Assumption of Mary

Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary
A famous treatment in Western art, Titian's Assumption, 1516–1518
Also called	The Assumption Falling Asleep of the Blessed Virgin Mary
Observed by	Roman Catholic Church (see calendar) Eastern Orthodox Church (see calendar) Oriental Orthodox Churches Church of the East
Type	Christian
Significance	The bodily taking up of Mary, the mother of Jesus into Heaven
Observances	Attending Mass or service
Date	15 August Sunday nearest to 15 August (Armenian Apostolic Church)[1]
Frequency	Annual

The Assumption of Mary is one of the four Marian dogmas of the Catholic Church. Pope Pius XII defined it on 1 November 1950 in his apostolic constitution Munificentissimus Deus as follows:

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.

— Pope Pius XII, Munificentissimus Deus, 1950^[2]

It leaves open the question of whether Mary died or whether she was raised to eternal life without bodily death.^[3]

The equivalent belief in the Eastern Christianity is the Dormition of the Mother of God or the "Falling Asleep of the Mother of God".

The word 'assumption' derives from the Latin word assūmptiō, meaning 'taking up'.

Pope Pius XII expressed in his encyclical Munificentissimus Deus the hope that the belief in the bodily assumption of the virgin Mary into heaven "will make our belief in our own resurrection stronger and render it more effective",^[4] while the Catechism of the Catholic Church adds: "The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin is a singular participation in her Son's Resurrection and an anticipation of the resurrection of other Christians."^[5]