at the Last 

Supper, but without a foot. Joachim was directed to take it with him and 

keep it at his home. 

 

I understood that the angel forbade Joachim to reveal anything about this 

Holy Mystery; and then, too, I understood why Zacharias, the father of 

the Baptist, was struck dumb after receiving the blessing and the promise 

of Elizabeths fruitfulness through the Mystery of the Ark of the Covenant. 

Not till later was this Mystery missed from the Ark by the priests. Then 

were they at first confounded; afterward they became altogether 

pharisaical. The angel now led Joachim out of the Holy of Holies and 

vanished. Joachim lay on the ground like one stupefied. 

 

I saw the priests enter the Sanctuary, lead Joachim out reverently, and 

place him upon a seat that stood on a raised platform where usually only 

priests sat. The seat was almost like that used by Magdalen in her 

grandeur. They bathed his face, held something to his nose, and gave him 

to drink; in short, they treated him as one in a swoon. Joachim was, by  

virtue of what he had received from the angel, quite radiant. He looked as 

if he had returned to the bloom of youth. 

 

Joachim was afterward conducted by the priests to the entrance of the 

subterranean passage that ran under the Temple and under the Golden 

Gate. This was a passage set aside for special purposes. Under certain 

circumstances, penitents were conducted by it for purification, 

reconciliation, and absolution. The priests parted from Joachim at the 

entrance, and he went alone into the narrow, gradually widening, and 

almost imperceptibly descending passage. In it stood pillars twined with 

foliage. They looked like trees and vines, and the green and gold 

decorations of the walls sparkled in the rosy light that fell from above. 

Joachim had accomplished a third part of the way when Anne met him in 

the center of the passage directly under the Golden Gate, where stood a 

pillar like a palm tree with hanging leaves and fruit. Anne had been 

conducted into the subterranean passage through an entrance at the 

opposite end by the priest to whom she and her maid had brought the 

offering of doves in baskets, and to whom also she had told what the 

angel had revealed to her. She was also accompanied by some women, 

among them the Prophetess Anna. 

Mary in the Womb of St Anne
Photo: Free Library of Philadelphia; Lewis E M 9:6 Choir book

I saw Joachim and Anne embrace each other in ecstasy. They were 

surrounded by hosts of angels, some floating over them carrying a 

luminous tower like that which we see in the pictures of the Litany of 

Loretto. The tower vanished between Joachim and Anne, both of whom 

were encompassed by brilliant light and glory. At the same moment the 

heavens above them opened, and I saw the joy of the Most Holy Trinity 

and of the angels over the Conception of Mary. Both Joachim and Anne 

were in a supernatural state. I learned that, at the moment in which they 

embraced and the light shone around them, the Immaculate Conception 

of Mary was accomplished. I was also told that Mary was conceived just 

as conception would have been effected, were it not for the fall of man. 

After this, Joachim and Anne, praising God, turned toward the outer gate 

of the passage. They went under an arch into a space like a chapel where 

numerous lights were burning. Thence they passed to the gate where 

they were received by the priests who accompanied them back. The 

Temple was all thrown open and decorated with garlands of leaves and 

fruit. Divine service was performed under the open sky. In one place 

stood eight pillars at some distance from one another, and over them 

were twined garlands of green. 

 

Joachim and Anne went for a while to one of the priests houses in 

Jerusalem, and then immediately journeyed homeward. I saw them in 

Nazareth holding an entertainment at which many of the poor were fed 

and presented with alms. Joachim received numerous congratulations 

upon the acceptance of his offering. 

 

Upon their arrival home, the holy couple published the mercy of God with 

feeling, joy, and devotion. From that time they lived in perfect continence 

and in great fear of God. I received at this time an instruction upon the 

great influence exerted upon children by the purity, the continence, and 

the mortification of parents. 

 

Four and one-half months less three days after St. Anne had conceived 

under the Golden Gate, I saw the soul of Mary, formed by the Most Holy 

Trinity, in movement. I saw the Divine Persons interpenetrating one 

another. It became a great shining mountain, and still like the figure of a 

man. I saw something from the midst of the Three 

Divine Persons rising toward the mouth and issuing from it like a beam of 

light. This beam hovered before the face of God and assumed a human 

shape, or rather it was formed to such. As it took the human form, I saw 

it, as if by the command of God, most beautifully fashioned. I saw God 

showing the beauty of this soul to the angels, and from it they 

experienced unspeakable joy. 

 

I saw that soul united to the living body of Mary in Annes womb. Anne lay 

asleep upon her couch. I saw a light hovering over her and from it a 

beam descending toward the middle of her side. I saw that beam enter 

into her in the form of a small, luminous, human figure. At the same 

instant Anne sat up. She was entirely surrounded by light, and she had a 

vision. She saw her own person, open as it were and in it, as if in a 

tabernacle, a holy, luminous virgin from whom proceeded all salvation. I 

saw, too, that this was the instant that Mary first moved in her mothers 

womb. 

 

Anne arose and announced to Joachim what had taken place. Then she 

went out to pray under the tree beneath which a child had been promised 

to her. I learned that Mary's soul animated her body five days earlier than 

is customary with ordinary children, and that she was born twelve days 

sooner. 

Blessed be her Holy and Immaculate Conception!