Death of the Virgin, Caravaggio, 1606
The Apocalypse of Saint John, Albrecht Dürer, 1498
The Assumption of the Virgin (detail), Titian, 1518
WE BELIEVE MARY WAS ASSUMED INTO HEAVEN
The Church teaches that Mary was taken body and soul into heaven by Christ at the conclusion of her earthly life. This grace was granted to Mary in view of her close union with Her Son and singular state of purity as the Virgin Mother of God.
WHY DO WE BELIEVE MARY WAS ASSUMED INTO HEAVEN
That God would spare Our Lady from the stain of original sin is indicated in His promise to put enmity between the Serpent and the Woman who would bear the Messiah (Gen. 3:15). Due to Mary's wholly unique cooperation with Her Son in the work of redemption, she has always been revered by the Church as the New Eve, helpmate of the New Adam. That she possessed Eve's innocence before the Fall means she was likely exempt from the Fall's punishment, namely labor pains and bodily death (see Gen. 3:16, 19; Rom. 6:23). Even if not entirely exempted from these things, however, it is fitting at least, given the nature of her call to give birth to and mother the Christ Child, that extraordinary graces were given to her at least in childbirth if not also in death.
Indeed, the Church teaches that Mary's Assumption into heaven was granted to her in view of her close union with Christ. This teaching affirms the truth of Christ's bodily Resurrection as well as His promise that His followers, too, shall rise again. In the Assumption we see the first of His disciples receiving the fulfillment of this promise. Like the rising of the bodies of the saints at the time of the Crucifixion (cf. Matt. 27:52), moreover, Mary's Assumption is a precursor to the bodily resurrection of the faithful on Judgment Day when they shall be “caught up … in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air” (1 Thess. 4:17). "The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin," says the Catechism of the Catholic Church,
is a singular participation in her Son’s Resurrection and an anticipation of the resurrection of other Christians … . [S]he already shares in the glory of her Son’s Resurrection, anticipating the resurrection of all members of his Body (pars. 966, 974).
The Assumption in Scripture
The Holy Bible refers to the Assumption in the Book of Revelation, saying:
She brought forth a male child, one who is to rule all nations with a rod of iron, but her child was caught up to his throne, and the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, in which to be nourished for one thousand two hundred and sixty days. … But the woman was given the two wings of the great eagle that she might fly from the serpent into the wilderness, to the place where she is to be nourished for a time, and times, and half a time (12:5-6, 14).
We see in this passage a reference first to the Ascension, the Woman's Child being caught up to His throne in heaven; and after this the Assumption. Mary is ever spoken of, her role ever defined, in union with Christ. The motif of God’s people escaping “on the wings of an eagle” to a place of refuge can be found throughout the Old Testament (see Ex. 19:4; Ps. 55:6-7; Isa. 40:31). God’s promise of “escape into the wilderness” is profoundly fulfilled in the Assumption, Mary being the preeminent representative of His people. While Protestantism tends to see this Woman either as a symbolic figure of Israel or the Church (cf. Gen. 37:9), Catholicism accepts both of these interpretations, and extends them to include in a literal way Mary, the embodiment of the people of God. For Israel bore Christ figuratively; Mary bore Him literally.
Coincidentally, the symbolic references in Revelation 12 to a duration of time “one thousand two hundred and sixty days” and “for a time, and times, and half a time” (6, 14) may represent the period of persecution, which the Church will endure, prior to the Second Coming of Christ.
Mary's Assumption can also be inferred from biblical passages concerning the Ark of the Covenant, a type of Mary. Psalm 132:8, for instance, says, "Arise, O LORD, and go to thy resting place, thou and the ark of thy might." The Ark was made of incorruptible wood and overlaid with pure gold because of the holiness of the objects it was designed to carry (cf. Ex. 25:10-11). Likewise the Virgin was endowed with spiritual and bodily purity and incorruptibility in preparation for bearing Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Word of God made flesh.
