Antiphona ad Magnificat (I Vesperis)

This antiphon recounts the climactic revelation at Lourdes: 'Ego sum Immaculata Conceptio' (I am the Immaculate Conception). On March 25, 1858, four years after Pius IX's dogmatic definition, the Lady identified herself to Bernadette using the theological term the peasant girl could not have known. The phrase 'prope speluncam Massabielle' (near the grotto of Massabielle) locates the heavenly in the earthly. At First Vespers, this antiphon establishes the apparition's doctrinal significance: Mary's self-identification confirmed the 1854 dogma from heaven. The Virgin does not say 'I was conceived immaculate' but 'I AM the Immaculate Conception' - identifying her very being with this privilege.