Mary's later life

[Crown_of_Stars]

Little to nothing is known of Virgin Mary’s later life. At the Crucifixion, Jesus gave the Apostle John to His Mother, and, according to Scripture, from that moment John “took Her into his own house.” I believe She isn’t mentioned again, except, of course, for Her ascension into heaven, body and soul. I’m also still unclear on whether or not She actually physically died, the way Jesus did, and He was resurrected body and soul, or if She didn’t die at all and was just taken as She was right into heaven. Is this definitely known? My other questions are, would Mary have lived out the rest of Her life in Jerusalem if she lived with John in his house? And what would John have done to be able to support her and take care of her? Little things I just wonder about. I realize little to none of it may be known, only speculated.

 

[pianistclare]

He built her a cruciform house in Ephesus. The Fransciscans take care of it and give tours.

 

[Ad_Orientem]

Concerning the death of the Blessed Virgin, have you read Munificentissimus Deus, Apostolic Constitution of Pope Pius XII? The holy father quotes numerous Saints and sacred writers stating that she died, remained incorrupt, and was resurrected and glorified by a special privilege.

Some Catholic apologists have argued (and I used to hold) that because her death is not explicitly mentioned in the formula dogmatically defining her Assumption (a small paragraph in the Apostolic Constitution), therefore her death is left as a matter of theological speculation. But surely such a position disregards the weight of Patristic testimony, ecclesial tradition, and the magisterial teaching contained in the same Constitution, albeit not the highest exercise. It’s sort of like saying, “only ex cathedra teachings matter; everything else is up for grabs.”

 

[TimothyH]

John was an Archbishop for a portion of Asia Minor which included the “Seven Churches” listed in Revelation.

**Let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching; for the scripture says, “You shall not muzzle an ox when it is treading out the grain,” and, “The laborer deserves his wages.” ** (1 Timothy 5:17-18)

As an Archbishop St John would have earned his wages from the tithes of the Christians.

-Tim-

 

[patrick457]

Little to nothing is known of Virgin Mary’s later life. At the Crucifixion, Jesus gave the Apostle John to His Mother, and, according to Scripture, from that moment John “took Her into his own house.” My other questions are, would Mary have lived out the rest of Her life in Jerusalem if she lived with John in his house? And what would John have done to be able to support her and take care of her? Little things I just wonder about. I realize little to none of it may be known, only speculated.

First off, “He took her to his own home” doesn’t refer to a physical house (in fact, the word for ‘home’ or ‘house’ is not in the Greek; it’s just “he took her to ta idia (plural)” - ‘his own’ or ‘his’). It meant more that the beloved disciple - John - took in Mary as his family (hence the plural). You might paraphrase the passage as “he counted her as one of his family from then on.”

I believe She isn’t mentioned again, except, of course, for Her ascension into heaven, body and soul. I’m also still unclear on whether or not She actually physically died, the way Jesus did, and He was resurrected body and soul, or if She didn’t die at all and was just taken as She was right into heaven. Is this definitely known?

The traditional belief is that yes, she did die; her body was buried, but later, when the tomb was inspected, her corpse was nowhere to be found. Later some people in the West thought maybe she didn’t die at all but went straight to Heaven, body and soul. Eastern Christians still hold to the traditional idea, which is why they celebrate the Dormition (the ‘Falling-Asleep’) of Mary.

The 1950 constitution Munificentissimus Deus - which declared the Assumption/Dormition as a dogma of the Church - can be read as leaving the question open when it said that Mary was taken to Heaven “having completed the course of her earthly life”, although in places the traditional belief in Mary’s death is still presupposed (Article 20: “They [the Fathers and the Doctors who talked about the Assumption] 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”)

 

[AmbroseSJ]

patrick457:

The 1950 constitution Munificentissimus Deus - which declared the Assumption/Dormition as a dogma of the Church - can be read as leaving the question open when it said that Mary was taken to Heaven “having completed the course of her earthly life”, although in places the traditional belief in Mary’s death is still presupposed (Article 20: “They [the Fathers and the Doctors who talked about the Assumption] 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”)

We also have St. Pope JPII explicitly teaching that she died here.

