Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Q On Aug. 15 the church celebrated the feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary.  Is this in the Bible?  If not, how can we be sure that Mary was assumed into heaven?

A The assumption of Mary is a celebration commemorating the fact that Mary’s body and soul were assumed into heaven after her earthly life ended.  Mary was the mother of Jesus; her body was a tabernacle that held the infant Jesus before his birth.  Her body was assumed into heaven so that it would not decay; this vessel was to remain holy and incorrupt for all time.  

The assumption of Mary is not specifically stated in the Bible but that does not prove that it did not happen.  The church has never taught that everything we need to believe has to be in the Bible.  The church believes there are two sources of revelation: Scripture and tradition.  Tradition is the deposit of faith that is not included in Scripture but we must still believe in it.  St. Paul says, “stand firm and hold fast to the traditions that you were taught, either by oral statement or by a letter of ours” (2 Thes 2:15).  Even though it is not in the Bible, the church has always taught that Mary was assumed into heaven.  Here are some facts supporting her assumption:

Even though Mary’s assumption is not specifically mentioned in the Bible, there are some New Testament references that appear to refer to it.  Pope Pius XII wrote:  “The scholastic doctors have recognized the assumption of the Virgin Mother of God as something signified, not only in various figures of the Old Testament but also in that woman clothed with the sun whom John the Apostle contemplated on the Island of Patmos.  Similarly, they have given special attention to these words of the New Testament: ‘Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you, blessed are you among women’ (Lk 1:28), since they saw, in the mystery of the assumption, the fulfillment of that most perfect grace granted to the Blessed Virgin and the special blessing that countered the curse of Eve” (Munificentissimus Deus 27).

From the earliest days of Christianity, Christians have sought the bones and relics of our saints.  But there are no bones of Mary (we even have St. Peter’s bones).  When early Christians asked for relics of Mary, the pope declared that there are none because Mary’s body was assumed into heaven.  Steven Ray, a Catholic convert, speaker, author, pilgrimage guide and frequent guest on EWTN, says the absence of Mary’s bones is a “screaming silence.”  Any church or city would love to say that they have Mary’s bones, but they can’t because they are in heaven.

On Nov. 1, 1950, Pope Pius XII defined the assumption of Mary to be a dogma of faith: “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.”  The pope proclaimed this dogma only after a broad consultation of bishops, theologians and laity. There were few dissenting voices.  This is only one of two times that the pope has declared an infallible teaching of the church.  The other time was regarding the immaculate conception of Mary.

There is a legend related to St. Thomas the Apostle and the Assumption.  Accounts of the story vary.  Here is a version from “The Life of the Blessed Virgin Mary, From the Visions of Ven. Anne Catherine Emmerich.” (Remember, however, that we are not obliged to believe in private revelations).  “After Our Lady died in Ephesus, her body was laid in a tomb, and the entrance was closed by the apostles.  Some, on their way home, saw a strange radiance over Mary’s tomb, but they did not know what it was.  Thomas was not able to be at the burial and did not even know that Mary had died.  When he finally arrived, he cried “like a child when he heard of Mary’s death.”  Thomas begged to be shown the tomb, so the apostles took him there.  When they opened the coffin, only Mary’s grave clothes were there.  Her body was no longer on this earth.  All were amazed and ‘must have remembered in their thoughts that cloud of light which they had seen from afar on their way home immediately after the burial, how it had sunk down upon the tomb and then soared upwards again.’ ”  

They may have witnessed Mary’s assumption without knowing it!!  

Deacon Hooper is a deacon assistant at Immaculate Conception Church in Denham Springs. He can be reached at [email protected].