The Church teaches that the Immaculate Virgin, by a special privilege,
was taken up body and soul into heavenly glory at the end of her earthly
life
"The Assumption is the culmination of the struggle which
involved Mary's generous love in the redemption of humanity and is the
fruit of her unique sharing in the victory of the Cross", the Holy
Father said at the General Audience of Wednesday, 2 July, as he
reflected on the Assumption of Mary as a truth of faith. Here is a
translation of his catechesis, which was the 54th in the series on the
Blessed Mother and was given in Italian.
1. Following the Bull Munificentissimus Deus of my venerable
Predecessor Pius XII, the Second Vatican Council affirms that the
Immaculate Virgin "was taken up body and soul into heavenly glory,
when her earthly life was over" (Lumen gentium, n. 59).
The Council Fathers wished to stress that Mary, unlike Christians who
die in God's grace, was taken up into the glory of heaven with her body.
This age-old old belief is expressed in a long iconographical tradition
which shows Mary "entering" heaven with her body.
The dogma of the Assumption affirms that Mary's body was glorified
after her death. In fact, while for other human beings the resurrection
of the body will take place at the end of the world, for Mary the
glorification of her body was anticipated by a special privilege.
2. On 1 November 1950, in defining the dogma of the Assumption, Pius
XII avoided using the term "resurrection" and did not take a
position on the question of the Blessed Virgin's death as a truth of
faith. The Bull Munificentissimus Deus limits itself to affirming
the elevation of Mary's body to heavenly glory, declaring this truth a
"divinely revealed dogma".
Belief spread rapidly from East to West
How can we not see that the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin has
always been part of the faith of the Christian people who, by affirming
Mary's entrance into heavenly glory, have meant to proclaim the
glorification of her body?
The first trace of belief in the Virgin's Assumption can be found in
the apocryphal accounts entitled Transitus Mariae, whose origin
dates to the second and third centuries. These are popular and sometimes
romanticized depictions, which in this case, however, pick up an
intuition of faith on the part of God's People.
Later, there was a long period of growing reflection on Mary's
destiny in the next world. This gradually led the faithful to believe in
the glorious raising of the Mother of Jesus, in body and soul, and to
the institution in the East of the liturgical feasts of the Dormition
and Assumption of Mary.
Belief in the glorious destiny of the body and soul of the Lord's
Mother after her death spread very rapidly from East to West, and has
been widespread since the 14th century. In our century, on the eve of
the definition of the dogma it was a truth almost universally accepted
and professed by the Christian community in every corner of the world.
3. Therefore in May 1946, with the Encyclical Deiparae Virginis
Mariae, Pius XII called for a broad consultation, inquiring
among the Bishops and, through them, among the clergy and the People of
God as to the possibility and opportuneness of defining the bodily
assumption of Mary as a dogma of faith. The result was extremely
positive: only six answers out of 1,181 showed any reservations about
the revealed character of this truth.
Citing this fact, the Bull Munificentissimus Deus states:
"From the universal agreement of the Church's ordinary Magisterium
we have a certain and firm proof demonstrating that the Blessed Virgin
Mary's bodily Assumption into heaven ... is a truth revealed by God and
therefore should be firmly and faithfully believed by all the children
of the Church" (Apostolic Constitution Munificentissimus Deus:
AAS 42 [1950], 757).
The definition of the dogma, in conformity with the universal faith
of the People of God, definitively excludes every doubt and calls for
the express assent of all Christians.
After stressing the Church's actual belief in the Assumption, the
Bull recalls the scriptural basis for this truth.
Although the New Testament does not explicitly affirm Mary's
Assumption, it offers a basis for it because it strongly emphasized the
Blessed Virgin's perfect union with Jesus' destiny. This union, which is
manifested, from the time of the Saviour's miraculous conception, in the
Mother's participation in her Son's mission and especially in her
association with his redemptive sacrifice, cannot fail to require a
continuation after death. Perfectly united with the life and saving work
of Jesus, Mary shares his heavenly destiny in body and soul.
Assumption is fruit of Mary's sharing in the Cross
4. The Bull Munificentissimus Deus cited above refers to the
participation of the woman of the Proto-gospel in the struggle against
the serpent, recognizing Mary as the New Eve, and presents the
Assumption as a consequence of Mary's union with Christ's saving work.
In this regard it says: "Consequently, just as the glorious
Resurrection of Christ was an essential part and the final sign of this
victory, so that struggle which was common to the Blessed Virgin and her
divine Son should be brought to a close by the glorification of her
virginal body" (Apostolic Constitution Munificentissimus Deus:
AAS 42 [1950], 768).
The Assumption is therefore the culmination of the struggle which
involved Mary's generous love in the redemption of humanity and is the
fruit of her unique sharing in the victory of the Cross.
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