Today in our Church we celebrate the feast day known as the Assumption. It is a Catholic dogma that Mary, at the end of her earthly life, was taken body and soul into heaven.
While believed down the ages, this dogma was defined by Pope Pius XII on 1 November 1950 in his apostolic constitution “Munificentissimus Deus”.
Some readers of this page may be older than the formal declaration of the dogma.
Many people read this dogma as saying Mary never died. The dogma does not say this.
Orthodox spirituality has another name for this feast day: the Dormition of the Most Holy Theotokos. Literally, “the falling asleep of the Mother of God”.
The Musée de Cluny (‘Cluny Museum – National Museum of the Middle Ages’), in Paris, is a museum dedicated to the art of the Middle Ages.
One of its collection pieces is a 10th- to early 11th-century ivory plaque of the Dormition of the Virgin, apparently originating in what was then Constantinople (today known as Istanbul, Turkey).
The plaque shows the apostles gathered around a funeral bier. The Virgin Mary lies on the bier.
There is a sadness in the faces of the apostles.
One clings dearly to the feet of the Virgin – how often do we witness a similar scene at funerals? Family members gather around a casket, some with their hands touching the lid or sides.
Another of the apostles swings an incense burner – again, an action all too familiar from our own funeral rituals.
Did Mary die? Does it matter?