APOSTOLIC
Constitution MUNIFICENTISSIMUS DEUS
Defining "ex cathedra" the dogma of the Assumption of the
Blessed Virgin
His Holiness Pius XII
November 1, 1950
1. The most bountiful God, who is almighty, the
plan of whose providence rests upon wisdom and love, tempers, in
the secret purpose of his own mind, the sorrows of peoples and
of individual men by means of joys that he interposes in their
lives from time to time, in such a way that, under different
conditions and in different ways, all things may work together
unto good for those who love him.[1]
2. Now, just like the present age, our pontificate is weighed
down by ever so many cares, anxieties, and troubles, by reason
of very severe calamities that have taken place and by reason of
the fact that many have strayed away from truth and virtue.
Nevertheless, we are greatly consoled to see that, while the
Catholic faith is being professed publicly and vigorously, piety
toward the Virgin Mother of God is flourishing and daily growing
more fervent, and that almost everywhere on earth it is showing
indications of a better and holier life. Thus, while the Blessed
Virgin is fulfilling in the most affectionate manner her
maternal duties on behalf of those redeemed by the blood of
Christ, the minds and the hearts of her children are being
vigorously aroused to a more assiduous consideration of her
prerogatives.
3. Actually God, who from all eternity regards Mary with a most
favorable and unique affection, has "when the fullness of time
came"[2] put the plan of his providence into effect in such a
way that all the privileges and prerogatives he had granted to
her in his sovereign generosity were to shine forth in her in a
kind of perfect harmony. And, although the Church has always
recognized this supreme generosity and the perfect harmony of
graces and has daily studied them more and more throughout the
course of the centuries, still it is in our own age that the
privilege of the bodily Assumption into heaven of Mary, the
Virgin Mother of God, has certainly shone forth more clearly.
4. That privilege has shone forth in new radiance since our
predecessor of immortal memory, Pius IX, solemnly proclaimed the
dogma of the loving Mother of God's Immaculate Conception. These
two privileges are most closely bound to one another. Christ
overcame sin and death by his own death, and one who through
Baptism has been born again in a supernatural way has conquered
sin and death through the same Christ. Yet, according to the
general rule, God does not will to grant to the just the full
effect of the victory over death until the end of time has come.
And so it is that the bodies of even the just are corrupted
after death, and only on the last day will they be joined, each
to its own glorious soul.
5. Now God has willed that the Blessed Virgin Mary should be
exempted from this general rule. She, by an entirely unique
privilege, completely overcame sin by her Immaculate Conception,
and as a result she was not subject to the law of remaining in
the corruption of the grave, and she did not have to wait until
the end of time for the redemption of her body.
6. Thus, when it was solemnly proclaimed that Mary, the Virgin
Mother of God, was from the very beginning free from the taint
of original sin, the minds of the faithful were filled with a
stronger hope that the day might soon come when the dogma of the
Virgin Mary's bodily Assumption into heaven would also be
defined by the Church's supreme teaching authority.
7. Actually it was seen that not only individual Catholics, but
also those who could speak for nations or ecclesiastical
provinces, and even a considerable number of the Fathers of the
Vatican Council, urgently petitioned the Apostolic See to this
effect.
8. During the course of time such postulations and petitions did
not decrease but rather grew continually in number and in
urgency. In this cause there were pious crusades of prayer. Many
outstanding theologians eagerly and zealously carried out
investigations on this subject either privately or in public
ecclesiastical institutions and in other schools where the
sacred disciplines are taught. Marian Congresses, both national
and international in scope, have been held in many parts of the
Catholic world. These studies and investigations have brought
out into even clearer light the fact that the dogma of the
Virgin Mary's Assumption into heaven is contained in the deposit
of Christian faith entrusted to the Church. They have resulted
in many more petitions, begging and urging the Apostolic See
that this truth be solemnly defined.
9. In this pious striving, the faithful have been associated in
a wonderful way with their own holy bishops, who have sent
petitions of this kind, truly remarkable in number, to this See
of the Blessed Peter. Consequently, when we were elevated to the
throne of the supreme pontificate, petitions of this sort had
already been addressed by the thousands from every part of the
world and from every class of people, from our beloved sons the
Cardinals of the Sacred College, from our venerable brethren,
archbishops and bishops, from dioceses and from parishes.
