A Dogma is an authoritative declaration or proclamation by the Church magisterium on a truth of our faith which every Catholic faithful is bound to accept and believe without question or doubt. Not all doctrines are dogmas, but all dogmas are doctrines.
Marian Dogma
Some of such formal declaration by the church are truths concerning the blessed Virgin Mary which is referred to as Marian dogma.
There are four of them
- Divine motherhood 431 ad
- Perpetual virginity 649 ad
- Immaculate conception 1854.
- Assumption into heaven 1950.
Assumption into heaven.
In 1950, Pope Pius XII defined the dogma of Assumption thus, that Mary was taken up body and soul at the end of her earthly life.
Technically speaking the question of whether Mary died before her assumption into heaven is still open. Some theologians have held that she did not die while many more hold that she did.
Pope Pius XII did not settle the question but deliberately left it open.
permit me to quote him verbatim “when the cause of her earthly life was finished (Mary) 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 conform to her son, the Lord of lords and conqueror of sin and death (munificentissimus deus)- meaning the most bountiful God, it is an apostolic Constitution written by Pope Pius XII.
However Catholic traditions, cult and archaeology agree on the point that Mary died. The account (Dormition) says that when Mary was about 60 years old she died (stories).
The relevance of the assumption to us is that it reminds us that salvation is holistic.
Written by MaryJustin Ukelere