That the Old-Covenant Ark mysteriously vanished at a certain point foreshadows Our Lady’s Assumption as well. The sacred vessel remained hidden for centuries, in fact, until Saint John caught a glimpse of it in heaven. He records this vision, again, in Revelation, saying,
Then God’s temple in heaven was opened, and the ark of his covenant was seen within his temple … . And a great portent appeared in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars (11:19, 12:1).
John’s vision of the Mother of God dwelling bodily in Paradise is an eyewitness account of the Assumption. In commenting on this passage, Saint Quodvultdeus (d. 453), the Bishop of Carthage and a disciple of Saint Augustine, said that Mary "also embodied in herself a figure of the holy church: namely, how, while bearing a son, she remained a virgin, so that the church throughout time bears her members, yet she does not lose her virginity” (Third Homily On the Creed 3:6; cf. Saint Clement of Alexandria, Instructor of the Children 1:6:42:1).
Revelation 12:17 says the devil, infuriated by the Woman’s escape, set out “to make war on the rest of her offspring, on those who keep God’s commandments and give witness to Jesus” (12:17). That the followers of Christ are considered “the rest of her offspring” supports the Church’s regard for Mary as the Mother of All Christians (cf. Isa. 66:8; John 19:26-27).
The Assumption In the Historical Writings
The earliest extant historical writings on the Assumption are various apocryphal texts, which fall under the general heading of the Transitus Mariae or Passing of Mary. The oldest of these, believed to have been composed in the second century by Leucius Karinus, a disciple of John, is thought to be based on an original document from the apostolic era, and possibly by the Apostle himself, which is no longer extant.
While at one time the Transitus Mariae was thought to have originated in the fourth century or later, certain theological terms used in Leucius’ document confirm an origin either in the second or third century (Bellarmino Bagatti, et al., New Discoveries at the Tomb of the Virgin Mary in Gethsemane [Jerusalem: Franciscan Printing Press, 1975], p. 14; Bagatti, S. Pietro nella “Dormitio Mariae,” pp. 42-48; Ricerche sulle tradizioni della morte della Vergine, pp. 185-214).
An orthodox writer from around the fourth century, operating under the nom de plume of Saint Melito of Sardis, reproached Leucius for having “corrupted the most ancient text [of the Transitus Mariae] by expounding his personal ideas which do not agree with the teaching of the Apostles” (Bagatti, et al., p. 11). This author endeavored to restore the true account of the Assumption, which he alleged Leucius had “corrupted with an evil pen” (The Passing of the Holy Virgin, Prologue; J.K. Elliott, J.K., ed., The Apocryphal New Testament: A Collection of Apocryphal Christian Literature in an English Translation [Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1993], p. 708).
The early Church’s universal view of Mary as the New Eve — that she was incorrupt in body and soul — implicitly supports the Assumption. The anonymous Letter to Diognetus (c. 125 A.D.), for instance, refers to her as a Virgin that cannot be deceived. In fact, many ancient writers, most notably Saints Justin the Martyr (d. c. 165) and Irenaeus of Lyons (d. c. 202), contrasted Mary in her fidelity to Eve in her disobedience (see Dialogue with Trypho the Jew 100; Against Heresies 3:22:4, respectively). Saint Hippolytus of Rome (d. 235), a student of Irenaeus, compared Mary’s flesh to the “incorruptible timber” of the Ark (Commentary on Psalm 22 [23]; Theodoret of Cyr, First Dialogue). And the Sub Tuum Praesidium, a prayer composed in about 250, calls her “alone pure and alone blessed” (Luigi Gambero, Mary, p. 79).
