The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary is a dogma of the Catholic Faith; a necessary belief for all those who call themselves Catholic. But in my experience I’ve found that it is often one of the most misunderstood dogmas of the faith, not only for non-Catholics, but also for Catholic Christians themselves.
What is the Dogma of the Assumption?
To begin with – What is the Church’s teaching regarding this dogma of the faith which we celebrate on August 15th? The Church teaches 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.1”
What many people fail to realize is that the vast majority of Christians both worldwide and throughout history have held to this belief. It is not only the Catholic Church which professes this belief in the Assumption of Mary, but also Eastern Orthodox Christians and Oriental Orthodox Christians.
Anglican’s regard the Assumption of Mary as adiaphora (a thing indifferent), while historic Protestant Reformers such as Heinrich Bullinger actively proclaimed the assumption of Mary writing in 1539, “For this reason, we believe that the Virgin Mary, Begetter of God, the most pure bed and temple of the Holy Spirit, that is, her most holy body, was carried to heaven by angels.2” Although many churches within Lutheranism do not teach the Assumption of Mary, August 15th remains a lesser feast in celebration of “Mary, Mother of Our Lord,” according to their Calendar of Saints.
Novel Doctrine or Historic Christian Belief?
Another misconception is the notion that this is an entirely novel teaching of the Church, springing up out of thin air in 1950 with the proclamation of Pope Pius XII. Nothing could be further from the truth. Belief in the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary is a deeply historic Christian belief. As Saint John Paul II explained, “The first trace of belief in the Virgin’s Assumption can be found in the apocryphal accounts entitled Transitus Mariae [Latin, “The Crossing Over of Mary”], whose origin dates to the second and third centuries.3”
Not only that, but there have been Churches named after the Assumption for the past millennium and a half!
While it is true that the Assumption was only formerly defined by the Church in 1950, it is a belief shared by Christians everywhere and dating back to apostolic times. Perhaps one of the biggest arguments in favor of the Assumption is that there is a complete (and curious) silence about her bodily remains which cries out for an explanation. In the case of the Assumption, the silence is deafening.
“There is also what might be called the negative historical proof for Mary’s Assumption. It is easy to document that, from the first, Christians gave homage to saints, including many about whom we now know little or nothing. Cities vied for the title of the last resting place of the most famous saints. Rome, for example, houses the tombs of Peter and Paul, Peter’s tomb being under the high altar of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. In the early Christian centuries relics of saints were zealously guarded and highly prized. The bones of those martyred in the Coliseum, for instance, were quickly gathered up and preserved.
It is agreed upon that Mary ended her life in Jerusalem, or perhaps in Ephesus. However, neither of those cities nor any other claimed her remains, though there are claims about possessing her (temporary) tomb. And why did no city claim the bones of Mary? Apparently because there weren’t any bones to claim, and people knew it. Here was Mary, certainly the most privileged of all the saints, but we have no record of her bodily remains being venerated anywhere.4”
Reflecting on this oddity, T.L. Frazier writes, “A piece of green ribbon which is believed to have been worn by Mary as a belt is claimed today by the cathedral of Prato in Italy. For over a thousand years the cathedral of Chartres, France has owned a piece of fine material which is said to be a piece of Mary’s veil. The cathedral of Aachen in Germany even claims to possess the shroud that Mary was buried in. Both the ancient cities of Ephesus and Jerusalem claim to have the tomb of Mary, and pilgrimages to both cities have been common. Yet among all the relics there is not to be found a single one said to be a relic of Mary’s actual body.
This is especially significant when it is kept in mind how hard the Church at Smyrna worked to obtain the body of Polycarp. If the ante-Ephesian Church believed that Mary rotted and remained in the grave, as I believed, then we should expect to find some mention of the veneration of her remains somewhere in the Church, as we do of the apostles and other New Testament saints. Yet not even the powerful motivator of greed could elicit so much as one attempt at a claim to a relic of Mary’s bodily remains. It is almost as though no one dared to claim such a relic out of fear of immediately being accused of fraud – quite understandable if the common belief was that she had been assumed into heaven.5”
Assumed or Ascended?
I think another point of confusion tends to revolve around the language of “Assumption” versus “Ascension.” 
The Catholic Church teaches that Mary was Assumed body and soul into heaven; but artistic representations throughout the centuries have tended to portray our Blessed Mother as Ascending into heaven in a similar fashion as Christ; perhaps carried on the wings of Angels.
