The Roman Catholic Case
For the Assumption of Mary into Heaven
Assumption of Mary into Heaven
By El Greco 1577
Below are three essays explaining the Roman Catholic tradition that Mary, like our lord, ascended into Heaven directly, rather than dying a mortal death. The earliest argument for Mary's Assumption came from Theoteknos, a sixth century bishop, who argued "that since Elijah ascended and since a place in heaven had been prepared for the apostles, so the much the more must Mary have ascended to a place prepared for her." (Kopel -- see below)
2:Kings 2
10"He responded, “You have asked a hard thing; yet, if you see me as I am being taken from you, it will be granted you; if not, it will not.” 11As they continued walking and talking, a chariot of fire and horses of fire separated the two of them, and Elijah ascended in a whirlwind into heaven. "
In 1950 Pope Pius XII made the Assumption official theological doctrine of the Roman Church. It was delivered "ex-cathedra" and is one of rare uses of the Pope's supposed "infallibility."
Since Theoteknos, later Catholic writers have deepened that argument using many more scriptural references and other ancient writings. The three articles were selected many because of their depth of thought. It should be noted these are very lengthy so if you want to print them have plenty of paper. Within some of the essays are hundreds of on-line links for you to explore.
From the Catholic Encyclopedia
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Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary,
Also Called
Pausatio, Nativitas (for heaven), Mors, Depositio,
By FREDERICK G. HOLWECK
From the Catholic Encylopedia
This feast has a double object: (1) the happy departure of Mary from this life; (2) the assumption of her body into heaven. It is the principal feast of the Blessed Virgin.
THE FACT OF THE ASSUMPTION
Regarding the day, year, and manner of Our Lady's death, nothing certain is known. The earliest known literary reference to the Assumption is found in the Greek work De Obitu S. Dominae. Catholic faith, however, has always derived our knowledge of the mystery from Apostolic Tradition. Epiphanius (d. 403) acknowledged that he knew nothing definite about it (Haer., lxxix, 11). The dates assigned for it vary between three and fifteen years after Christ's Ascension. Two cities claim to be the place of her departure: Jerusalem and Ephesus. Common consent favours Jerusalem, where her tomb is shown; but some argue in favour of Ephesus. The first six centuries did not know of the tomb of Mary at Jerusalem.
The belief in the corporeal assumption of Mary is founded on 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 book De Transitu Virginis, falsely ascribed to St. Melito of Sardis, and in a spurious letter attributed to St. Denis the Areopagite. If we consult genuine writings in the East, it is mentioned in the sermons of St. Andrew of Crete, St. John Damascene, St. Modestus of Jerusalem and others. In the West, St. Gregory of Tours (De gloria mart., I, iv) mentions it first. The sermons of St. Jerome and St. Augustine for this feast, however, are spurious. St. John of Damascus (P. G., I, 96) thus formulates the tradition of the Church of Jerusalem:
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.
Today, the belief in the corporeal assumption of Mary is universal in the East and in the West; according to Benedict XIV (De Festis B.V.M., I, viii, 18) it is a probable opinion, which to deny were impious and blasphemous.
THE FEAST OF THE ASSUMPTION
Regarding the origin of the feast we are also uncertain. It is more probably the anniversary of the dedication of some church than the actual anniversary of Our Lady's death. That it originated at the time of the Council of Ephesus, or that St. Damasus introduced it in Rome is only a hypothesis.
According to the life of St. Theodosius (d. 529) it was celebrated in Palestine before the year 500, probably in August (Baeumer, Brevier, 185). In Egypt and Arabia, however, it was kept in January, and since the monks of Gaul adopted many usages from the Egyptian monks (Baeumer, Brevier, 163), we find this feast in Gaul in the sixth century, in January [mediante mense undecimo (Greg. Turon., De gloria mart., I, ix)]. The Gallican Liturgy has it on the 18th of January, under the title: Depositio, Assumptio, or Festivitas S. Mariae (cf. the notes of Mabillon on the Gallican Liturgy, P. L., LXXII, 180). This custom was kept up in the Gallican Church to the time of the introduction of the Roman rite. In the Greek Church, it seems, some kept this feast in January, with the monks of Egypt; others in August, with those of Palestine; wherefore the Emperor Maurice (d. 602), if the account of the "Liber Pontificalis" (II, 508) be correct, set the feast for the Greek Empire on 15 August.
