The Assumption of Our Lady

August 15th is the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. While Christ ascended into Heaven by His own power, Mary was assumed into Heaven, body and soul, by the power of God. This special privilege was granted Mary due to her unique role as the mother of Jesus and because of her pure and sinless nature. She may have died on earth in the presence of the Apostles, but when Mary’s tomb was opened at the request of the apostle Thomas, who was not able to be at her passing, it was found to be empty.

A full account of the miraculous passing of the Mother of Our Lord can be found in the Apocryphal writings of St. John, the beloved Apostle: The Transitus Mariae.

On November 1, 1950, Pope Pius XII defined the Assumption of Mary to be a dogma of the Church, affirming what Christians have known for centuries: “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 Assumption of Our Lady is a Holy Day of Obligation, worldwide.