In the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in DC there is an Oratory of 'Ta Pinu which explicitly teaches that the Virgin Mary died before being assumed into Heaven.
Ad Orientem:

Some Catholic apologists have argued (and I used to hold) that because her death is not explicitly mentioned in the formula dogmatically defining her Assumption (a small paragraph in the Apostolic Constitution), therefore her death is left as a matter of theological speculation. ***But surely such a position disregards the weight of Patristic testimony, ecclesial tradition, and the magisterial teaching contained in the same Constitution, ***… It’s sort of like saying, “only ex cathedra teachings matter; everything else is up for grabs.”

Very perspicuous! In fact it is EXACTLY as you say at the end. It is only those people who DON’T understand Church infallibility that make such blunders, just like those who interpret MD as supposedly teaching she never died are just as muddled. But in my experience both views are shared by the same people! No matter how much evidence you bring to the argument for the death of the Virgin Mary, their final and only retort is that SINCE it is NOT infallibly defined that she died, therefore she didn’t! They are free to disregard everything you said above.

 

[Googler]

In the chapter on The Assumption in the book ’The Sermons of St. Francis de Sales on Our Lady, Saint Francis de Sales, Doctor of the Church, shares his wonderful insight into the death the Immaculata.

Our Lady, Mother of God, died of the death of her Son…
How could she die of any other death but His? They were in truth two persons, Our Lord and Our Lady, but of one heart, one soul, one spirit, one life…
Hence, if St. Paul lived only of the life of Our Lord, Our Lady also live only of the same life, but more perfectly, more excellently, more completely…
And a sword will pierce you own soul.[Lk. 2:35, Douay]…
Love is accustomed to receive the counter-blows of the afflictions of the beloved…
Moreover, the tradition is that she lived for many years after. But listen, does it not often happen that a stag is wounded by the hunter, yet escapes with its shaft and its wound and goes off to die many days after in a place far distant from where it received the wound? Certainly Our Lady was struck and wounded by the dart of pain in the Passion of her Son on Mount Calvary, yet she did not die immediately but bore her wound for a long time, and from it she finally died…
She could only languish with love. Her life was no more than swoonings and ravishments from it…
Alas, her treasure, that is to say her Son, was in Heaven; her heart then was no longer in herself…
There she flew, this holy eagle…
Finally , after so many spiritual flights, after so many suspensions and ectasies, this holy tower of chastity, this fortress of humility, having miraculously sustained a thousand thousand assaults of love, was carried off, and taken captive by a last and universal assault. Love, which was the conqueror, took this beautiful soul away as its prisoner, and left to the sacred body cold death and the tomb…
Thus died the Mother of Life…
Corruption had not tainted such integrity…
Worms will eat our bodies, but they reverenced the one which produced the body of their Creator…
But shortly after she had paid the universal penalty of death, He took her to Himself into the kingdom of His holy Paradise…
And was not this the most beautiful and magnificent entrance into Heaven ever seen, second only to that of her Son?…
But the Virgin, coming up to Heaven into the court of her Son, brought with her so much gold of charity, so many perfumes of devotion and virtue, such a great quantity of precious stones of patience and sufferings that she had borne in His Name, that reducing them all to merits we can truly say that never was so great a quantity brought to Heaven. Never did anyone present so much to her Son as did this holy Lady…

 

[JB_Brother_4446]

He built her a cruciform house in Ephesus. The Fransciscans take care of it and give tours.

She died in Jerusalem.

 

[Lenten_ashes]

Little to nothing is known of Virgin Mary’s later life. At the Crucifixion, Jesus gave the Apostle John to His Mother, and, according to Scripture, from that moment John “took Her into his own house.” I believe She isn’t mentioned again, except, of course, for Her ascension into heaven, body and soul. I’m also still unclear on whether or not She actually physically died, the way Jesus did, and He was resurrected body and soul, or if She didn’t die at all and was just taken as She was right into heaven. Is this definitely known? My other questions are, would Mary have lived out the rest of Her life in Jerusalem if she lived with John in his house? And what would John have done to be able to support her and take care of her? Little things I just wonder about. I realize little to none of it may be known, only speculated.

Hi,

She’s mentioned again in ACTS:

Acts 1:12-14New King James Version (NKJV)

The Upper Room Prayer Meeting
12 Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is near Jerusalem, a Sabbath day’s journey. 13 And when they had entered, they went up into the upper room where they were staying: Peter, James, John, and Andrew; Philip and Thomas; Bartholomew and Matthew; James the son of Alphaeus and Simon the Zealot; and Judas the son of James. 14 These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication,[a] with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers.

Here’s a interesting document to read on Mary:

newadvent.org/fathers/0832.htm