10. Consequently, while we sent up earnest prayers to God that
he might grant to our mind the light of the Holy Spirit, to
enable us to make a decision on this most serious subject, we
issued special orders in which we commanded that, by corporate
effort, more advanced inquiries into this matter should be begun
and that, in the meantime, all the petitions about the
Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary into heaven which had been
sent to this Apostolic See from the time of Pius IX, our
predecessor of happy memory, down to our own days should be
gathered together and carefully evaluated.[3]
11. And, since we were dealing with a matter of such great
moment and of such importance, we considered it opportune to ask
all our venerable brethren in the episcopate directly and
authoritatively that each of them should make known to us his
mind in a formal statement. Hence, on May 1, 1946, we gave them
our letter "Deiparae Virginis Mariae," a letter in which these
words are contained: "Do you, venerable brethren, in your
outstanding wisdom and prudence, judge that the bodily
Assumption of the Blessed Virgin can be proposed and defined as
a dogma of faith? Do you, with your clergy and people, desire
it?"
12. But those whom "the Holy Spirit has placed as bishops to
rule the Church of God"[4] gave an almost unanimous affirmative
response to both these questions. This "outstanding agreement of
the Catholic prelates and the faithful,"[5] affirming that the
bodily Assumption of God's Mother into heaven can be defined as
a dogma of faith, since it shows us the concordant teaching of
the Church's ordinary doctrinal authority and the concordant
faith of the Christian people which the same doctrinal authority
sustains and directs, thus by itself and in an entirely certain
and infallible way, manifests this privilege as a truth revealed
by God and contained in that divine deposit which Christ has
delivered to his Spouse to be guarded faithfully and to be
taught infallibly.[6] Certainly this teaching authority of the
Church, not by any merely human effort but under the protection
of the Spirit of Truth,[7] and therefore absolutely without
error, carries out the commission entrusted to it, that of
preserving the revealed truths pure and entire throughout every
age, in such a way that it presents them undefiled, adding
nothing to them and taking nothing away from them. For, as the
Vatican Council teaches, "the Holy Spirit was not promised to
the successors of Peter in such a way that, by his revelation,
they might manifest new doctrine, but so that, by his
assistance, they might guard as sacred and might faithfully
propose the revelation delivered through the apostles, or the
deposit of faith."[8] Thus, from the universal agreement of the
Church's ordinary teaching authority we have a certain and firm
proof, demonstrating that the Blessed Virgin Mary's bodily
Assumption into heaven- which surely no faculty of the human
mind could know by its own natural powers, as far as the
heavenly glorification of the virginal body of the loving Mother
of God is concerned-is a truth that has been revealed by God and
consequently something that must be firmly and faithfully
believed by all children of the Church. For, as the Vatican
Council asserts, "all those things are to be believed by divine
and Catholic faith which are contained in the written Word of
God or in Tradition, and which are proposed by the Church,
either in solemn judgment or in its ordinary and universal
teaching office, as divinely revealed truths which must be
believed."[9]
13. Various testimonies, indications and signs of this common
belief of the Church are evident from remote times down through
the course of the centuries; and this same belief becomes more
clearly manifest from day to day.
14. Christ's faithful, through the teaching and the leadership
of their pastors, have learned from the sacred books that the
Virgin Mary, throughout the course of her earthly pilgrimage,
led a life troubled by cares, hardships, and sorrows, and that,
moreover, what the holy old man Simeon had foretold actually
came to pass, that is, that a terribly sharp sword pierced her
heart as she stood under the cross of her divine Son, our
Redeemer. In the same way, it was not difficult for them to
admit that the great Mother of God, like her only begotten Son,
had actually passed from this life. But this in no way prevented
them from believing and from professing openly that her sacred
body had never been subject to the corruption of the tomb, and
that the august tabernacle of the Divine Word had never been
reduced to dust and ashes. Actually, enlightened by divine grace
and moved by affection for her, God's Mother and our own dearest
Mother, they have contemplated in an ever clearer light the
wonderful harmony and order of those privileges which the most
provident God has lavished upon this loving associate of our
Redeemer, privileges which reach such an exalted plane that,
except for her, nothing created by God other than the human
nature of Jesus Christ has ever reached this level.
