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The Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary

© Linda Campbell

15th August is the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It is an important day in the Catholic calendar as it is the principal feast of Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ. According to the Catholic Encyclopedia, the feast has two objects – the ‘happy departure of Mary from this life’ and the ‘assumption of her body into heaven’. It is important to make the distinction between ‘ascension’ and ‘assumption’. Jesus ascended into heaven through his own power but Mary was assumed, or taken up, into heaven by God.

Of course, there is little information about Mary’s death. Various dates have been stated, ranging from three to fifteen years after the death of Christ. Both Jerusalem and Ephesus have claimed to be the place of her death. Jerusalem and other cities claim to be the site of her temporary tomb, although the claims of Jerusalem were apparently undocumented for 600 years.

A number of early writers recorded the manner of her Assumption and it is mentioned in the sermons of St Andrew of Crete, St John Damascene, St Modestus of Jerusalem and St Gregory of Tours as well as being referred to in the Greek work, ‘De Obitu S. Dominae’, which was probably written in the 4th or 5th century.

According to St John of Damascus the Bishop of Jerusalem, St Juvenal, told the Council of Chalcedon in 451 AD that Mary had died in the presence of all the Apostles. However, when St Thomas later opened her tomb, it was found to be empty. The Apostles believed that this proved that her body had not been allowed to corrupt but had been taken up into heaven by God.

It is unlikely that August 15th is the actual date of Mary’s death. The Feast appears to have been celebrated in Palestine prior to 500CE and probably in August, but it was celebrated in January in other places eg on the 18th of January in Gaul in the 6th century. There was division about the date in the Greek Church, with some keeping it in January and some in August. Apparently Emperor Maurice (died 602CE) eventually set the date as August 15th for the Greek Empire.

The Roman Church held the Feast of Our Lady on January 1st and it is uncertain when the Feast of the Assumption was added, although it may have been as early as the 6th century.

In the days of the early Christians, it was common for relics of saints and martyrs to be venerated and prized. Many places claimed the bodies, or parts of bodies, of saints, raising tombs in their honour. Often they became the objects of pilgrimages. However, there are no records of Mary’s body being venerated in this way.

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