In Roman Catholic Christian theology, the Immaculate Conception is the conception of the Virgin Mary free from original sin by virtue of the merits of her son Jesus. The Catholic Church teaches that God acted upon Mary in the first moment of her conception, keeping her "immaculate". Other Christian denominations have a range of views on the matter; the Immaculate Conception is confused with the virgin birth of Jesus, the latter saying that Jesus was conceived and born by his mother Mary without a human father. While many Christians believe in the virgin birth of Jesus, it is principally Roman Catholics who believe in the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception. Although the belief that Mary was sinless, or conceived without original sin, has been held since Late Antiquity, the doctrine was not dogmatically defined in the Catholic Church until 1854 when Pope Pius IX, declared ex cathedra, i.e. using papal infallibility, in his papal bull Ineffabilis Deus, the Immaculate Conception to be doctrine.

The Catholic Church celebrates the Solemnity of the Immaculate Conception on December 8. The defined dogma of the Immaculate Conception states: We declare and define that the doctrine which holds that the most Blessed Virgin Mary, in the first instance of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege granted by Almighty God, in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the human race, was preserved free from all stain of original sin, is a doctrine revealed by God and therefore to be believed and by all the faithful. Declaramus, pronuntiamus et definimus doctrinam, quae tenet, beatissimam Virginem Mariam in primo instanti suae Conceptionis fuisse singulari omnipotentis Dei gratia et privilegio, intuitu meritorum Christi lesu Salvatoris humani generis, ab omni originalis culpae labe praeservatam immunem, esse a Deo revelatam, atque idcirco ab omnibus fidelibus firmiter constanterque credendam. Quapropter si qui secus ac a Nobis; the definition concerns original sin only, it makes no declaration about the Church's belief that the Blessed Virgin was sinless in the sense of freedom from actual or personal sin.

The doctrine teaches that from her conception Mary, being always free from original sin, received the sanctifying grace that would come with baptism after birth. The Encyclical Mystici Corporis from Pope Pius XII in addition holds that Mary was sinless "free from all sin, original or personal". In this, Pius XII repeats a position expressed by the Council of Trent, which decreed "If anyone shall say that a man once justified can sin no more, nor lose grace, that therefore he who falls and sins was never justified; when defining the dogma in Ineffabilis Deus, Pope Pius IX explicitly affirmed that Mary was redeemed in a manner more sublime. He stated that Mary, rather than being cleansed after sin, was prevented from contracting original sin in view of the foreseen merits of Jesus Christ, the Savior of the human race. In Luke 1:47, Mary proclaims: "My spirit has rejoiced in God my Saviour." This is referred to as Mary's pre-redemption by Christ. Since the Second Council of Orange against semi-pelagianism, the Catholic Church has taught that had man never sinned in the Garden of Eden and was sinless, he would still require God's grace to remain sinless.

The doctrine of the Immaculate Conception is not to be confused with the virginal conception of her son Jesus. Catholics believe that Mary was conceived of both parents, traditionally known by the names of Saint Joachim and Saint Anne. In 1677, the Holy See condemned the error of Imperiali who taught that St. Anne in the conception and birth of Mary remained virgin, a belief surfacing since the 4th century; the Church celebrates the Feast of the Immaculate Conception on December 8 nine months before celebrating the Nativity of Mary. The feast of the Annunciation is celebrated on nine months before Christmas Day. A feast of the Conception of the Most Holy and All Pure Mother of God was celebrated in Syria on December 8 as early as the 5th century; the title of achrantos refers to the holiness of Mary, not to the holiness of her conception. Mary's complete sinlessness and concomitant exemption from any taint from the first moment of her existence was a doctrine familiar to Greek theologians of Byzantium.

Beginning with St. Gregory Nazianzen, his explanation of the "purification" of Jesus and Mary at the circumcision prompted him to consider the primary meaning of "purification" in Christology to refer to a sinless nature that manifested itself in glory in a moment of grace. St. Gregory Nazianzen designated Mary as prokathartheisa. Gregory attempted to solve the riddle of the Purification of Jesus and Mary in the Temple through considering the human natures of Jesus and Mary as holy and therefore both purified in this manner of grace and glory. Gregory's doctrines surrounding Mary's purification were related to the burgeoning commemoration of the Mother of God in and around Constantinople close to the date of Christmas. Nazianzen's title of Mary at the Annunciation as "prepurified" was subsequently adopted by all theolo

"Lord Baltimore" is the first episode of the second season of the American crime drama The Blacklist. The episode premiered in the United States on NBC on September 22, 2014. While continuing his battle with Berlin, Red receives intelligence from a Cameroonian warlord that a person named "Lord Baltimore", an information broker, hired a bounty hunter to kill him. Meanwhile, Liz goes through the process of annulling her marriage with Tom, is unknowingly under surveillance by an unknown party. During the investigation into Lord Baltimore, the task force questions Rowan Mills, a supposed victim. Further investigation into Mills reveals she is Rowan's twin sister, Nora Mills, a covert operative who suffers from an engineered dissociative identity disorder, is the actual Lord Baltimore. Red learns during his brief captivity by a Mossad agent, Samar Navabi, that Baltimore's intended target is his ex-wife, Naomi Hyland. Liz attempts to evacuate Naomi. While Liz captures Mills, Red attempts to rescue Naomi at a designated apartment only to find a locket instead.