15. The innumerable temples which have been dedicated to the
Virgin Mary assumed into heaven clearly attest this faith. So do
those sacred images, exposed therein for the veneration of the
faithful, which bring this unique triumph of the Blessed Virgin
before the eyes of all men. Moreover, cities, dioceses, and
individual regions have been placed under the special patronage
and guardianship of the Virgin Mother of God assumed into
heaven. In the same way, religious institutes, with the approval
of the Church, have been founded and have taken their name from
this privilege. Nor can we pass over in silence the fact that in
the Rosary of Mary, the recitation of which this Apostolic See
so urgently recommends, there is one mystery proposed for pious
meditation which, as all know, deals with the Blessed Virgin's
Assumption into heaven.
16. This belief of the sacred pastors and of Christ's faithful
is universally manifested still more splendidly by the fact
that, since ancient times, there have been both in the East and
in the West solemn liturgical offices commemorating this
privilege. The holy Fathers and Doctors of the Church have never
failed to draw enlightenment from this fact since, as everyone
knows, the sacred liturgy, "because it is the profession,
subject to the supreme teaching authority within the Church, of
heavenly truths, can supply proofs and testimonies of no small
value for deciding a particular point of Christian
doctrine."[10]
17. In the liturgical books which deal with the feast either of
the dormition or of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin there
are expressions that agree in testifying that, when the Virgin
Mother of God passed from this earthly exile to heaven, what
happened to her sacred body was, by the decree of divine
Providence, in keeping with the dignity of the Mother of the
Word Incarnate, and with the other privileges she had been
accorded. Thus, to cite an illustrious example, this is set
forth in that sacramentary which Adrian I, our predecessor of
immortal memory, sent to the Emperor Charlemagne. These words
are found in this volume: "Venerable to us, O Lord, is the
festivity of this day on which the holy Mother of God suffered
temporal death, but still could not be kept down by the bonds of
death, who has begotten your Son our Lord incarnate from
herself."[11]
18. What is here indicated in that sobriety characteristic of
the Roman liturgy is presented more clearly and completely in
other ancient liturgical books. To take one as an example, the
Gallican sacramentary designates this privilege of Mary's as "an
ineffable mystery all the more worthy of praise as the Virgin's
Assumption is something unique among men." And, in the Byzantine
liturgy, not only is the Virgin Mary's bodily Assumption
connected time and time again with the dignity of the Mother of
God, but also with the other privileges, and in particular with
the virginal motherhood granted her by a singular decree of
God's Providence. "God, the King of the universe, has granted
you favors that surpass nature. As he kept you a virgin in
childbirth, thus he has kept your body incorrupt in the tomb and
has glorified it by his divine act of transferring it from the
tomb."[12]
19. The fact that the Apostolic See, which has inherited the
function entrusted to the Prince of the Apostles, the function
of confirming the brethren in the faith,[13] has by its own
authority, made the celebration of this feast ever more solemn,
has certainly and effectively moved the attentive minds of the
faithful to appreciate always more completely the magnitude of
the mystery it commemorates. So it was that the Feast of the
Assumption was elevated from the rank which it had occupied from
the beginning among the other Marian feasts to be classed among
the more solemn celebrations of the entire liturgical cycle.
And, when our predecessor St. Sergius I prescribed what is known
as the litany, or the stational procession, to be held on four
Marian feasts, he specified together the Feasts of the Nativity,
the Annunciation, the Purification, and the Dormition of the
Virgin Mary.[14] Again, St. Leo IV saw to it that the feast,
which was already being celebrated under the title of the
Assumption of the Blessed Mother of God, should be observed in
even a more solemn way when he ordered a vigil to be held on the
day before it and prescribed prayers to be recited after it
until the octave day. When this had been done, he decided to
take part himself in the celebration, in the midst of a great
multitude of the faithful.[15] Moreover, the fact that a holy
fast had been ordered from ancient times for the day prior to
the feast is made very evident by what our predecessor St.