Mary seems to foretell the conveyance of her body to heaven in Saint Ephraim the Syrian’s Hymns on the Nativity (ca. 350) with imagery that recalls Revelation 12:4. “The Babe that I carry has carried me …," she says. "He bent down His pinions and took and put me between His wings and soared into the air” (17:1). In 377, Saint Epiphanius of Salamis wrote, “How will holy Mary not possess the kingdom of heaven with her flesh, since she was not unchaste, nor dissolute, nor did she ever commit adultery, and since she never did anything wrong as far as fleshly actions are concerned, but remained stainless?” (Panárion 42:12). Some have suggested he could not have believed in the Assumption since he speaks here of Mary’s bodily entrance into heaven in the future tense. Yet he remarked later in the same document, “If she was slain, … then she obtained glory together with the martyrs, and her holy body … dwells among those who enjoy the repose of the blessed” (78:23; emphasis added). Speculating on her death, he went on to write:
[Either] she died or did not die, … she was buried or was not buried. … Scripture simply is silent, because of the greatness of the prodigy, in order not to strike the mind of man with excessive wonder. …
If the holy Virgin is dead and has been buried, surely her dormition happened with great honor; her end was most pure and crowned by virginity. … Or she continued to live. For, to God, it is not impossible to do whatever he wills; on the other hand, no one knows exactly what her end was (78:11, 23).
That Epiphanius did not know the details of Mary’s passing is perfectly understandable. Christians still do not know the details of it and it is likely the Apostles themselves did not know either, for her body was taken from within an enclosed tomb. In contrast to the Transitus account, in fact, which claims the Apostles witnessed Mary’s body being transported to heaven, there is a tradition that she died on January 18 (Tobi 21), but that her empty tomb was not discovered till 206 days later on August 15 (Mesore 16) (see Dom Capelle, Ephemerides Theologicae Lovanienses, 3 [1926], p. 38; M. R. James, The Apocryphal New Testament [1924], pp. 194-201).
Unlike other early writers, Epiphanius avoided inventing the details of the story for himself. Thus, while he did not know exactly what had taken place, he knew, in light of Mary’s perfect sanctity, that her passing had to have been miraculous — something that would “strike the mind of man with excessive wonder” — and that she could not have remained in the grave.
“[I]n the Apocalypse of John,” he noted, “we read that the dragon hurled himself at the woman who had given birth to a male child; but the wings of an eagle were given to the woman, and she flew into the desert, where the dragon could not reach her. This could have happened in Mary’s case (Rev. 12:13-14)” (Panárion 78:11).
At the start of the 5th century, or earlier, the Feast of the Commemoration of Mary — that is, the commemoration of her passing — was introduced into the Eastern Liturgy, placing it among the oldest of the Church’s official feast days. The Feast of the Nativity (i.e., Christ-mas), for example, was established in the early fourth century, during the reign of Constantine. The Feast of the Ascension was established in the 5th century, having originally been included in the Feast of Pentecost.
Around the year 400, Chrysippus of Jerusalem, commenting on Psalm 132, wrote, “The truly royal Ark, the most precious Ark, was the ever-Virgin Theotokos; the Ark which received the treasure of all sanctification” (On Psalm 132). In about 437, Saint Quodvultdeus identified the Woman in Revelation 12 as the Blessed Virgin, noting, “Let none of you ignore [the fact] that the dragon [in the Apocalypse of the apostle John] is the devil; know that the virgin signifies Mary, the chaste one, who gave birth to our chaste head” (Third Homily On the Creed 3:5). In about the middle of the 5th century, Saint Hesychius of Jerusalem wrote, “The Ark of thy sanctification, the Virgin theotokos surely. If thou art the pearl then she must be the Ark” (Homily on Holy Mary, Mother of God). Around 530, Oecumenius said of Revelation 12, “Rightly does the vision show her in heaven and not upon the earth, as pure in soul and body” (Commentary on the Apocalypse). Writing of the Assumption near the end of the 6th century, Saint Gregory of Tours (unlike Epiphanius) did not avoid the incidental details of the Transitus story. “And behold,” wrote Gregory, “again the Lord stood by [the Apostles]; the holy body [of Mary] having been received, He commanded that it be taken in a cloud into paradise” (Eight Books of Miracles 1:4).
Read more about the Assumption in the Catechism of the Catholic Church.