In Rome (Batiffol, Brev. Rom., 134) the oldest and only feast of Our Lady was 1 January, the octave of Christ's birth. It was celebrated first at Santa Maria Maggiore, later at Santa Maria ad Martyres. The other feasts are of Byzantine origin. Duchesne thinks (Origines du culte chr., 262) that before the seventh century no other feast was kept at Rome, and that consequently the feast of the Assumption, found in the sacramentaries of Gelasius and Gregory, is a spurious addition made in the eighth or seventh century. Probst, however (Sacramentarien, 264 sqq.), brings forth good arguments to prove that the Mass of the Blessed Virgin Mary, found on the 15th of August in the Gelasianum, is genuine, since it does not mention the corporeal assumption of Mary; that, consequently, the feast was celebrated in the church of Santa Maria Maggiore at Rome at least in the sixth century. He proves, furthermore, that the Mass of the Gregorian Sacramentary, such as we have it, is of Gallican origin (since the belief in the bodily assumption of Mary, under the influence of the apocryphal writings, is older in Gaul than in Rome), and that it supplanted the old Gelasian Mass. At the time of Sergius I (700) this feast was one of the principal festivities in Rome; the procession started from the church of St. Hadrian. It was always a double of the first class and a Holy Day of obligation.
The octave was added in 847 by Leo IV; in Germany this octave was not observed in several dioceses up to the time of the Reformation. The Church of Milan has not accepted it up to this day (Ordo Ambros., 1906). The octave is privileged in the dioceses of the provinces of Sienna, Fermo, Michoacan, etc.
The Greek Church continues this feast to 23 August, inclusive, and in some monasteries of Mount Athos it is protracted to 29 August (Menaea Graeca, Venice, 1880), or was, at least, formerly. In the dioceses of Bavaria a thirtieth day (a species of month's mind) of the Assumption was celebrated during the Middle Ages, 13 Sept., with the Office of the Assumption (double); to-day, only the Diocese of Augsburg has retained this old custom.
Some of the Bavarian dioceses and those of Brandenburg, Mainz, Frankfort, etc., on 23 Sept. kept the feast of the "Second Assumption", or the "Fortieth Day of the Assumption" (double) believing, according to the revelations of St. Elizabeth of Schönau (d. 1165) and of St. Bertrand, O.C. (d. 1170), that the B.V. Mary was taken up to heaven on the fortieth day after her death (Grotefend, Calendaria 2, 136). The Brigittines kept the feast of the "Glorification of Mary" (double) 30 Aug., since St. Brigitta of Sweden says (Revel., VI, l) that Mary was taken into heaven fifteen days after her departure (Colvenerius, Cal. Mar., 30 Aug.). In Central America a special feast of the Coronation of Mary in heaven (double major) is celebrated 18 Aug. The city of Gerace in Calabria keeps three successive days with the rite of a double first class, commemorating: 15th of August, the death of Mary; 16th of August, her Coronation.
At Piazza, in Sicily, there is a commemoration of the Assumption of Mary (double second class) the 20th of February, the anniversary of the earthquake of 1743. A similar feast (double major with octave) is kept at Martano, Diocese of Otranto, in Apulia, 19th of November.
[Note: By promulgating the Bull Munificentissimus Deus, 1 November, 1950, Pope Pius XII declared infallibly that the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary was a dogma of the Catholic Faith. Likewise, the Second Vatican Council taught in the Dogmatic Constitution Lumen Gentium that "the Immaculate Virgin, preserved free from all stain of original sin, was taken up body and soul into heavenly glory, when her earthly life was over, and exalted by the Lord as Queen over all things (n. 59)."]
Transcribed by Janet Grayson
The Catholic
Encyclopedia, Volume II
Copyright © 1907 by Robert Appleton Company
Online Edition Copyright © 1999 by Kevin Knight
Professor Religion University of Pittburgh
Click on his name to go his website
"The immaculate mother of God," announced Pope Pius XII in his Munificentissimus Deus in 1950, "when the course of her earthly life was run, was assumed in body and soul to heavenly glory." The proclamation of the Assumption of Mary as "divinely revealed dogma," while a modern event, was consistent with beliefs that date back at least to the 3rd century, and perhaps even before. Are those beliefs inconsistent with the Bible, as some critics suggest, or are they in truth a fulfillment of the Bible's deepest themes?
