The Assumption

The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary is the fourth of the Glorious Mysteries of the Holy Rosary. It commemorates the doctrine, defined as a dogma of the Catholic faith by Pope Pius XII in 1950, 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

The mystery

The doctrine of the Assumption is not narrated in the canonical Scriptures. It is grounded in the consistent witness of the patristic and liturgical tradition of the Church. From at least the sixth century, the universal Church (East and West) has celebrated the Dormitio (the falling asleep) of the Virgin Mary on August 15. The early sources, including Saint John Damascene in the eighth century, attest that the Catholic and Orthodox tradition has always held that Mary, at the end of her earthly life, was received bodily into heavenly glory.

Pope Pius XII, in the apostolic constitution Munificentissimus Deus (November 1, 1950), formally defined the dogma. The text of the definition reads: "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 definition was made ex cathedra, with the full authority of the universal Magisterium.

The dogma is theologically continuous with the prior dogma of the Immaculate Conception (defined by Pope Pius IX in 1854): Mary, who was preserved from original sin from the first moment of her existence and remained sinless throughout her life, was preserved also from the bodily corruption that is one of the consequences of original sin. The Assumption is, in this sense, the personal application of the Resurrection of Christ to the woman whose entire life was unique participation in the redemption.²

Meditation on devotion to Mary

The traditional spiritual fruit of the Assumption is devotion to Mary. The mystery presents Mary as the first fully redeemed human creature, the foretaste of the destiny of all the redeemed: the resurrection of the body. Where Mary has gone in her body, the entire Church is summoned to follow.

The Solemnity of the Assumption is celebrated in the Catholic Church on August 15, a holy day of obligation in many countries (including the United States, except when it falls on a Saturday or Monday in some dioceses).

For the related Marian dogma of the Immaculate Conception, see the Immaculate Conception Novena. For the four Marian dogmas of the Catholic Church taken together, see What are the four Marian dogmas?.

Praying the Assumption

To pray the fourth Glorious Mystery: announce "The fourth Glorious Mystery, the Assumption," pray an Our Father, ten Hail Marys while meditating on Mary's bodily ascent into heavenly glory, and conclude with a Glory Be and the Fatima Prayer.

For the previous mystery, see the Descent of the Holy Spirit. For the next mystery, see the Coronation of Mary.

Sources

Footnotes

1. Pope Pius XII, apostolic constitution Munificentissimus Deus (November 1, 1950), defining the dogma of the Assumption. ↩

2. Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraphs 966 to 974, on the Assumption and on Mary's role as type and mother of the Church. ↩