[Lady In Blue]

Thoughts of Brother Christian Moe:

"Assumption of the Blessed Virgin (Mantegna)

"A

nd therefore she died in private. It became Him who died for the world, to die in the world's sight; it became the Great Sacrifice to be lifted up on high, as a light that could not be hid. But she, the lily of Eden, who had always dwelt out of the sight of man, fittingly did she die in the garden's shade, and amid the sweet flowers in which she had lived. Her departure made no noise in the world. The Church went about her common duties, preaching, converting, suffering; there were persecutions, there was fleeing from place to place, there were martyrs, there were triumphs: at length the rumour spread abroad that the Mother of God was no longer upon earth. Pilgrims went to and fro; they sought for her relics, but they found them not; did she die at Ephesus? or did she die at Jerusalem? reports varied; but her tomb could not be pointed out, or if it was found, it was open; and instead of her pure and fragrant body, there was a growth of lilies from the earth which she had touched. So, inquirers went home marvelling, and waiting for further light. And then it was said how that when her dissolution was at hand, and her soul was to pass in triumph before the judgment seat of her Son, the Apostles were suddenly gathered together in one place, even in the Holy City, to bear part in the joyful ceremonial; how that they buried her with fitting rites; how that the third day, when they came to the tomb, they found it empty, and angelic choirs with their glad voices were heard singing day and night the glories of their risen Queen. But, however we feel towards the details of this history (nor is there anything in it which will be unwelcome or difficult to piety), so much cannot be doubted, from the consent of the whole Catholic world and the revelations made to holy souls, that as is befitting, she is, soul and body, with her Son and God in heaven, and that we are enabled to celebrate not only her death, but her Assumption."

(John Henry Cardinal Newman, Discourses to Mixed Congregations, pp. 375-8; cited in J. Regina, ed., The Mystical Rose, St. Pauls Editions, 1960, pp. 91-94.)

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Brother Christian Moe, FSC is a lecturer at the Centre for Thomistic Studies, in Sydney, Australia.

This article posted November 1997. It was published in Universitas, Vol 1 (1997), No. 2.
Permission is granted to copy or quote from this article, provided that full credit is given to the author and to the
Centre for Thomistic Studies, Sydney, Australia.
We would be grateful to receive a copy of any republication.

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[Lady In Blue]

Ping

[Salvation]

A lot of comments and information about the Assumption over here in Daily Readings -- Feast of the Assumption, 8-15-02!

[Salvation]

A lot of comments and information about the Assumption over here in Daily Readings -- Feast of the Assumption, 8-15-02!

[grumpster-dumpster]

Catholic bump. Wonderful and joyus day, yesterdy. (In Italy it's a National Holidy...everybody takes the day off! I find that rather enlightened. LOL!)

[The_Reader_David]

Nice to see an icon of the Dormition of the Theotokos at the top of the thread.

The post is quite right--the Orthodox have always taught that the Theotokos and Ever-Virgin Mary was assumed body and soul into heaven after her death.

How I wish your Pope hadn't waffled on this question of whether the Theotokos died! Although this particular recently proclaimed dogma is not per se a new obstacle to reunion, the fact that may proponents of it held (and perhaps still hold) that the Virgin Mary was assumed before death may be.

[Salvation]

BTTT on the Feast of the Assumption, 08-15-04

[Salvation]

Saint of the Day Ping!

Please notify me via FReepmail if you would like to be added to or taken off the Saint of the Day Ping List.

[Askel5]

Thank you (again), Lady in Blue.


Struwwelpeter ... speaking of the Bulgakovs, did you ever check out Mikhail's digs? The ladies at Stanislavsky's house were very proud of their new third floor Bulgakov salon but said Kyiv had the best collection.

[thor76]

Maria Assumpta, Ora Pro Nobis! Virgo Mater Misericoria, Ora Pro Nobis! Ave Maria Purissima!

Not to bring anybody down, but the pastor at our local NO church, in his homily, very subtly denied the dogma of the Assumption, denied the defined doctrine (as per JPII) of Mary as Mediatrix of All Graces.

Then he led the people in reciting portions of the Litany of Loretto. Crafty little bugger, ain't he!

How deviously subtle these modernists are! I am sure that all most folks will remember is "he said nice things about Mary".

Most highly favored lady, Queen of Heaven, pray for us!

[Salvation]

BTTT, Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, August 15, 2005!

