August 15
The Immaculate Virgin, preserved free from all original sin, finished the course of his life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory, and exalted by the Lord as Queen of the universe, because it was more fully conformed to her Son, the Lord of lords and conqueror of sin and death '. (Vatican Council II, 'Lumen Gentium', 59). The Assumption is the first fruits of the heavenly Church and a sign of sure hope and consolation to the pilgrim church. The 'Dormition Virginis' and the assumption, in the East and West, are among the oldest Marian feast days. This ancient liturgical evidence was explained and solemnly proclaimed the dogmatic definition of Pius XII in 1950. (Aug. Roma)
Martyrology: Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God and our Lord Jesus Christ, who completed the course of her earthly life was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory. This truth of faith received from the tradition of the Church was solemnly defined by Pope Pius XII.
Mary appears for the last time in the writings of the New Testament in the first chapter of Acts: She is among the apostles, in prayer in the Cenacle, awaiting the descent of the Holy Spirit. The brevity of the inspired texts, is matched by the abundance of news about Madonna in the apocryphal writings, especially the Proto-gospel of James S. and Narration John the Theologian on the Dormition of the Holy Mother of God The term "Dormition" is the oldest it describes the conclusion of the earthly life of Mary. This celebration was decreed for the East in the seventh century by decree of the Byzantine Emperor Maurice. In the same century the feast of the Dormition is introduced in Rome by a pope East, Sergio I. But he spent another century before the term "Dormition" cede place to the more explicit "recruitment".
The dogmatic definition, given by Pius XII in 1950, saying that Mary did not have to wait, like the other creatures, the end of time to qualify for redemption of the body also, wanted to emphasize the uniqueness of his personal holiness, as sin has never dimmed, even for a moment, the purity of his soul. The union ultimately, spiritual and physical, of man with Christ in glory, is the final and eternal redemption. So the blessed who already enjoy the beatific vision, are in a sense waiting for the fulfillment of our redemption, that Mary had already taken place with the singular grace of protection from sin.
In light of this doctrine, which has its foundation in Sacred Scripture, the so-called "Protoevangelium", containing the first proclamation of the messianic salvation given by God to our first parents after the fault, Mary is presented as the new Eve, closely linked to the new Adam, Jesus Christ and Mary are indeed associated with pain and love for the repair guilt of our ancestors. Thus Mary is not only the mother of the Redeemer, but also its cooperation with him closely united in struggle and in the decisive victory. This close union requires that Mary triumphs, like Jesus, not only sin but also death, the two enemies of mankind. And as for the redemption of Christ to its conclusion with the resurrection of the body, including Maria's victory over sin, the Immaculate Conception, was to be completed with the victory over death through the glorification of the body, with the assumption, since the fullness of Christian salvation is the participation of the body to heavenly glory.
