Assumption

THE ASSUMPTION OF THE MOTHER OF GOD 

 The dogma of the Assumption of the Mother of God was proclaimed on  1st November 1950, by Pope Pius XII in the Apostolic Constitution - ‘Most Generous God’. 

"For the glory of Almighty God, who bestowed special grace upon the Virgin Mary, in honour of His Son, the immortal King of the ages and the Conqueror of sin and death, to increase the glory of His Blessed Mother, to the inexpressible joy of the whole Church, by the authority of Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, and Ourself, we proclaim, declare, and define as dogma the truth revealed by God that the Immaculate Mother of God, ever Virgin Mary, after completing her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heaven." 

It is worth knowing that the dogma of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary says nothing about the death of the Mother of God. This issue is still the subject of debate among theologians. Some of them point to two possibilities: 

+ + + If Mary died, then her Assumption preceded her Resurrection,  and all these events must have occurred within a short period of time. 

+ + + If Mary did not die, then the Assumption occurred at the moment when her earthly life ended. If this is the case, we cannot speak of death, but only of falling asleep. 

The Church recognises that of all people, Mary was closest to the Holy Trinity. Therefore, she was granted the joy of seeing the Holy Trinity immediately after the end of her earthly life. Although the dogma of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary was not proclaimed until the mid-20th century, the feast in honour of Mary assumed into heaven was known already in the first centuries of Christianity. It was then called the ‘Dormition of Mary’. The proclamation of the dogma was only an official recognition of a truth that had long been recognised in the Church. Pope Pius XII recalled it and, with his authority, confirmed and sanctioned it as a dogma of faith. 

The Assumption of Mary is not mentioned in Holy Scripture. All the events of the life of Our Lady described in the Gospels occurred during her earthly life. According to tradition, Mary lived for approximately 20 years after Christ's Resurrection. Throughout the many centuries of commemorating the end of Our Lady's life, the Church has not determined whether Mary died and was assumed into heaven body and soul after death, or whether she passed into heaven without dying, but merely ‘falling asleep’. 

Pope John Paul II took a clear stance on the possible death of Mary, on 25th June 1997, when he delivered his catechesis on ‘The Dormition of the Virgin Mary’. The Holy Father noted that in the constitution ‘Most Generous God’, Pius XII ‘does not consider it appropriate to solemnly affirm the death of the Mother of God as a truth that all the faithful must accept’. 

‘We wish to emphasize that the Mother of God certainly died because Christ also died. She passed through death because He also passed through death,’ - John Paul II said at the time. However, we need to remember that papal catechesis does not have the power to definitively decide, but rather that it belongs to the ordinary teaching of the Church. Therefore, although Mary's death has not been proclaimed as a dogma of faith, it is nevertheless part of the ordinary teaching of the Catholic Church.