The first known analysis of the Assumption was produced by Theoteknos, a 6th century Bishop of Jericho. He argued that since Elijah ascended and since a place in heaven had been prepared for the apostles, so the much the more must Mary have ascended to a place prepared for her.
The wedding music of Psalm 45, reasoned Pope Pius, prefigures the Assumption, as the singers rejoice, "All glorious is the princess within her chamber; her gown is interwoven with gold. In embroidered garments she is led to the king."
Mary has often been seen as symbolic of the people of Israel, and in Exodus, God describes the liberation from Egyptian bondage in terms that foreshadow the Assumption: "You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself." (Exodus 19:4)
The literal significance the Assumption, of Mary's body rising from the earth toward the heavens, should not be underestimated. The morning prayer on the day of the Assumption asks us to "See the beauty of the daughter of Jerusalem, who ascended to heaven like the rising sun at dawn." "Whither goest thou, bright as the morn?" the antiphons of the Assumption ask Mary, "All beautiful and sweet art thou, O daughter of Zion, fair as the moon elect as the sun." She "is taken up into the bridal chamber of heaven, where the King of Kings sit on his starry throne."
This celestial imagery of the Assumption feast in turn prefigures Mary's role in the apocalyptic battles between good and evil described in Revelation. There, Mary (representing both the Church and the messianic populace) pregnant and "clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head" is attacked by "an enormous red dragon" (representing the Roman Empire in particular, and evil and persecution in general).
And then history repeats (or will repeat) itself, as Mary (and messianic community) is "given the two wings of a great eagle, so that she might fly to the place prepared for her in the desert, where she would be taken care of for a time, times and half a time, out of the serpent's reach." (Rev. 12: 1-14).
On another level, the Assumption epitomizes the reconciliation of the material and spiritual world, as the human Mary enters "body and soul to heavenly glory." Carl Jung, the transpersonal psychologist, concluded that the doctrine of the Assumption reflected an acceptance of the physical world. A similar thought was expressed by the Russian Orthodox theologian Sergius Bulgakov, who described Mary as "the creature glorified and deified. In her is realized the idea of Divine Wisdom in the creation of the world; she is Divine Wisdom in the created world."
From time immemorial Orthodox and Eastern churches have recognized the Assumption; Orthodox Russia celebrates a special feast honoring the Assumption with Holy Wisdom. And while the Anglican Church does not make the Assumption an article of faith, since "it is not read in Holy Scripture, 'nor may be proved thereby'," many Anglicans do choose to believe it. Whatever scriptural interpretation can or cannot prove, the decision to believe in the Assumption has always been, for many people, intuitively easy, for the Assumption is in its own way the fulfillment of the gospel.
Since Mary was, on one level at least, an ordinary human being, her assumption suggests the future that is open to every human: the entry into glory through and after a life of walking with God. Like Israel, like the Church, like the messianic community, and like Mary, the individual who travels with God will, in spite of all earthly persecutions, be taken up to a place of security and sanctity in the wilderness. Or as Pope Paul VI put it: The Assumption "is a feast that set before the eyes of the Church and all mankind the image and consoling proof of the fulfillment of their final hope."
From:
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"The documents of Tradition show that the privilege was at least implicitly revealed. Fr. Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange comments: "It is probable that the revelation made to the Apostles, or to one of them, was even explicit, since otherwise it is hard to explain the universal tradition in the East and the West from the 7th century at the latest, which manifests itself in the celebration of the Feast (Fr. Reginald Garrigou-Lagrange, The Mother of the Savour and Our Interior Life (Golden Eagle Books, Dublin, 1948) (henceforth RGL), p. 164).
"For if the revelation had been only implicit at the beginning, how could it happen that the different bishops and theologians in the different parts of the Church, both East and West, would agree that it was implicitly revealed? For such agreement much preliminary work and many preliminary councils would be required, of which there is absolutely no record" (RGL, p. 165).
