Mary, patroness of school and country

Elsewhere in this issue (Page 21), one learns that for 180 years, Mary Immaculate has been patroness of the United States. The Immaculate Conception also has a major presence on the campus of the University of Dayton, which was founded by the Society of Mary.

People of traditions and faiths other than Catholic may confuse the Immaculate Conception with the Virgin Birth, which refers to the birth of Christ. The Immaculate Conception is the conception of Mary herself. The dogma, proclaimed by Pope Pius IX in 1854: “The most Blessed Virgin Mary was, from the first moment of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege of almighty God and by virtue of the merits of Jesus Christ, Saviour of the human race, preserved immune from all stain of original sin.”

“The most Blessed Virgin Mary was, from the first moment of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege of almighty God and by virtue of the merits of Jesus Christ, Saviour of the human race, preserved immune from all stain of original sin.”

Art inspired by the Immaculate Conception often depicts Mary crowned by a circle of stars and the moon beneath her feet, perhaps a reference to an image in Revelation 12:1 of “a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of 12 stars.” Her feet trampling a snake suggest victory over the devil.

Among the numerous images of Mary on campus are the three pictured here — those on the Roesch Library lawn, in Curran Place and in the Chapel of the Immaculate Conception.

Photography by Sylvia Stahl '18.

A version of this article appears in print in the Summer 2026 University of Dayton Magazine, Page 12. EXPLORE THE ISSUE — MORE ONLINE