Nicholas I testifies in treating of the principal fasts which
"the Holy Roman Church has observed for a long time, and still
observes."[16]
20. However, since the liturgy of the Church does not engender
the Catholic faith, but rather springs from it, in such a way
that the practices of the sacred worship proceed from the faith
as the fruit comes from the tree, it follows that the holy
Fathers and the great Doctors, in the homilies and sermons they
gave the people on this feast day, did not draw their teaching
from the feast itself as from a primary source, but rather they
spoke of this doctrine as something already known and accepted
by Christ's faithful. They presented it more clearly. They
offered more profound explanations of its meaning and nature,
bringing out into sharper light the fact that this feast shows,
not only that the dead body of the Blessed Virgin Mary remained
incorrupt, but that she gained a triumph out of death, her
heavenly glorification after the example of her only begotten
Son, Jesus Christ-truths that the liturgical books had
frequently touched upon concisely and briefly.
21. Thus St. John Damascene, an outstanding herald of this
traditional truth, spoke out with powerful eloquence when he
compared the bodily Assumption of the loving Mother of God with
her other prerogatives and privileges. "It was fitting that she,
who had kept her virginity intact in childbirth, should keep her
own body free from all corruption even after death. It was
fitting that she, who had carried the Creator as a child at her
breast, should dwell in the divine tabernacles. It was fitting
that the spouse, whom the Father had taken to himself, should
live in the divine mansions. It was fitting that she, who had
seen her Son upon the cross and who had thereby received into
her heart the sword of sorrow which she had escaped in the act
of giving birth to him, should look upon him as he sits with the
Father. It was fitting that God's Mother should possess what
belongs to her Son, and that she should be honored by every
creature as the Mother and as the handmaid of God."[17]
22. These words of St. John Damascene agree perfectly with what
others have taught on this same subject. Statements no less
clear and accurate are to be found in sermons delivered by
Fathers of an earlier time or of the same period, particularly
on the occasion of this feast. And so, to cite some other
examples, St. Germanus of Constantinople considered the fact
that the body of Mary, the virgin Mother of God, was incorrupt
and had been taken up into heaven to be in keeping, not only
with her divine motherhood, but also with the special holiness
of her virginal body. "You are she who, as it is written,
appears in beauty, and your virginal body is all holy, all
chaste, entirely the dwelling place of God, so that it is
henceforth completely exempt from dissolution into dust. Though
still human, it is changed into the heavenly life of
incorruptibility, truly living and glorious, undamaged and
sharing in perfect life."[18] And another very ancient writer
asserts: "As the most glorious Mother of Christ, our Savior and
God and the giver of life and immortality, has been endowed with
life by him, she has received an eternal incorruptibility of the
body together with him who has raised her up from the tomb and
has taken her up to himself in a way known only to him."[19]
23. When this liturgical feast was being celebrated ever more
widely and with ever increasing devotion and piety, the bishops
of the Church and its preachers in continually greater numbers
considered it their duty openly and clearly to explain the
mystery that the feast commemorates, and to explain how it is
intimately connected with the other revealed truths.
24. Among the scholastic theologians there have not been lacking
those who, wishing to inquire more profoundly into divinely
revealed truths and desirous of showing the harmony that exists
between what is termed the theological demonstration and the
Catholic faith, have always considered it worthy of note that
this privilege of the Virgin Mary's Assumption is in wonderful
accord with those divine truths given us in Holy Scripture.
25. When they go on to explain this point, they adduce various
proofs to throw light on this privilege of Mary. As the first
element of these demonstrations, they insist upon the fact that,
out of filial love for his mother, Jesus Christ has willed that
she be assumed into heaven. They base the strength of their
proofs on the incomparable dignity of her divine motherhood and
of all those prerogatives which follow from it. These include
her exalted holiness, entirely surpassing the sanctity of all
men and of the angels, the intimate union of Mary with her Son,
and the affection of preeminent love which the Son has for his
most worthy Mother.
26. Often there are theologians and preachers who, following in
the footsteps of the holy Fathers,[20] 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"[21]; 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. Treating of this subject, they also describe
her as the Queen entering triumphantly into the royal halls of
heaven and sitting at the right hand of the divine Redeemer.[22]
Likewise they mention the Spouse of the Canticles "that goes up
by the desert, as a pillar of smoke of aromatical spices, of
myrrh and frankincense" to be crowned.[23] These are proposed as
depicting that heavenly Queen and heavenly Spouse who has been
lifted up to the courts of heaven with the divine Bridegroom.