[Salvation]

THE ASSUMPTION OF MARY: A BELIEF SINCE APOSTOLIC TIMES

Father Clifford Stevens

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The Assumption is the oldest feast day of Our Lady, but we don't know how it first came to be celebrated.

Its origin is lost in those days when Jerusalem was restored as a sacred city, at the time of the Roman Emperor Constantine (c. 285-337). By then it had been a pagan city for two centuries, ever since Emperor Hadrian (76-138) had leveled it around the year 135 and rebuilt it as <Aelia Capitolina> in honor of Jupiter.

For 200 years, every memory of Jesus was obliterated from the city, and the sites made holy by His life, death and Resurrection became pagan temples.

After the building of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in 336, the sacred sites began to be restored and memories of the life of Our Lord began to be celebrated by the people of Jerusalem. One of the memories about his mother centered around the "Tomb of Mary," close to Mount Zion, where the early Christian community had lived.

On the hill itself was the "Place of Dormition," the spot of Mary's "falling asleep," where she had died. The "Tomb of Mary" was where she was buried.

At this time, the "Memory of Mary" was being celebrated. Later it was to become our feast of the Assumption.

For a time, the "Memory of Mary" was marked only in Palestine, but then it was extended by the emperor to all the churches of the East. In the seventh century, it began to be celebrated in Rome under the title of the "Falling Asleep" ("Dormitio") of the Mother of God.

Soon the name was changed to the "Assumption of Mary," since there was more to the feast than her dying. It also proclaimed that she had been taken up, body and soul, into heaven.

That belief was ancient, dating back to the apostles themselves. What was clear from the beginning was that there were no relics of Mary to be venerated, and that an empty tomb stood on the edge of Jerusalem near the site of her death. That location also soon became a place of pilgrimage. (Today, the Benedictine Abbey of the Dormition of Mary stands on the spot.)

At the Council of Chalcedon in 451, when bishops from throughout the Mediterranean world gathered in Constantinople, Emperor Marcian asked the Patriarch of Jerusalem to bring the relics of Mary to Constantinople to be enshrined in the capitol. The patriarch explained to the emperor that there were no relics of Mary in Jerusalem, that "Mary had died in the presence of the apostles; but her tomb, when opened later . . . was found empty and so the apostles concluded that the body was taken up into heaven."

In the eighth century, St. John Damascene was known for giving sermons at the holy places in Jerusalem. At the Tomb of Mary, he expressed the belief of the Church on the meaning of the feast: "Although the body was duly buried, it did not remain in the state of death, neither was it dissolved by decay. . . . You were transferred to your heavenly home, O Lady, Queen and Mother of God in truth."

All the feast days of Mary mark the great mysteries of her life and her part in the work of redemption. The central mystery of her life and person is her divine motherhood, celebrated both at Christmas and a week later (Jan. 1) on the feast of the Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God. The Immaculate Conception (Dec. 8) marks the preparation for that motherhood, so that she had the fullness of grace from the first moment of her existence, completely untouched by sin. Her whole being throbbed with divine life from the very beginning, readying her for the exalted role of mother of the Savior.

The Assumption completes God's work in her since it was not fitting that the flesh that had given life to God himself should ever undergo corruption. The Assumption is God's crowning of His work as Mary ends her earthly life and enters eternity. The feast turns our eyes in that direction, where we will follow when our earthly life is over.

The feast days of the Church are not just the commemoration of historical events; they do not look only to the past. They look to the present and to the future and give us an insight into our own relationship with God. The Assumption looks to eternity and gives us hope that we, too, will follow Our Lady when our life is ended.

The prayer for the feast reads: "All-powerful and ever-living God: You raised the sinless Virgin Mary, mother of your Son, body and soul, to the glory of heaven. May we see heaven as our final goal and come to share her glory."

In 1950, in the Apostolic Constitution <Munificentissimus Deus>, Pope Pius XII proclaimed the Assumption of Mary a dogma of the Catholic Church in these words: "The Immaculate Mother of God, the ever-virgin Mary, having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heaven."

With that, an ancient belief became Catholic doctrine and the Assumption was declared a truth revealed by God.

Father Clifford Stevens writes from Tintern Monastery in Oakdale, Neb.

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This article was taken from the July-August 1996 issue of "Catholic Heritage".

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Provided Courtesy of:
Eternal Word Television Network

[Salvation]

BTTT on the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, August 15, 2006!