St. Epiphanius (315-403) wrote concerning Our Lady's earthly end: "If the Holy Virgin had died and was buried, her falling asleep would have been surrounded with honour, death would have found her pure, and her crown would have been a virginal one...Had she been martyred according to what is written: "Thine own soul a sword shall pierce", then she would shine gloriously among the martyrs, and her holy body would have been declared blessed; for by her, in truth, did light come to the world." - Panarion (Haereses), 78, ch. xxiv. (See also St. Augustine "De Virginitate", 11, 2, wherein he compares Mary to the Church.)
The 'falling asleep' was officially established throughout the empire by Byzantine Emperor Mauritius (582-602) about the year 600 (Mother of the Redeemer, ed. Kevin McNamara (Gill, Dublin, 1959), p. 193). St. Hippolytus associated the Ark of the Covenant of Rev. chapter 11 with Mary's incorruptible flesh from which Christ's flesh was taken: "Now the Lord was without sin, being in His human nature from incorruptible wood, that is, from the Virgin..." (Fragment of St. Hippolytus, quoted by Theodoret, Dialogue I, P. G. 10, 864-5). See also Psalm 132:8: "Arise, O LORD, and go to thy resting place, thou and the ark of thy might".
From the 7th century, almost the whole Church, east and west, celebrated the feast of the Assumption. Pope Sergius (687-707) ordered a solemn procession on that day ( Liber. Pontif., P. L., t. CXXVIII, c.898). In the East, Saint Modestus, Patriarch of Jerusalem (d. 634) in his "Encomium in dormitionem Deiparae (P. G., t. LXXXVI, col. 3288ff) testifies to the belief (RGL, p. 162).
Bishop Theoteknos of Livias, in Palestine, preched a long and important homily on the Assumption probably in the second half of the sixth century. (Galot, J. S.J., "Aux origines de la foi en l'Assomption", Nouv. Rev. Theol., (87) 1955, 631-6) in 3Mother of the Redeemer", p. 195-7). He called his homily the "Assumption". Theoteknos spoke as though the doctrine were commonplace, and this in the late sixth century! The homily describes how Christ, having ascended into heaven, gathered all the saints round the immaculate and pure Virgin. Mary, because of her exalted position, was to receive more than all the other saints: "She found what Eve lost.." (Encomium, 25).
"Mother of the Redeemer", p. 196: "Theoteknos found passages befitting the glories of Mary throughout the Old Testament. He saw the words addressed to the queen of Psalm 44 as addressed to Mary, whose beauty is desired by the heavenly King."
"For it was fitting (he said) that the holy one who begot Him should see her Son upon a high throne. raised above all, and should see every knee bend before Him of those above the earth and of those upon the earth, and every tongue confess Him that will judge the living and the dead." (Encomium, 8) "It was fitting...that her all-holy body, her God-bearing body, godlike, undefiled, shining with the divine light and full of glory, should be carried by the apostles in company of the angels, and, aftr being palced for a short while in the earth, should be raised up to heaven in glory with her soul so loved by God." (Encomium, 9)
"Theoteknos recalled the special privileges traditionally accorded to Henoch [Gen. 5:24] and Elias [2 Kings 2:1-13] of escaping the normal end of human life, and declared that Mary's end must be more privileged than theirs: "How much more then, will He glorify in body and soul the one who has beem His mother according tothe flesh! in truth He has glorified her, and he will glorify her still.' (Encomium, 17)." (see also Matt. 27:52-3)
[Of course, the above argment would hold little value were it not for Mary1s keeping the Word of God: "Blessed rather are they that hear the Word of God and keep it" (Luke 11:28) Her biological relationship with Christ would have made no difference to her glory otherwise.]
RGL: "Two arguments, taken as expressing tradition, show that the privilege of the Assumption is implicitly revealed.
"1. Mary received fullness of grace and was blessed by God among women in an exceptional way. But this exceptional blessing negatives the divine malediction to bring forth children in pain and to return to dust (Gen. 3:16-19). Mary was therefore preserved through it from corruption in her body: her body would not return to dust but would be resuscitated in an anticipated resurrection. Since the two premisses of this argument are revealed, the conclusion is capable of being defined..It is, then, clear that the privilege of the Assumption is contained implicitly revealed in the plenitude of grace and the exceptional blessing with which Mary was favoured. ( RGL, p. 166-7)
"2. Christ's perfect victory over Satan included victory over sin and death. But Mary, the Mother of God, was most intimately associated with Jesus on Calvary in his victory over Satan. Hence she was associated with Him in His victory over death by her anticipated resurrection and her Assumption. As before, both premisses are revealed (the major premiss (Jesus' victory) in John 1:29; 16:33; the minor (Mary's association) in Gen. 15; Luke 1:38). Since, therefore, Mary was associated very intimately with Jesus in His perfect victory over Satan, it follows that she was associated also with Him in the different parts of His triumph" (RGL, p. 168-9).
