Dormition vs Assumption
Greg Smisek
>According to my Orthodox friends, Mary is said to have been assumed
>into heaven, but only after she died. This is why they call it
>her Dormition (literally meaning, "falling asleep").
>
.......
>
>So what do we RC's believe, anyway? Did Mary die or not? What did
>Pius XII have to say on the subject (I believe it was he who defined
>the dogma).
Pius XII solemnly defined dogma of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin
Mary in these words:
"Finally the Immaculate Virgin, preserved free from all stain of
original sin, when the course of her earthly life was finished, was taken
up body and soul into heavenly glory, and exalted by the Lord as Queen over
all things, so that she might be the more fully conformed to her Son, the
Lord of Lords and conqueror of sin and death" (Munificentissimus Deus
[1950], quoted in Catechism of the Catholic Church, n. 966).
Pius XII intentionally used the phrase "when her earthly life was
finished" so as _not_ to include in the definition whether she physically
died or not. It is my understanding that the Orthodox (and Eastern
Catholics) accept her death as part of their theological tradition. The
notion of Mary dying is not foreign to our RC tradition, but it is not
universally accepted as it is by the Easterns. I have seen several
depictions from Western medieval art which depict Mary's dormition (death).
One book illumination showed the Twelve Apostles gathered around a bed on
which the dead body of Mary lay (Peter, of course, arrayed in a beautiful
black cope; Mary, in bright blue). Christ is looking down from the top,
holding an infant in his arms (the soul of Mary--kind of a reverse of the
Theotokos icons).
Whether we accept or reject the physical death of Mary, we still
need to see Mary's Assumption as "a singular participation in her Son's
Resurrection and an anticipation of the resurrection of other Christians"
(CCC, n.966). True to the exhortations of Vatican II's Lumen Gentium (on
the Church) that Mary be seen more clearly in her relation to Christ and
the Church (Christocentric and ecclesiotypical), the Catechism considers
the assumption of Mary in the context of her role as mother and model of
the Church, which in turn concludes the ninth article of the Creed, "I
believe in the holy catholic Church," which speaks of the marks of the
Church and vocations within the Church.
Greg
Marida Ignacio
Hello out there,
Hi! ;)
Just a quiet lurker poking his head out to ask a quick question:
According to my Orthodox friends, Mary is said to have been assumed
into heaven, but only after she died. This is why they call it
her Dormition (literally meaning, "falling asleep").
Also according to my Orthodox friends, the Catholic position is
unacceptably vague on the issue of whether or not Mary died. They
tell me that there are those in the RCC who say she never died,
something they cannot accept, since they have been using the term
"Dormition" since the 6th century, and will not (of course) reject
this tradition.
So what do we RC's believe, anyway? Did Mary die or not? What did
Pius XII have to say on the subject (I believe it was he who defined
the dogma).
Thanks....Tom Dowd (tom...@ottawa.net)
It really is not "Dormition VS. Assumption". It simply
is "Dormition OR death, AND Assumption". Whether Mary died or
fell in dormition is not the issue. Besides, there is a lot
of mysteries and contradictions as to which one really happened.
Yet, these have not removed the good virtue behind the
recognition of the "Assumption" of our Lady. Why?
"Assumption" is what's closely next to resurrection and
resurrection is very much Scriptural and part of
Sacred Tradition. It's importance is why the Church is
inspired to treat the "Assumption" in a special way.
To give hope to the rest of us, humans as well, like our
Lady, that we too can be in Heaven.
In short, we don't have anything official regarding
whether it be death or dormition.
However, there is the unanimity regarding the Assumption
and we do have something OFFICIAL about that.
Here's something I compiled for my Mary FAQ file a while
back. If I remember correctly, Mark Ashley posted this
before (with the initials "ma" below).
-----
2. ASSUMPTION
2.1. (included here with permission from the poster)
The Catholic belief in the "Assumption" of Mary into heaven is in
some ways connected to her Immaculate Conception. The doctrine
of the Assumption was officially defined on November 1, 1950,
when Pope Pius XII declared that Mary, "having completed the
course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul to heavenly
glory." This means that at the end of Mary's time on earth,
she experienced the "ressurection of the body" that is promised
to all faithful followers of Jesus. Like the immaculate Conception,
the doctrine of the Assumption simply proclaims that Mary
experienced in advance an aspect of salvation that is promised to
all believers. The concept of the Immaculate Conception explains how
Mary was saved from sin by Jesus in a unique way; Mary's Assumption
shows the result of this freedom from sin - the immediate union
of her whole being with God at the end of her life.
The book of Genesis implies that if Mary was preserved from sin by
the free gift of God, she would not be bound to experience the
consequence of sin - death - in the same way we do. Her Assumption
into heaven might be understood as a sign of what might have
happened at the end of our lives had Adam and Eve not sinned.
Like the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception, the belief that Mary
was taken bodily up to heaven emerged among early Christians and
was almost unanimously accepted among Christians by the thirteenth
century. The doctrine was finally defined as a Catholic belief
by an "infallible" statement of Pope Pius XII in 1950 in response
to the faith of millions of Catholics who desired that the Pope
speak out officially about the truth of this belief. In the hundred
years before Pope Pius' declaration the popes had received petitions
from 113 cardinals, 250 bishops, 32000 priests and religious brothers,
50000 religious women, and 8 million lay people, all requesting that
the Assumption be recognized officially as Catholic teaching.
Apparently, the Pope discerned that the Holy Spirit was speaking
through the people of God on this matter.
Belief in the Assumption is a source of hope for Christians because it
foreshadows what will one day happen to each faithful Christian. The
raising of Mary, body and soul, to the glory of heaven anticipates
what will happen at the final judgement to all who are to be saved. It
provides hope that Christians will one day experience the ressurection
of the body that she has already experienced through the grace of her
Son, Jesus Christ.
>From "Catholic & Christian" by Alan Schreck
This book is noted with the Nihil obstat and Imprimatur declarations.
- ma 6/4/93
--
___ ___
(__ \/ ) His Peace through the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Marida
* )XxXx/ "Human-kind: Where protection of valuable life starts and
* | / takes off."
* ) / Jeremiah 1:5 "Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you..."
* \/
*