Assumption of Mary

The belief that Mary, mother of Jesus, was taken body and soul into heavenly glory at the end of her earthly life. The Catholic Church defines it as a dogma, without specifying whether she died first.

Mary, mother of Jesus: The Jewish woman of Nazareth identified in the New Testament as Jesus’s mother. The Assumption concerns Mary’s final destiny and place in Christian devotion.
Transitus Mariae: A family of early Christian narratives describing Mary’s death and passage from earthly life. These texts preserve some of the earliest written accounts of Mary’s bodily glorification.
Catholic dogma: A doctrine formally proposed by the Catholic Church as revealed truth binding on the faithful. The Assumption’s status as dogma distinguishes it from a private theological opinion.
Solemnity of the Assumption of Mary: A Catholic solemnity celebrated on August 15 in honor of Mary’s bodily assumption into heaven. This feast gives the doctrine its principal annual liturgical celebration.
Resurrection of the dead: The Christian belief that the dead will be raised to embodied life by God. The Assumption is understood as Mary’s bodily participation in heavenly glory.
Epiphanius of Salamis: A fourth-century bishop and theologian known for cataloguing Christian heresies. He noted uncertainty about Mary’s end, showing the belief was not yet uniformly settled.
Eastern Orthodox Church: A communion of self-governing Christian churches sharing Byzantine liturgical and theological traditions. Orthodox Christians affirm Mary’s Dormition and glorification without using the Catholic dogmatic definition.
Assumption of the Virgin (Titian): A 1518–1518 altarpiece by Titian depicting Mary’s ascent into heaven. Titian’s monumental painting made the Assumption a dramatic subject of Renaissance art.
Immaculate Conception: The Catholic doctrine that Mary was preserved from original sin from the first moment of her conception. Catholic teaching links this Marian dogma to the completion of Mary’s life in glory.
Feast of the Dormition: An Eastern Christian feast commemorating Mary’s death and her reception into heavenly glory. Its liturgical celebration helped establish the tradition that underlies the Assumption.

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