Of the Holy Virgin, is a popish festival established in honour of the Virgin Mary, on the supposition of her having been conceived, and born immaculate, 1:e. without original sin: held on the 8th of December. The immaculate conception is the great head of controversy between the Scotists and Thomists; the former maintaining and the latter impurgning it. Peter D'Alva has published 48 huge folio volumes on the mysteries of the conception.