The feast of the Immaculate Conception is the oldest feast in the Congregation. It connects us <\/strong>directly to our origins<\/strong>:<\/p>\n\n The first Daughters of Jesus collected it in the Historical Reviews of data heard from the Mother<\/strong> Foundress <\/strong>when she spoke to them about the inspiration of the Rosarillo: to found a new Congregation<\/em>…<\/p>\n\n “It seemed to me that Our Lady was repeating it in my ear over and over again. That is why you have always heard me say that she was the foundress<\/strong>“.<\/p>\nHistorical Review FI<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n Herranz confirms this in the words he addressed to them in Salamanca on December 8, 1871, two years later:<\/p>\n\n “...under the protection of Jesus Christ and Mary Immaculate<\/strong>, they come to cultivate the gardens of childhood and youth…”;<\/p>\n\n\n\n “…the Daughters of Jesus Congregation that, today and with this act, begins to rise in the Church under the protection and tutelage of the Immaculate Virgin<\/strong>, whose feast we celebrate today…”;<\/p>\n\n\n\n “...always taking <\/strong> Mary Immaculate<\/strong>as the Star <\/strong>of your paths”.<\/p>\nP. Herranz December 7 and 8, 1871<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n When, a few months later, she prepared the text of the Constitutions on the Ignatian basis, Mother Candida made some particularly significant additions<\/strong>:<\/p>\n\n “...under the visible protection and special protection of the Immaculate<\/strong> Conception of the Virgin Mary…” (FI 1);<\/p>\n\n\n\n “…remembering that our Mother and Patroness is the ever Immaculate Virgin<\/strong>” (FI 28);<\/p>\n\n\n\n “On the 8th day of each month, out of gratitude to the Immaculate Conception of Mary<\/strong>… there will be practical exercises of virtues, after which the Mother will exhort them to self-denial and to the other virtues, especially union and fraternal charity” (FI 18).<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n He speaks of the Virgin as our Mother<\/strong>. It does so from a relationship of love, tenderness and trust. He takes Maria’s answer for granted. It is along these lines that “to live”, “to be”, “to place ourselves under his mantle” or the invocations with which he opens most of his letters. They are summarized in an act of trust <\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n The Immaculate Conception is a presence that unites the community of the Daughters of Jesus<\/strong>, that creates communion. She is also a companion<\/strong>, a helper <\/strong>in life, especially in difficult moments when one experiences one’s own poverty more vividly.<\/p>\n\n\n
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