The Assumption of Mary is one of the four Marian dogmas of the Catholic Church. Pope Pius XII defined it on 1 November 1950 in his apostolic constitution Munificentissimus Deus as follows:
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.
— Pope Pius XII, Munificentissimus Deus, 1950[2]
It leaves open the question of whether Mary died or whether she was raised to eternal life without bodily death.[3]
The equivalent belief in the Eastern Orthodox Church is the Dormition of the Mother of God or the "Falling Asleep of the Mother of God".
The word 'assumption' derives from the Latin word assūmptiō, meaning 'taking up'.
Pope Pius XII expressed in his encyclical Munificentissimus Deus the hope that the belief in the bodily assumption of the virgin Mary into heaven "will make our belief in our own resurrection stronger and render it more effective",[4] while the Catechism of the Catholic Church adds: "The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin is a singular participation in her Son's Resurrection and an anticipation of the resurrection of other Christians."[5]
In some versions of the assumption narrative, the assumption is said to have taken place in Ephesus, in the House of the Virgin Mary. This is a much more recent and localised tradition. The earliest traditions say that Mary's life ended in Jerusalem (see Tomb of the Virgin Mary).[6]
According to the Passing of the Blessed Virgin Mary, attributed to Joseph of Arimathea, which is a later version of the Virgin Mary's Dormition, probably from sometime after the early seventh century, one of the apostles, often identified as Thomas the Apostle, 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.[7] Finally, Mary drops her girdle down to the apostle from heaven as testament to the event.[8] This incident is depicted in many later paintings of the Assumption.
Teaching of the Assumption of Mary became widespread across the Christian world, having been celebrated as early as the 5th century and having been established in the East by Emperor Maurice around AD 600.[9] In a homily, John Damascene (675–749 AD), citing the third book of the Euthymiac History, records the following:
St. Juvenal, Bishop of Jerusalem, at the Council of Chalcedon (451), made known to the Emperor Marcian and Pulcheria, who wished to possess the body of the Mother of God, that Mary died in the presence of all the Apostles, but that her tomb, when opened upon the request of St. Thomas, was found empty; wherefrom the Apostles concluded that the body was taken up to heaven.[10][11]
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Some scholars argue that the Dormition and Assumption traditions can be traced early in church history in the apocryphal books, with Stephen J. Shoemaker stating:
For instance, Baldi, Masconi, and Cothenet analyzed the corpus of Dormition narratives using a rather different approach, governed primarily by language tradition rather than literary relations, and yet all agree that the Obsequies (i.e., the Liber Requiei Mariae) and the Six Books Dormition Apocryphon reflect the earliest traditions, locating their origins in the second or third century.[12]
According to Shoemaker, the first known narrative to address the end of Mary's life and her assumption is the apocryphal third- and possibly second-century Liber Requiei Mariae ("The Book of Mary's Repose").[13] Yet numerous features indicate that the Liber Requiei Mariae, or the Obsequies of the Virgin, as the text is called in Syriac, is even older than this ancient manuscript alone would suggest.[12]
Another early source that speaks of the Assumption is the "Six Books Dormition Apocryphon", so- called on account of its division into six separate books. It dates almost certainly to the middle of the fourth century, if not perhaps even earlier. [14] Most significantly, the Six Books Dormition Apocryphon provides compelling evidence for an early cult of the Virgin nearly a century before the events of the Council of Ephesus.[14]
The Greek Discourse on the Dormition or The Book of John Concerning the Falling Asleep of Mary (attributed to John the Theologian), is another anonymous narrative, and may even precede the Book of Mary's Repose.[15] This Greek document, is dated by Tischendorf as no later than the 4th century.[16][17] but is dated by Shoemaker as later.[18]
The New Testament is silent regarding the end of her life. In the late 4th century Epiphanius of Salamis wrote he could find no authorized tradition about how her life ended.[19] Nevertheless, although Epiphanius could not decide on the basis of biblical or church tradition whether Mary had died or remained immortal, his indecisive reflections suggest that some difference of opinion on the matter had already arisen in his time,[20] and he identified three beliefs concerning her end: that she had a normal and peaceful death; that she died as a martyr; or that she did not die.[20] Even more, in another text Epiphanius stated that Mary was like Elijah because she never died but was assumed, like him.[21]
