Was Mary Actually Assumed into Heaven?????
It is nice to be back, I was on a bit of a break for the last couple of weeks, between jobs and busy with the family. Happy Canada Day to my Canadian readers and happy Fourth of July to all my American friends, belated that is ! I hope all are having a blessed summer.
I will continue this post in the near future, I am compiling information and teachings from my different sources mostly through books, not the internet so much and their is a lot to dig through. Their is history of feasts dedicated to the Assumption of Mary actually dating back to the 6 th century in the east and the 8 th century in the west. The Dogma of Mary’s Assumption is one that developed over time and became clearer and more defined in the dogmatic sense, even though it was always part of the ordinary teaching of the Church in the broad sense. The clearly defined teaching was made De Fidei in 1950 when Pope Pius XII solemnly declared the Church’s teaching on Mary’s Assumption. Here is an excerpt from APOSTOLIC CONSTITUTION OF POPE PIUS XII
MUNIFICENTISSIMUS DEUS DEFINING THE DOGMA OF THE ASSUMPTION
November 1, 1950
40. Hence the revered Mother of God, from all eternity joined in a hidden way with Jesus Christ in one and the same decree of predestination,(47) immaculate in her conception, a most perfect virgin in her divine motherhood, the noble associate of the divine Redeemer who has won a complete triumph over sin and its consequences, finally obtained, as the supreme culmination of her privileges, that she should be preserved free from the corruption of the tomb and that, like her own Son, having overcome death, she might be taken up body and soul to the glory of heaven where, as Queen, she sits in splendor at the right hand of her Son, the immortal King of the Ages.(48)
41. Since the universal Church, within which dwells the Spirit of Truth who infallibly directs it toward an ever more perfect knowledge of the revealed truths, has expressed its own belief many times over the course of the centuries, and since the bishops of the entire world are almost unanimously petitioning that the truth of the bodily Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary into heaven should be defined as a dogma of divine and Catholic faith–this truth which is based on the Sacred Writings, which is thoroughly rooted in the minds of the faithful, which has been approved in ecclesiastical worship from the most remote times, which is completely in harmony with the other revealed truths, and which has been expounded and explained magnificently in the work, the science, and the wisdom of the theologians – we believe that the moment appointed in the plan of divine providence for the solemn proclamation of this outstanding privilege of the Virgin Mary has already arrived.
44. For which reason, after we have poured forth prayers of supplication again and again to God, and have invoked the light of the Spirit of Truth, for the glory of Almighty God who has lavished his special affection upon the Virgin Mary, for the honor of her Son, the immortal King of the Ages and the Victor over sin and death, for the increase of the glory of that same august Mother, and for the joy and exultation of the entire Church; by the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, of the Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul, and by our own authority, 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.
45. Hence if anyone, which God forbid, should dare willfully to deny or to call into doubt that which we have defined, let him know that he has fallen away completely from the divine and Catholic Faith.
More will follow this post on Mary’s Assumption, I will try and do some justice to how this teaching developed and came to be solemnly defined in 1950. Our Popes for the most part, don’t just wake up one day and decide to make solemn declarations from the Chair of St Peter just for kicks or because they can. An enormous amount of historical teaching that is constant, also consensus along with the general ordinary teachings and Holy Scripture all have to support a definitive Dogmatic solemn definition from Peters Chair also known as an “ex cathedra” pronouncement. May God protect you from the world, the devil, and ourselves. In JMJ, Lee