Our Mission

To spread the image of, and a pious devotion to, the Blessed Virgin Mary, the
Immaculate Conception, Patroness of the United States, to every village, town,
city, county and state across America.

To pray every day to the Blessed Virgin Mary, to intercede on behalf of our
country, and to shield it from all harm in these dark and foreboding times.

To pray for, and to encourage all Americans to make it their duty to live lives of
virtue worthy of the Blessed Virgin Mary’s most powerful protection.

O, Mary, conceived without sin, pray for us who have recourse to thee.

When and why is the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Immaculate Conception, The
Patroness of the United States of America?

Our Blessed Virgin Mother Mary has had a special presence in the Americas for
over five hundred years. We know that the full name of the flagship of
Christopher Columbus was the Santa Maria de la Inmaculada Concepcion (Holy
Mary of the Immaculate Conception) and as part of their evening prayers aboard
ship, Columbus’ crew sang the Salve Regina in her honor each night. Columbus
even named an island La Concepcion after her. America is dotted with rivers,
towns and cities named after our Lady under various titles.

Shortly after the birth of the United States, the Holy See established the diocese
of Baltimore, which included all of the original thirteen colonies as its territory.
Father John Carroll was named its first bishop and was consecrated on August 15,
1791, the Solemnity of the Assumption of our Lady. In the first Pastoral Letter
which he addressed to his far-flung diocese on May 28, 1792, he entrusted his
daunting task to our Blessed Mother. He wrote: "I shall only add this my earnest
request, that to the exercise of the sublimest virtues, faith, hope and charity, you
will join a fervent and well-regulated devotion to the Holy Mother of Our Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ; that you will place great confidence in her in all your necessities. Having chosen her the special patroness of this Diocese, you are placed, of course, under her powerful protection; and it becomes your duty to be careful to deserve its continuance by a zealous imitation of her virtues and a reliance on her motherly superintendence."

At the sixth Plenary Council of Baltimore held in 1846, the bishops of the United
States unanimously chose our Blessed Mother, under the title of the Immaculate
Conception, to be the Patroness of the United States of America. In the Pastoral
Letter issued by the bishops, we read: “We take this occasion to communicate to
you the determination, unanimously adopted by us, to place ourselves and all
entrusted to our charge throughout the United States, under the special
patronage of the holy Mother of God, whose Immaculate Conception is venerated
by the piety of the faithful throughout the Catholic Church. By the aid of her
prayers, we entertain the confident hope that we will be strengthened to perform
the arduous duties of our ministry, and that you will be enabled to practice the
sublime virtues, of which her life presents the most perfect example.”

Within a year Pope Pius IX sent a response to the bishops of the United States,
"our Holy Father Pius IX most willingly confirmed the wishes of the Council that
has selected the Blessed Virgin, conceived without sin, as the patroness of the
Church in the United States of America" (Letter of the Sacred Congregation for
the Propagation of the Faith).

The U.S. bishops once again consecrated the nation to the Blessed Virgin Mary
during the 1959 dedication of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception
in Washington, D.C.

This patronage became the culmination of the place Mary already had in the life
of the Americas and the beginning of a new chapter in her intimate relationship
with the new Republic as its special Patroness.

Here are more interesting facts connecting the United States to Mary Immaculate:

❤️ The first American church dedicated to the Immaculate Conception was in St.
Augustine, Florida, in 1584.

❤️ In 1644 Pope Innocent X declared the feast of the Conception of Mary to be a holy day of obligation in Spanish territories, which included those in the Americas.

❤️The portion of the American frontier called "Our Spanish Borderlands" (Florida, Georgia, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, and California) was placed under the patronage of Mary Immaculate in 1760 by Pope Clement XIII.