The doctrine of the Assumption cannot be isolated from a general consideration of Mary's role in God's salvific plan. The Mary- Eve antithesis is brought out by Saints Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Cyril of Jerusalem, Ephrem, Epiphanius, Ambrose, Jerome, Augustine, and John Chrysostom. Implicit here is the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception (cf. Lke 1:28, 42; Gen. 3:15). Tradition becomess explicit with St. Ephrem the Syrian (d. 373) (Dict. Theol., art Ephrem, col. 192, in RGL, p. 57). The Lateran Council of 649 (Denz. 256) calls Mary "immaculate". It was affirmed also in 1661 by Pope Alexander VIII (Denz. 1100) that it was through the merits of Jesus Christ, the Savious of the human race, that Mary was preserved from original sin. (RGL, p. 53). So we have some idea here of the background for the doctrine of the Assumption, which itself is based on Mary's privilege of her Immaculate Conception.
Question : if the doctrine were implicit in the Scriptures, why were the Christians so slow in realizing it?
It must be remembered that the apostles and disciples of Jesus were often shown to be slow to understand. The disciple on the road to Emmaus did not understand the Scriptures till Jesus explained them (Luke 24:25-6). Likewise at Jesus' Ascension, the apostles still did not understand Jesus' mission was not a political one. With the coming of the Holy Spirit, all things would be made clear: "But the Paraclete, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring all things to your mind, whatsoever I have said to you." (John 15:26).
Paschasius Radbertus (Pseudo-Jerome) cast doubt upon the dogma of the Assumption as being too closely involved in the disrepute of pious legends that were unauthentic and unhistorical. He made the mistake of thinking these stories were the real basis for it1s acceptance. What he forgets it that all the other legends disappeared, also the celebration of the feast was universal from an early date. Soon it became reflected in the Liturgy. Once the nature of the Son was fully established in Ephesus and Chalcedon, the full dignity of the Mother began also to be appreciated. Note that the Liturgy reflects, but does not determine, what the Church believes.
Finally, one or two other points. The Assumption can be understood in light of the mystery of Christ in that it demonstrates the power of His resurrection in raising Mary to the glory of Heaven. The Assumption should also be understood in light of the mystery of the Church. Vatican II's "Lumen Gentium" has this to say: "65. But while in the most Blessed Virgin the Church has already reached that perfection whereby she exists without spot or wrinkle (cf. Eph. 5:27), the faithful still strive to conquer sin and increase in holiness. And so they turn their eyes to Mary who shines forth to the whole community of the elect as the model of virtues. Devoutly meditating on her and contemplating her in the light of the Word made man, the Church reverently penetrates more deeply into the great mystery of the Incarnation and becomes more and more like her spouse. Having entered deeply into the history of salvation, Mary, in a way, unites in her person and re-echoes the most important doctrines of the faith: and when she is the subject of preaching and worship she prompts the faithful to come to her Son, to his sacrifice and to the love of the Father. Seeking after the glory of Christ, the Church becomes more like her lofty type, and continually progresses in faith, hope and charity, seeking and doing the will of God in all things. The Church, therefore, in her apostolic work too, rightly looks to her who gave birth to Christ, who was thus conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of a virgin, in order that through the Church he could be born and increase in the hearts of the faithful. In her life the Virgin has been a model of that motherly love with which all who join in the Church's apostolic mission for the regeneration of mankind should be animated. . .
"68. In the meantime the Mother of Jesus in the glory which she possesses in body and soul in heaven is the image and beginning of the Church as it is to be perfected in the world to come. Likewise she shines forth on earth, until the day of the Lord shall come (cf. 2 Pet. 3:10), a sign of certain hope and comfort to the pilgrim People of God."
Also : consider the fact that there are no relics of Our Lady, nor mention of them -EVER!
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