Other works that mention the assumption of Mary are the apocryphal treatise De Obitu S. Dominae, bearing the name of St. John, which belongs however to the fourth or fifth century. It is also found in the apocryphal book De Transitus Beatae Mariae Virginis, falsely ascribed to Melito of Sardis, and in a spurious letter attributed to Denis the Areopagite.[22] [23]
The Euthymiac History, from the sixth century, is cited by John of Damascus, which narrates how Mary was assumed into heaven.[24]
John of Damascus set out what had become the standard Eastern tradition, that "Mary died in the presence of the Apostles, but that her tomb, when opened, upon the request of St Thomas, was found empty; wherefrom the Apostles concluded that her body was taken up to heaven."[25]
The feast of the Dormition, imported from the East and held annually on 15 August, arrived in the West in the early 7th century, its name changing to Assumption in some 9th century liturgical calendars.[26] In the same century Pope Leo IV (reigned 847–855) gave the feast a vigil and an octave to solemnise it above all others, Pope Nicholas I (858–867) placed it on a par with Christmas and Easter, and Pope Benedict XIV (1740–1758) declared it "a probable opinion, which to deny were impious and blasphemous".[27]
Scholars of the Studium Biblicum Franciscanum "argued that during or shortly after the apostolic age a group of Jewish Christians in Jerusalem preserved an oral tradition about the end of the Virgin's life". Thus, by pointing to oral tradition, they argued for the historicity of the assumption and Dormition narratives. According to Antoine Wenger "the strikingly diverse traditions of Mary's Dormition and Assumption arise from ‘a great variety of original types’, rather than being the result of a progressive modification of a single, original tradition". Simon Claude Mimouni and his predecessors have argued that belief in the Virgin's Assumption is the final dogmatic development, rather than the point of origin, of these traditions.[28]
There is a large number of accounts of assumption of the Virgin Mary, published in various languages (including Greek, Latin, Coptic, Syriac, Ethiopic, Arabic). The standard Greek text is the one attributed to St John the Theologian (Evangelist). The standard Latin is that attributed to Melito of Sardis.[29] Shoemaker mentions that "the ancient narratives are neither clear nor unanimous in either supporting or contradicting the dogma" of the assumption.[30]
Pope Pius XII, in promulgating Munificentissimus Deus, stated that "All the proofs and considerations of the Holy Fathers and the theologians are based upon the Sacred Scriptures as their ultimate foundation." Father Jugie, expressed the view that Revelation 12:1–2 was the chief scriptural witness to the assumption:[31]
And a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars; and she was with child ...
This passage, Epiphanius proposes, may indicate that Mary did not die as other human beings, but somehow remained immortal, although he makes clear his own uncertainty and refrains from advocating this view. Ultimately Epiphanius concludes: "[I] am not saying that she remained immortal. But neither am I affirming that she died."[32]
Since the time of the early Church Fathers, this image of "the woman clothed with the sun" has had a threefold symbolism: the ancient people of Israel, the Church and Mary.[33]
Many of the bishops cited Genesis 3:15, in which God is addressing the serpent in the Garden of Eden, as the primary confirmation of Mary's assumption:[34]
I will put enmities between thee and the woman, and thy seed and her seed: she shall crush thy head, and thou shalt lie in wait for her heel.
— Genesis 3:15
Many scholars connect Jesus' usage of the word "woman" to call Mary instead of calling her "mother" as a confirmation of Mary being the "woman" described in Genesis 3:15. Mary was often seen as the "New Eve", who crushed the serpent's head at the Annunciation by obeying the angel Gabriel when he said she would bear the Messiah (Luke 1:38).[35]
The Catechism of the Catholic Church affirms that the account of the fall in Genesis 3 uses figurative language, and that the fall of mankind, by the seductive voice of the snake in the Bible, represents the fallen angel, Satan or "the devil".[36] Similarly, the great dragon in Revelation 12 is a representation of Satan, identified with the serpent from the garden who has enmity with the woman.[37] Therefore, in Catholic thought, there is an association between this woman and Mary's Assumption.
