Assumption of Mary
The Assumption of Mary is the dogma in the Catholic Church that Mary was "assumed" or taken up into Heaven both soul and body. Thus, in Catholic belief, there is a fundamental distinction: Jesus rose bodily into Heaven, whereas Mary was taken, bodily, to Heaven by God. The first is therefore termed an "Ascension" and the second an "Assumption."
The Old Testament figures Enoch and Elijah were taken up into Heaven as well.[1]
In 1950, Pope Pius XII formally declared the Assumption of Mary to be dogma in an Apostolic Constitution Munificentissimus Deus. Though only declared a dogma in modern times, the belief has existed in the Catholic Church for hundreds of years. The Assumption of Mary is celebrated as the Feast of the Assumption on August 15.
The Assumption of Mary is also a teaching in the Eastern Orthodox Church (Called the "Dormition" in that Church) and several other churches, but it is not part of those denominations' dogma.
Tradition and probable date
According to a tradition preserved in the east and the west, sometime during A.D. 40 to 44,[2] Mary the mother of Jesus completed the course of her life on earth, and fell asleep; and she was laid in a tomb by John. Then according to ancient tradition, the Lord Jesus took her, body and soul, out of the tomb and assumed her into heaven. Her body has never been found. Two tombs are claimed: one in Jerusalem, at the foot of the Mount of Olives in the Church of the Assumption; and one in Ephesus, the final home of John the Apostle, a claim which has been disputed.[3]
Since the 3rd century Orthodoxy has observed this event as the Dormition and Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.[4] The tradition is an established matter of ancient record.[5] [6]
There has been no universal agreement on whether she actually died.[7] The dogma proclaimed by Pope Pius XIII in 1950 in accordance with the ancient apostolic Christian tradition in the East and the West holds that Mary the mother of Jesus "having completed the course of her life on earth" was taken body and soul into heaven by her Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. The dogma does not state that she died, only that she was assumed body and soul into heaven when she had completed the course of her life on earth.
References
- ↑ Genesis 5:24 and 2 Kings 2:11
- ↑ Reading between Acts 11:30 and Acts 12:1, together with an apparent allusion in 1 Corinthians 15:51 "Lo! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed". Compare Romans 8:30.
- ↑ Tomb of Mary - See the Holy Land (seetheholyland.net)
- ↑ See Dormition (orthodoxwiki.org) and Assumption (ewtn.com)
- ↑ Apocryphal Works on the Assumption of Mary (newadvent.org) from the Ante-Nicene Fathers
—The Account of St. John the Theologian of the Falling Asleep of the Holy Mother of God (St. John the Apostle)
—The Passing of Mary:
—First Latin Form Concerning the Passing of the Blessed Virgin Mary
—Second Latin Form Here Begins the Passing of the Blessed Virgin Mary - ↑ Feast of the Assumption (newadvent.org)
- ↑ Did Virgin Mary Die Before Assumption? by Scott P. Richert (thoughtco.com)