I think if you surveyed 1,000 people, asking them what the Immaculate Conception is, 900 people would answer that it is when the Holy Spirit came over Mary and she conceived Jesus, while remaining a virgin. They would be wrong.
The Immaculate Conception is, in fact, the conception of Mary in the womb of her mother, St. Anne. She was conceived without sin so that when the Word became man, Jesus would also be without sin.
Read the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ explanation of Mary’s Immaculate Conception.
searchingforthevirginmary.com 
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