27. Moreover, the scholastic Doctors have recognized the
Assumption of the Virgin Mother of God as something signified,
not only in various figures of the Old Testament, but also in
that woman clothed with the sun whom John the Apostle
contemplated on the Island of Patmos.[24] Similarly they have
given special attention to these words of the New Testament:
"Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you, blessed are you
among women,"[25] since they saw, in the mystery of the
Assumption, the fulfillment of that most perfect grace granted
to the Blessed Virgin and the special blessing that countered
the curse of Eve.
28. Thus, during the earliest period of scholastic theology,
that most pious man, Amadeus, Bishop of Lausarme, held that the
Virgin Mary's flesh had remained incorrupt-for it is wrong to
believe that her body has seen corruption-because it was really
united again to her soul and, together with it, crowned with
great glory in the heavenly courts. "For she was full of grace
and blessed among women. She alone merited to conceive the true
God of true God, whom as a virgin, she brought forth, to whom as
a virgin she gave milk, fondling him in her lap, and in all
things she waited upon him with loving care."[26]
29. Among the holy writers who at that time employed statements
and various images and analogies of Sacred Scripture to
Illustrate and to confirm the doctrine of the Assumption, which
was piously believed, the Evangelical Doctor, St. Anthony of
Padua, holds a special place. On the feast day of the
Assumption, while explaining the prophet's words: "I will
glorify the place of my feet,"[27] he stated it as certain that
the divine Redeemer had bedecked with supreme glory his most
beloved Mother from whom he had received human flesh. He asserts
that "you have here a clear statement that the Blessed Virgin
has been assumed in her body, where was the place of the Lord's
feet. Hence it is that the holy Psalmist writes: 'Arise, O Lord,
into your resting place: you and the ark which you have
sanctified."' And he asserts that, just as Jesus Christ has
risen from the death over which he triumphed and has ascended to
the right hand of the Father, so likewise the ark of his
sanctification "has risen up, since on this day the Virgin
Mother has been taken up to her heavenly dwelling."[28]
30. When, during the Middle Ages, scholastic theology was
especially flourishing, St. Albert the Great who, to establish
this teaching, had gathered together many proofs from Sacred
Scripture, from the statements of older writers, and finally
from the liturgy and from what is known as theological
reasoning, concluded in this way: "From these proofs and
authorities and from many others, it is manifest that the most
blessed Mother of God has been assumed above the choirs of
angels. And this we believe in every way to be true."[29] And,
in a sermon which he delivered on the sacred day of the Blessed
Virgin Mary's annunciation, explained the words "Hail, full of
grace"-words used by the angel who addressed her-the Universal
Doctor, comparing the Blessed Virgin with Eve, stated clearly
and incisively that she was exempted from the fourfold curse
that had been laid upon Eve.[30]
31. Following the footsteps of his distinguished teacher, the
Angelic Doctor, despite the fact that he never dealt directly
with this question, nevertheless, whenever he touched upon it,
always held together with the Catholic Church, that Mary's body
had been assumed into heaven along with her soul.[31]
32. Along with many others, the Seraphic Doctor held the same
views. He considered it as entirely certain that, as God had
preserved the most holy Virgin Mary from the violation of her
virginal purity and integrity in conceiving and in childbirth,
he would never have permitted her body to have been resolved
into dust and ashes.[32] Explaining these words of Sacred
Scripture: "Who is this that comes up from the desert, flowing
with delights, leaning upon her beloved?"[33] and applying them
in a kind of accommodated sense to the Blessed Virgin, he
reasons thus: "From this we can see that she is there
bodily...her blessedness would not have been complete unless she
were there as a person. The soul is not a person, but the soul,
joined to the body, is a person. It is manifest that she is
there in soul and in body. Otherwise she would not possess her
complete beatitude.[34]
33. In the fifteenth century, during a later period of
scholastic theology, St. Bernardine of Siena collected and
diligently evaluated all that the medieval theologians had said
and taught on this question. He was not content with setting
down the principal considerations which these writers of an
earlier day had already expressed, but he added others of his
own. The likeness between God's Mother and her divine Son, in
the way of the nobility and dignity of body and of soul-a
likeness that forbids us to think of the heavenly Queen as being
separated from the heavenly King- makes it entirely imperative
that Mary "should be only where Christ is."[35] Moreover, it is
reasonable and fitting that not only the soul and body of a man,
but also the soul and body of a woman should have obtained
heavenly glory. Finally, since the Church has never looked for
the bodily relics of the Blessed Virgin nor proposed them for
the veneration of the people, we have a proof on the order of a
sensible experience.[36]
34. The above-mentioned teachings of the holy Fathers and of the
Doctors have been in common use during more recent times.
