The Dormition of the Virgin Mary

[Ron_Conte]

The Assumption has been taught infallibly under Papal Infallibility:

“…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.” (Munificentissimus Deus)

But Mary’s death and resurrection, even though taught in the same document, was taught under the non-infallible Ordinary Magisterium. Since this teaching is non-infallible, some have said that one may believe that Mary never died, and that she was merely assumed into Heaven at the end of her earthly life. This idea is not heretical, but it does contradict an ordinary teaching (so the burden of proof is on those who adhere to this idea).

However, it is a heresy contrary to the infallible teaching of the Church to claim that Mary both died and was never resurrected, and that therefore her soul went to Heaven at her death, and that it was her dead body which was assumed into Heaven to be joined with her soul there.

Ron

 

[kleary]

The Assumption has been taught infallibly under Papal Infallibility:

“…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.” (Munificentissimus Deus)

But Mary’s death and resurrection, even though taught in the same document, was taught under the non-infallible Ordinary Magisterium. Since this teaching is non-infallible, some have said that one may believe that Mary never died, and that she was merely assumed into Heaven at the end of her earthly life. This idea is not heretical, but it does contradict an ordinary teaching (so the burden of proof is on those who adhere to this idea).

However, it is a heresy contrary to the infallible teaching of the Church to claim that Mary both died and was never resurrected, and that therefore her soul went to Heaven at her death, and that it was her dead body which was assumed into Heaven to be joined with her soul there.

Ron

The assumption DOES NOT teach that Mary rose from the dead. her Assumption into Heaven teaches simply that at the end of her life she was “assumed” into heaven body and soul.

 

[NotWorthy]

Catholics are free to think that Mary died and was assumed into heaven before her mortal body suffered corruption (IOW, before it rotted), or that Mary was assumed into heaven before she died.

As noted, Catholics are taught that Mary was assumed into heaven at the end of her earthly life.

 

[batteddy]

The assumption DOES NOT teach that Mary rose from the dead. her Assumption into Heaven teaches simply that at the end of her life she was “assumed” into heaven body and soul.

True. But it’s generally taught that she died and rose before her assumption.

Of course, simply being assumed into heaven without ever dying is a tolerable belief too.

But I think the OP is right in saying that the idea that she died…and then went to heaven spiritually…and then her body came to her there…is not acceptable, and in fact has not ever been postulated by any majory theologians, and was really never even foreseen.

Either Mary went right to heaven without ever dying, or died, rose, and then went to heaven.

 

[adventistnomore]

Mary’s death and resurrection, even though taught in the same document, was taught under the non-infallible Ordinary Magisterium. Since this teaching is non-infallible, some have said that one may believe that Mary never died, and that she was merely assumed into Heaven at the end of her earthly life. This idea is not heretical, but it does contradict an ordinary teaching (so the burden of proof is on those who adhere to this idea).

You are correct here; the ordinary magisterium of the Church has ALWAYS testified to the fact of Mary’s dormition. Roman Catholics who claim otherwise deny the liturgical heritage of all Eastern churches, which celebrate Aug 15 as the “Feast of the Dormition”–something no theologian can do. As you noted, Muntificentissimus Deus assumes the fact of Mary’s death throughout, so much so that I would venture to submit that Pius’ reference to the completion of “the course of [Mary’s] earthly life” directly (however ambiguously) refers to her physical death. (There is no basis for claiming that the ambiguity of the statement provides room for the alternative view).

“The burden of proof” Ron references is beyond the capacity of any Catholic to carry.

 

[Ron_Conte]

Here are the references to Mary’s death and resurrection in the Apostolic Constitution of Pope Pius XII, Munificentissimus Deus.

The death of the Virgin Mary:

1. "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." (n. 14)

2. " 'Venerable to us, O Lord, is the festivity of this day on which the holy Mother of God suffered temporal death….' " (n. 17, quoting the Sacramentarium Gregorianum)

3. " '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.' " (n. 18, quoting the Byzantine liturgy)

4. "…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…." (n. 20, referring to the feast of the Assumption)

5. " '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.' " (n. 21, quoting St. John Damascene)

6. " '…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.' " (n. 22, a quote attributed to St. Modestus of Jerusalem)

7. "Hence the revered Mother of God…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…." (n. 40)

The Resurrection of the Virgin Mary:

1. "Thus, during the earliest period of scholastic theology, that most pious man, Amadeus, Bishop of Lausanne, 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." (n. 28)

2. " 'What son would not bring his mother back to life and would not bring her into paradise after death if he could?' " (n. 35, quoting St. Francis of Sales)

3. " '…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.' " (n. 22, a quote attributed to St. Modestus of Jerusalem)

In my opinion, these references alone are sufficient to make this teaching an ordinary non-infallible teaching of the Church.

Ron