APOSTOLIC CONSTITUTION OF
POPE PIUS XII
MUNIFICENTISSIMUS DEUS
DEFINING THE DOGMA OF THE ASSUMPTION
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 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.
PIUS XII
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. |