Gathering together the testimonies of the Christians of earlier
days, St. Robert Bellarmine exclaimed: "And who, I ask, could
believe that the ark of holiness, the dwelling place of the Word
of God, the temple of the Holy Spirit, could be reduced to ruin?
My soul is filled with horror at the thought that this virginal
flesh which had begotten God, had brought him into the world,
had nourished and carried him, could have been turned into ashes
or given over to be food for worms."[37]
35. In like manner St. Francis of Sales, after asserting that it
is wrong to doubt that Jesus Christ has himself observed, in the
most perfect way, the divine commandment by which children are
ordered to honor their parents, asks this question: "What son
would not bring his mother back to life and would not bring her
into paradise after her death if he could?"[38] And St.
Alphonsus writes that "Jesus did not wish to have the body of
Mary corrupted after death, since it would have redounded to his
own dishonor to have her virginal flesh, from which he himself
had assumed flesh, reduced to dust."[39]
36. Once the mystery which is commemorated in this feast had
been placed in its proper light, there were not lacking teachers
who, instead of dealing with the theological reasonings that
show why it is fitting and right to believe the bodily
Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary into heaven, chose to
focus their mind and attention on the faith of the Church
itself, which is the Mystical Body of Christ without stain or
wrinkle[40] and is called by the Apostle "the pillar and ground
of truth."[41] Relying on this common faith, they considered the
teaching opposed to the doctrine of our Lady's Assumption as
temerarious, if not heretical. Thus, like not a few others, St.
Peter Canisius, after he had declared that the very word
"assumption" signifies the glorification, not only of the soul
but also of the body, and that the Church has venerated and has
solemnly celebrated this mystery of Mary's Assumption for many
centuries, adds these words of warning: "This teaching has
already been accepted for some centuries, it has been held as
certain in the minds of the pious people, and it has been taught
to the entire Church in such a way that those who deny that
Mary's body has been assumed into heaven are not to be listened
to patiently but are everywhere to be denounced as
over-contentious or rash men, and as imbued with a spirit that
is heretical rather than Catholic."[42]
37. At the same time the great Suarez was professing in the
field of mariology the norm that "keeping in mind the standards
of propriety, and when there is no contradiction or repugnance
on the part of Scripture, the mysteries of grace which God has
wrought in the Virgin must be measured, not by the ordinary
laws, but by the divine omnipotence."[43] Supported by the
common faith of the entire Church on the subject of the mystery
of the Assumption, he could conclude that this mystery was to be
believed with the same firmness of assent as that given to the
Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin. Thus he already
held that such truths could be defined.
38. All these proofs and considerations of the holy Fathers and
the theologians are based upon the Sacred Writings as their
ultimate foundation. These set the loving Mother of God as it
were before our very eyes as most intimately joined to her
divine Son and as always sharing his lot. Consequently it seems
impossible to think of her, the one who conceived Christ,
brought him forth, nursed him with her milk, held him in her
arms, and clasped him to her breast, as being apart from him in
body, even though not in soul, after this earthly life. Since
our Redeemer is the Son of Mary, he could not do otherwise, as
the perfect observer of God's law, than to honor, not only his
eternal Father, but also his most beloved Mother. And, since it
was within his power to grant her this great honor, to preserve
her from the corruption of the tomb, we must believe that he
really acted in this way.
