Assumption of Mary

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According to Roman Catholic theology, the Virgin Mary, "having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory."^[1] This means that Mary was transported into Heaven with her body and soul united. The feast day recognizing Mary's passage into Heaven is celebrated as The Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary by Roman Catholics. This doctrine was dogmatically and infallibly defined by Pope Pius XII on 1 November 1950 in his Apostolic Constitution Munificentissimus Deus. In feast of the the Assumption of Mary is commonly celebrated on August 15.

In his August 15, 2004 homily given at Lourdes, Pope John Paul II quoted John 14:3 from the Bible as a scriptural basis for understanding the dogma of the Assumption of Mary, where Christ, in his Last Supper discourses, explained that "When I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am, there you may be also". Mary is the pledge of the fulfillment of Christ's promise. ^[2]

Contents 1 History 2 The Assumption in Catholic teaching 3 The Virgin Mary's heavenly birthday 4 Bibliography 5 External links 6 References

[edit] History

Although the Assumption was only recently defined as dogma, and in spite of a statement by Epiphanius of Salamis in AD 377 that no one knew of the eventual fate of Mary, stories of the assumption of Mary into heaven have circulated since at least the 5th century. The Catholic church itself interprets chapter 12 of the Book of Revelation as referring to it. Psalm 139, among many similar assumptions, appear in scripture. Catholics argue it is not directly in scripture as she was "with us" during the scriptures.

The earliest narrative is the so-called Liber Requiei Mariae (The Book of Mary's Repose), a narrative which survives intact only in an Ethiopic translation.^[3] Probably composed by the 4th century, this early Christian apocryphal narrative may be as early as the 3rd century. Also quite early are the very different traditions of the "Six Books" Dormition narratives. The earliest versions of this apocryphon are preserved by several Syriac manuscripts of the 5th and 6th centuries, although the text itself probably belongs to the 4th century.^[4]

Later apocrypha based on these earlier texts include the De Obitu S. Dominae, attributed to St. John, a work probably from around the turn of the 6th century that is a summary of the "Six Books" narrative. The story also appears in De Transitu Virginis, a late 5th century work ascribed to St. Melito of Sardis that presents a theologically redacted summary of the traditions in the Liber Requiei Mariae. The Transitus Mariae tells the story of the apostles being transported by white clouds to the death-bed of Mary, each from the town where he was preaching at the hour. The Decretum Gelasianum in the 490s declared transitus Mariae literature as apocryphal. An Armenian letter attributed to Dionysus the Areopagite also mentions the event, although this is a much later work, written sometime after the 6th century. Other saints also describe it, notably St Gregory of Tours, St John Damascene, and St Modestus of Jerusalem.

In some versions of the story the event is said to have taken place in Ephesus, in the House of the Virgin Mary, although this is a much more recent and localized tradition. The earliest traditions all locate the end of Mary's life in Jerusalem (see "Mary's Tomb"). By the 7th century a variation emerged, according to which one of the apostles, often identified as St Thomas, was not present at the death of Mary, but his late arrival precipitates a reopening of Mary's tomb, which is found to be empty except for her grave clothes. In a later tradition, Mary drops her girdle down to the apostle from heaven as testament to the event.^[5] This incident is depicted in many later paintings of the Assumption.

Theological debate about the Assumption continued, climaxing in 1950 when Pope Pius XII said, "[...] We pronounce, declare, and define it to be a divinely revealed dogma: that the Immaculate Mother of God, the ever Virgin Mary, having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory." ^[6] It is important to note that the Roman Catholic Church does not recognise the apocryphal accounts as having any authority. It does not base its teaching about the Assumption on them but rather on theological reasons.

[edit] The Assumption in Catholic teaching

In Ludwig Ott's Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma he states that "the fact of her death is almost generally accepted by the Fathers and Theologians, and is expressly affirmed in the Liturgy of the Church," to which he adduces a number of helpful citations, and concludes that "for Mary, death, in consequence of her freedom from original sin and from personal sin, was not a consequence of punishment of sin. However, it seems fitting that Mary's body, which was by nature mortal, should be, in conformity with that of her Divine Son, subject to the general law of death".^[7] The point of her bodily death has not been infallibly defined, and many believe that she did not die at all, but was assumed directly into Heaven. Indeed, the papal decree which infallibly proclaims the doctrine of the Assumption, the Apostolic Constitution Munificentissimus Deus, leaves open the question whether, in connection with her departure, Mary underwent bodily death; that is, it does not dogmatically define the point one way or the other, as shown by the words "having completed the course of her earthly life". ^[8]

On November 1, 1950, Pope Pius XII solemnly declared:

By the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, of the Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul, and by our own authority, we pronounce, declare, and define it to be a divinely revealed dogma: that the Immaculate Mother of God, the ever Virgin Mary, having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory^[9]

[edit] The Virgin Mary's heavenly birthday

The Assumption is important to many Catholics as the Virgin Mary's heavenly birthday (the day that Mary was received into Heaven). Her acceptance into the glory of Heaven is seen by them as the symbol of the promise made by Jesus to all enduring Christians that they too will be received into paradise. The Assumption of Mary is symbolized in the Fleur-de-lys Madonna.

The Feast of the Assumption is a Public Holiday in many countries, including Austria, Belgium, Cameroon, Chile, France, some states of Germany, Italy, Lebanon, Luxembourg, Malta, Paraguay, Poland, Portugal, Spain, and Vanuatu. In Guatemala it is observed in Guatemala City and in the town of Santa Maria Nebaj, both of which claim her as their patron saint. Also, this is the celebration of Mother's Day in Costa Rica. In many places, religious parades and popular festivals are held to celebrate this day. In Anglicanism and Lutheranism, the feast is kept, but without official use of the word "Assumption". Her feast day is Fête Nationale of the Acadians, of whom she is the patron saint. Businesses close on that day in heavily francophone parts of New Brunswick, Canada. The Virgin Assumed in Heaven is also patroness of the Maltese Islands and her feast, celebrated on 15 August, apart from being a public holiday in Malta is also celebrated with great solemnity in all the local churches. In New York City, alternate side of the street parking rules are suspended.^[10]

[edit] Bibliography

• Shoemaker, Stephen J. (2002, 2006). Ancient Traditions of the Virgin Mary's Dormition and Assumption. Oxford University Press, Oxford. ISBN 0-19-921074-8
• Duggan, Paul E. (1989). The Assumption Dogma: Some Reactions and Ecumenical Implications in the Thought of English-speaking Theologians. Emerson Press, Cleveland, Ohio

[edit] External links

• Early Traditions of the Virgin Mary's Dormition and Assumption a collection of early Dormition and Assumption narratives with introductions
• The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary based on Juniper Carol's Mariology

[edit] References

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