Red receives a package with a cell phone provided by Berlin, who taunts him that Naomi will be sent to Red "piece by piece", proving this when Red finds a finger in the package. Harold Cooper returns to his role as the Task Force's acting director after a visit from Reddington. "Lord Baltimore" premiered on NBC on September 2014 in the 10 -- 11 p.m. time slot. The episode garnered a 3.4/10 Nielsen rating with 12.34 million viewers, making it the highest-rated show in its timeslot and the fourteenth most-watched show of the week. Jim McMahon of IGN gave the episode a 7.8/10, stating: "'Lord Baltimore' is a pretty good balancing act, giving us a villain of the week while dealing with the fallout of last season's finale." He went on to praise the opening scene of the episode, writing: "The highlight of the episode was the opening sequence in Africa, which provided a fitting reintroduction to Red and as an afterthought, got the ball rolling on the plot."Ross Bonaime of Paste gave the episode a 7.0/10.

He wrote: "The first season of The Blacklist had a multitude of problems, and'Lord Baltimore' still showcases many of them. But it does seem like the writers are trying to fix the problems that made the show so uneventful and unfulfilling. It’s not a gigantic shift for The Blacklist, but hey, it feels like a move in the right direction." "Lord Baltimore" on IMDb "Lord Baltimore" at TV.com

The Wedding Singer is a musical with music by Matthew Sklar, lyrics by Chad Beguelin, a book by Beguelin and Tim Herlihy. It is based on the 1998 film of the same name; the musical revolves around Robbie, who sings at weddings, his failed relationship with his former fiancée, his romance with a new love, Julia. The musical premiered on Broadway in 2006 and had several US tours starting in 2007, it was nominated for the 2006 Tony Award for Best Musical. It subsequently has had many international productions. Robbie Hart, a wedding singer, lives with his Grandma Rosie in New Jersey, he and his band play a great wedding gig. During his usual "warm-up-the-crowd routine," Robbie proudly announces that he will be married to his beloved fiancée Linda the next day. At the wedding gig, Robbie meets a waitress named Julia Sullivan. Afterward, Robbie tries to write a sweet love song to Linda, with help from Julia, whom he had just met during the previous wedding; the following day, Linda dumps Robbie at the altar, with only a note claiming that she wants to be the wife of a rock star and not just a wedding singer.

Meanwhile, an anxious Julia goes out to dinner with her Wall Street banker boyfriend, Glen Guglia, hoping he will pop the question, which he does. Robbie falls into a deep depression, but is urged by his bandmates Sammy and George, his grandmother, to use that intense emotion to get back on his feet. However, the angry Robbie does nothing but enrage the guests at the next wedding gig, he is soon thrown into the dumpster by the groom and an angry crowd of wedding guests. With some convincing from his friend Julia, Robbie does "Come Out of the Dumpster", but changes his singing gigs to bar mitzvahs. After the Shapiro bar mitzvah, Julia convinces Robbie to help her register for her wedding, as her fiancé Glen is, as usual, busy with business-related affairs. While at the mall and Julia meet up with Julia's cousin and best friend Holly, who convinces the "faux duo" that Julia needs to practice her wedding kiss. Robbie and Julia awkwardly and lovingly kiss, only to be interrupted by the reality that Julia is marrying Glen.

After seeing the kiss, Holly decides. Julia, still shocked by the kiss, hastily agrees with Holly. Much that night, Holly, Glen and George go to a club in New York City. Here Robbie realizes that Glen is a cheater and that he, loves Julia. Holly realizes this too and tells Robbie that Julia is marrying Glen because of his money and security. Upon hearing this, Robbie says, "Well, I‘m in big trouble, then, but maybe I could change." The next morning, Robbie visits Glen at his Wall Street office to get a job and learn how to be like him in order to secretly impress Julia. Julia and Holly recall the events of the night before and Julia begins to question if rich men are better people. Sammy arrives and tries to woo Holly, but is given the cold shoulder, but Holly can't help but feel that despite his flaws, there is no other man who could replace Sammy. In the evening, a "Glenified" Robbie finds Julia at his doorstep and tries to woo her; when that doesn’t work, he accuses her of marrying Glen for his material possessions.

Julia is stung and walks away from Robbie, throwing a present in his face: personalized blank sheet music. After all, Julia cares about Robbie and wants him to sing at weddings again her own. Robbie realizes what he drinks his sorrows away at a local bar. Sammy and George go to the bar and try to convince Robbie that staying "Single" is the right thing to do. Inadvertently and George end up persuading Robbie into going to Julia's house to tell her how he feels. Meanwhile, at Julia's house, Julia is with her mother, trying on her wedding dress, but is having doubts about marrying Glen because of recent events with her and Robbie. Julia's mother reassures her that Glen is "Mr. Right" and questions why Julia would leave him for a wedding singer, but Julia still has doubts. Robbie looks into Julia's window and sees her trying on her wedding dress and smiling at her reflection, he thinks it's because she's marrying Glen, but Julia is smiling only because she's imagining being Robbie's wife. Robbie comes across Glen in the middle of a bachelor party.

Glen invites Robbie, but Robbie begs him not to cheat on Julia anymore. Glen condemns Robbie. Robbie gets knocked down and Glen fires him. Robbie goes dazed only to find Linda in his bed, wanting him back. Before she can apologize Robbie falls into a deep slumber; the next day, Julia goes to Robbie's house to tell him how she feels, only to find Linda instead. This scares Julia into eloping with Glen to Las Vegas. Meanwhile, Robbie promptly kicks Linda out. At Grandma Rosie's 50th Anniversary party, Robbie finds out from Holly. Only do Robbie and Julia realize that they may never see each other again, they may never get to tell each other what’s on their minds. With urging from his grandmother and Sammy, Robbie goes to the airport and gets on the next plane to Vegas. With the help of a group of Vegas impersonators (Billy Idol, Mr. T, Ronald Reagan, Tina Turner, Cyndi Lauper, Nancy