Patroness of America
Mary Immaculate
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The Blessed Mother, under the title of the Immaculate Conception, has been a patroness of the United States since 1846. She was chosen as such because of the common devotions to Mary (especially as the Immaculate Conception)  that many ethnic groups brought when they came to the United States, an immigrant country. She serves, then, as a uniting patroness to the diversity of cultures, traditions, and perspectives of people in this country. She is the spiritual embodiment of the nation’s vision statement: “E pluribus unum” (out of many, one). As pilgrims to World Youth Day, Mary the Immaculate Conception can once more be a uniting force bringing together all the young people from such a diverse country as ours (with its beautiful collage of language groups and cultural families; those from cities and small towns, suburbs and farmland; the rich, the poor, and the middle class; those working and those studying; from the West Coast to the East Coast, from the North to the South, from the Midwest to the mountains).  The Blessed Mother, with her maternal love for us, brings all people together to point them towards God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.