39. We must remember especially that, since the second century,
the Virgin Mary has been designated by the holy Fathers as the
new Eve, who, although subject to the new Adam, is most
intimately associated with him in that struggle against the
infernal foe which, as foretold in the protoevangelium,[44]
would finally result in that most complete victory over the sin
and death which are always mentioned together in the writings of
the Apostle of the Gentiles.[45] Consequently, just as the
glorious resurrection of Christ was an essential part and the
final sign of this victory, so that struggle which was common to
the Blessed Virgin and her divine Son should be brought to a
close by the glorification of her virginal body, for the same
Apostle says: "When this mortal thing hath put on immortality,
then shall come to pass the saying that is written: Death is
swallowed up in victory."[46]
40. Hence the revered Mother of God, from all eternity joined in
a hidden way with Jesus Christ in one and the same decree of
predestination,[47] immaculate in her conception, a most perfect
virgin in her divine motherhood, the noble associate of the
divine Redeemer who has won a complete triumph over sin and its
consequences, finally obtained, as the supreme culmination of
her privileges, that she should be preserved free from the
corruption of the tomb and that, like her own Son, having
overcome death, she might be taken up body and soul to the glory
of heaven where, as Queen, she sits in splendor at the right
hand of her Son, the immortal King of the Ages.[48]
41. Since the universal Church, within which dwells the Spirit
of Truth who infallibly directs it toward an ever more perfect
knowledge of the revealed truths, has expressed its own belief
many times over the course of the centuries, and since the
bishops of the entire world are almost unanimously petitioning
that the truth of the bodily Assumption of the Blessed Virgin
Mary into heaven should be defined as a dogma of divine and
Catholic faith-this truth which is based on the Sacred Writings,
which is thoroughly rooted in the minds of the faithful, which
has been approved in ecclesiastical worship from the most remote
times, which is completely in harmony with the other revealed
truths, and which has been expounded and explained magnificently
in the work, the science, and the wisdom of the theologians-we
believe that the moment appointed in the plan of divine
providence for the solemn proclamation of this outstanding
privilege of the Virgin Mary has already arrived.
42. We, who have placed our pontificate under the special
patronage of the most holy Virgin, to whom we have had recourse
so often in times of grave trouble, we who have consecrated the
entire human race to her Immaculate Heart in public ceremonies,
and who have time and time again experienced her powerful
protection, are confident that this solemn proclamation and
definition of the Assumption will contribute in no small way to
the advantage of human society, since it redounds to the glory
of the Most Blessed Trinity, to which the Blessed Mother of God
is bound by such singular bonds. It is to be hoped that all the
faithful will be stirred up to a stronger piety toward their
heavenly Mother, and that the souls of all those who glory in
the Christian name may be moved by the desire of sharing in the
unity of Jesus Christ's Mystical Body and of increasing their
love for her who shows her motherly heart to all the members of
this august body. And so we may hope that those who meditate
upon the glorious example Mary offers us may be more and more
convinced of the value of a human life entirely devoted to
carrying out the heavenly Father's will and to bringing good to
others. Thus, while the illusory teachings of materialism and
the corruption of morals that follows from these teachings
threaten to extinguish the light of virtue and to ruin the lives
of men by exciting discord among them, in this magnificent way
all may see clearly to what a lofty goal our bodies and souls
are destined. Finally it is our hope that belief in Mary's
bodily Assumption into heaven will make our belief in our own
resurrection stronger and render it more effective.
43. We rejoice greatly that this solemn event falls, according
to the design of God's providence, during this Holy Year, so
that we are able, while the great Jubilee is being observed, to
adorn the brow of God's Virgin Mother with this brilliant gem,
and to leave a monument more enduring than bronze of our own
most fervent love for the Mother of God.
44. For which reason, after we have poured forth prayers of
supplication again and again to God, and have invoked the light
of the Spirit of Truth, for the glory of Almighty God who has
lavished his special affection upon the Virgin Mary, for the
honor of her Son, the immortal King of the Ages and the Victor
over sin and death, for the increase of the glory of that same
august Mother, and for the joy and exultation of the entire
Church; by the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, of the
Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul, and by our own authority, 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.
45. Hence if anyone, which God forbid, should dare willfully to
deny or to call into doubt that which we have defined, let him
know that he has fallen away completely from the divine and
Catholic Faith.
46. In order that this, our definition of the bodily Assumption
of the Virgin Mary into heaven may be brought to the attention
of the universal Church, we desire that this, our Apostolic
Letter, should stand for perpetual remembrance, commanding that
written copies of it, or even printed copies, signed by the hand
of any public notary and bearing the seal of a person
constituted in ecclesiastical dignity, should be accorded by all
men the same reception they would give to this present letter,
were it tendered or shown.