Among the many other passages noted by Pope Pius XII were the following:[34]
In the 12th century, the German nun Elisabeth of Schönau was reportedly granted visions of Mary and her son which had a profound influence on the Western Church's tradition. In her work Visio de resurrectione beate virginis Mariae relates how Mary was assumed in body and soul into Heaven.[26] [39]
On 1 May 1950 Gilles Bouhours (a marian seer) reported to Pius XII a presumed message that the Virgin Mary would have ordered him to communicate to the pope on the dogma of the Assumption of the Holy Virgin Mary. It is said that Pius XII asked God, during the Holy Year of 1950, for a sign that could reassure him that the dogma of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary was actually wanted by God and when Gilles communicated the message to Pius XII, the pope considered this message the hoped-for sign. Six months after the private audience granted to Gilles by the pope, Pius XII himself proclaimed the dogma of the Assumption of body and soul of the Blessed Virgin Mary into Heaven.[40]
Some Catholics believe that Mary died before being assumed, but they believe that she was miraculously resurrected before being assumed (mortalistic interpretation). Others believe she was assumed bodily into Heaven without first dying (immortalistic interpretation).[41][42] Either understanding may be legitimately held by Catholics, with Eastern Catholics observing the Feast as the Dormition. It seems, however, that there is much more evidence for the mortalistic position in the Catholic traditions (liturgy, apocrypha, material culture).[43] It is also worth noting that St. Pope John Paul II expressed the mortalistic position in his public speech.[44]
Many theologians note by way of comparison that in the Catholic Church the Assumption is dogmatically defined, whilst in the Eastern Orthodox tradition the Dormition is less dogmatically than liturgically and mystically defined. Such differences spring from a larger pattern in the two traditions, wherein Catholic teachings are often dogmatically and authoritatively defined – in part because of the more centralized structure of the Catholic Church – whilst in Eastern Orthodoxy many doctrines are less authoritative.[45]
The Latin Catholic Feast of the Assumption is celebrated on 15 August and the Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Catholics celebrate the Dormition of the Mother of God (or Dormition of the Theotokos, the falling asleep of the Mother of God) on the same date, preceded by a 14-day fasting period. Eastern Christians believe that Mary died a natural death, that her soul was received by Christ upon death, that her body was resurrected after her death and that she was taken up into heaven bodily in anticipation of the general resurrection.
Orthodox tradition is clear and unwavering in regard to the central point [of the Dormition]: the Holy Virgin underwent, as did her Son, a physical death, but her body – like His – was afterwards raised from the dead and she was taken up into heaven, in her body as well as in her soul. She has passed beyond death and judgement and lives wholly in the Age to Come. The Resurrection of the Body ... has in her case been anticipated and is already an accomplished fact. That does not mean, however, that she is dissociated from the rest of humanity and placed in a wholly different category: for we all hope to share one day in that same glory of the Resurrection of the Body that she enjoys even now.[46]
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Views differ within Protestantism, with those with a theology closer to Catholicism sometimes believing in a bodily assumption whilst most Protestants do not.
The Feast of the Assumption of Mary was retained by the Lutheran Church after the Reformation.[47] Evangelical Lutheran Worship designates August 15 as a lesser festival named "Mary, Mother of Our Lord" while the current Lutheran Service Book formally calls it "St. Mary, Mother of our Lord".[47]
Within Anglicanism the Assumption of Mary is accepted by some, rejected by others, or regarded as adiaphora ("a thing indifferent").[48] The doctrine effectively disappeared from Anglican worship in 1549, partially returning in Anglo-Catholic tradition during the 20th century under different names. A Marian feast on 15 August is celebrated by the Church of England as a non-specific feast of the Blessed Virgin Mary, a feast called by the Scottish Episcopal Church simply "Mary the Virgin",[49][50][51] and in the US-based Episcopal Church it is observed as the feast of "Saint Mary the Virgin: Mother of Our Lord Jesus Christ",[52]while other Anglican provinces have a feast of the Dormition[49] – the Anglican Church of Canada's Book of Common Prayer (1962), for instance, marks the day as the "Falling Asleep of the Blessed Virgin Mary".[53]
The Anglican-Roman Catholic International Commission, which seeks to identify common ground between the two communions, released in 2004 a non-authoritative declaration meant for study and evaluation, the "Seattle Statement"; this "agreed statement" concludes that "the teaching about Mary in the two definitions of the Assumption and the Immaculate Conception, understood within the biblical pattern of the economy of hope and grace, can be said to be consonant with the teaching of the Scriptures and the ancient common traditions".[54]
The Protestant reformer Heinrich Bullinger believed in the assumption of Mary. His 1539 polemical treatise against idolatry[55] expressed his belief that Mary's sacrosanctum corpus ("sacrosanct body") had been assumed into heaven by angels:
Orthodox Christians fast for fourteen days before the Feast of the Assumption of Mary, including abstinence from sexual relations.[58] Fasting in the Orthodox Churches generally consists of abstinence from certain food groups; during the Dormition fast, one observes a strict fast on weekdays, with wine and oil allowed on weekends and, additionally, fish on the Transfiguration (August 6).[59]
The Assumption is important to many Christians, especially Catholics and Orthodox, as well as many Lutherans and Anglicans, as the Virgin Mary's heavenly birthday (the day that Mary was received into Heaven). Belief about her acceptance into the glory of Heaven is seen by some Christians 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 symbolised in the Fleur-de-lys Madonna.
The present Italian name of the holiday, Ferragosto, may derive from the Latin name, Feriae Augusti ("Holidays of the Emperor Augustus"),[60] since the month of August took its name from the emperor. The feast was introduced by Bishop Cyril of Alexandria in the 5th century. In the course of Christianization, he put it on 15 August