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Title: |
Munificentissimus Deus
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Descr.: |
Defining The Dogma Of The Assumption Of The Blessed Virgin Mary Into Heaven
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Pope: |
Pope Pius XII
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Date: |
November 1, 1950
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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 [First] 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 [First] 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 [First] 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, caressing 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 de 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 [First] 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. Isa. 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., Illa; 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.
1 Tm. 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; 1 Cor. 15:21-26, 54-57. |
46. 1 Cor. 15:54. | 47. The Bull Ineffabilis Deus, loc. cit., p.
599. | 48. 1 Tm. 1:17.
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