47. It is forbidden to any man to change this, our declaration,
pronouncement, and definition or, by rash attempt, to oppose and
counter it. If any man should presume to make such an attempt,
let him know that he will incur the wrath of Almighty God and of
the Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul.
48. Given at Rome, at St. Peter's, in the year of the great
Jubilee, 1950, on the first day of the month of November, on the
Feast of All Saints, in the twelfth year of our pontificate.
I, PIUS, Bishop of the Catholic Church, have signed, so
defining.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ENDNOTES
1. Rom 8:28.
2. Gal 4:4.
3. Cf. Hentrich-Von Moos, Petitiones de Assumptione Corporea B.
Virginis Mariae in Caelum Definienda ad S. Sedem Delatae, 2
volumes (Vatican Polyglot Press, 1942).
4. Acts 20:28.
5. The Bull Ineffabilis Deus, in the Acta Pii IX, pars 1, Vol.
1, p. 615.
6. The Vatican Council, Constitution Dei filius, c. 4.
7. Jn 14:26.
8. Vatican Council, Constitution Pastor Aeternus, c. 4.
9. Ibid., Dei Filius, c. 3.
10. The encyclical Mediator Dei (Acta Apostolicae Sedis, XXXIX,
541).
11. Sacramentarium Gregorianum.
12. Menaei Totius Anni.
13. Lk 22:32.
14. Liber Pontificalis.
15. Ibid.
16. Responsa Nicolai Papae I ad Consulta Bulgarorum.
17. St. John Damascene, Encomium in Dormitionem Dei Genetricis
Semperque Virginis Mariae, Hom. II, n. 14; cf. also ibid, n. 3.
18. St. Germanus of Constantinople, In Sanctae Dei Genetricis
Dormitionem, Sermo I.
19. The Encomium in Dormitionem Sanctissimae Dominae Nostrate
Deiparae Semperque Virginis Mariae, attributed to St. Modestus
of Jerusalem, n. 14.
20. Cf. St. John Damascene, op. cit., Hom. II, n. 11; and also
the Encomium attributed to St. Modestus.
21. Ps 131:8.
22. Ps 44:10-14ff.
23. Song 3:6; cf. also 4:8; 6:9.
24. Rv 12:1ff.
25. Lk 1:28.
26. Amadeus of Lausanne, De Beatae Virginis Obitu, Assumptione
in Caelum Exaltatione ad Filii Dexteram.
27. Is 61:13.
28. St. Anthony of Padua, Sermones Dominicales et in
Solemnitatibus, In Assumptione S. Mariae Virginis Sermo.
29. St. Albert the Great, Mariale, q. 132.
30. St. Albert the Great, Sermones de Sanctis, Sermo XV in
Annuntiatione B. Mariae; cf. also Mariale, q. 132.
31. St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theol., I, lla; q. 27, a. 1; q.
83, a. 5, ad 8; Expositio Salutationis Angelicae; In Symb.
Apostolorum Expositio, a. S; In IV Sent., d. 12, q. 1, a. 3,
sol. 3; d. 43, q. 1, a. 3, sol. 1, 2.
32. St. Bonaventure, De Nativitate B. Mariae Virginis, Sermo V.
33. Song 8:5.
34. St. Bonaventure, De Assumptione B. Mariae Virginis, Sermo 1.
35. St. Bernardine of Siena, In Assumptione B. Mariae Virginis,
Sermo 11.
36. Ibid.
37. St. Robert Bellarmine, Conciones Habitae Lovanii, n. 40, De
Assumption B. Mariae Virginis.
38. Oeuvres de St. Francois De Sales, sermon for the Feast of
the Assumption.
39. St. Alphonsus Liguori, The Glories of Mary, Part 2, d. 1.
40. Eph 5:27.
41. I Tim 3:15.
42. St. Peter Canisius, De Maria Virgine.
43. Suarez, In Tertiam Partem D. Thomae, q. 27, a. 2, disp. 3,
sec. 5, n. 31.
44. Gen 3:15.
45. Rom 5-6; I Cor. 15:21-26, 54-57.
46. I Cor 15:54.
47. The Bull Ineffabilis Deus, loc. cit., p. 599.
48. I Tim 1:17.