The reality is assumption is a deeply biblical concept, but is brought about by God’s agency. “Thus all the days of Enoch were three hundred and sixty-five years. Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him.6” “Now when the Lord was about to take Eli′jah up to heaven by a whirlwind, Eli′jah and Eli′sha were on their way from Gilgal… And as they still went on and talked, behold, a chariot of fire and horses of fire separated the two of them. And Eli′jah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.7”
In contrast, an ascension is only recorded once in Sacred Scripture; and it implies that the one who ascends does so by their own power. Thus it is that, “No one has ascended into heaven but he who descended from heaven, the Son of man.8”
It is only the God-man Jesus who can ascend and descend from heaven by His own power.
Scriptural Basis?
When it comes to the Assumption of the Blessed Mother we have a historical consensus which stretches back to apostolic times, an argument from silence in the form of an absence of her remains and relics, and Scriptural precedents. Nevertheless, there remains those who refuse to accept this dogma of the faith without explicit reference found in the biblical texts.
Briefly, I would simply point out that nowhere does the bible state that everything which a Christian believes must be explicitly taught by the bible.
But that is perhaps a topic for another time. Although Scripture doesn’t explicitly affirm the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, we do see several Scriptural precedents along with suggestive allegorical passages that resonate with this belief. As Pope Pius XII points out,
“Often there are theologians and preachers who, following in the footsteps of the holy Fathers, have been rather free in their use of events and expressions taken from Sacred Scripture to explain their belief in the Assumption.
Thus, to mention only a few of the texts rather frequently cited in this fashion, some have employed the words of the psalmist: ‘Arise, O Lord, into your resting place: you and the ark, which you have sanctified’ (Ps. 131:8); and have looked upon the Ark of the Covenant, built of incorruptible wood and placed in the Lord’s temple, as a type of the most pure body of the Virgin Mary, preserved and exempt from all the corruption of the tomb and raised up to such glory in heaven.”
Interestingly, this typology seems to find support in the book of Revelation, when St. John writes of beholding the lost ark of the covenant, which has apparently been found in heaven within God’s temple. “Then God’s temple in heaven was opened, and the ark of his covenant was seen within his temple; and there were flashes of lightning, loud noises, peals of thunder, an earthquake, and heavy hail.” His readers must have been transfixed! The ark of the covenant has been found?!
In the very next verse St. John explains this mystery for us writing, “And a great portent appeared in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars;9” He essentially connects the ark of the covenant with a mysterious woman in heaven – a woman clothed with the sun, the moon under her feet, wearing a crown of twelve stars. Who can this woman be? St. John identifies her by her offspring, “…she brought forth a male child, one who is to rule all the nations…10” This women then is the Mary, the mother of Jesus, the Mother of God, the new ark of the covenant, the one who has been taken into heaven and crowned as Queen.
So Mary was Assumed into Heaven… So What?
Finally, we might ask, what practical good does it serve for a Christian to believe in this doctrine today? Is it simply, as the Anglican’s assert, a “matter of indifference?” Actually, far from it. There are several benefits which we could consider. Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI writes,
“By contemplating Mary in heavenly glory, we understand that the earth is not the definitive homeland for us either, and that if we live with our gaze fixed on eternal goods we will one day share in this same glory and the earth will become more beautiful.
Consequently, we must not lose our serenity and peace even amid the thousands of daily difficulties. The luminous sign of Our Lady taken up into Heaven shines out even more brightly when sad shadows of suffering and violence seem to loom on the horizon.”11
As Dr. Robert Stackpole, STD points out, “Most importantly, the Assumption of Mary is a loud and triumphant proclamation of the full truth of Easter. We sometimes say that the Easter faith, in a nutshell, is that “Christ is Risen.” In a certain sense, that is true enough. But the good news that the Apostles proclaimed to the world was not only that Christ is Risen, but that, precisely because He is Risen, He is bringing His whole mystical Body on earth to join Him one day in heavenly glory.
That is why St. Peter joyfully proclaims in I Peter 1:3-4: Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy we have been born anew to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and to an inheritance which is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you…12”
Truly the Feast of the Assumption is good news for all of us who believe in the resurrection of Christ from the dead!
Pius XII, Munificentissimus Deus 44 ↩
De origine erroris libri duo – On the Origin of Error, Two Books ↩
Catholic Answers Tracts: Immaculate Conception and Assumption ↩
Assumptions About Mary, T.L. Frazier, May 1, 1992 ↩
Genesis 5:23-24 ↩
2 Kings 2:1, 11 ↩
John 3:13 ↩
Revelation 11:19 – 12:1 ↩
Revelation 12:5a ↩
The Case for the Assumption of Mary, Aug 14, 2018 ↩
