Beneath the San Diego sun, Iglesia Asuncion de Maria stands as a testament to faith and history. This church is dedicated to the Assumption of Mary. It is a belief held by Catholics and Orthodox Christians. According to tradition, Mary was taken body and soul into Heaven at the end of her life.
The Assumption is not the same as the Ascension. The Ascension refers to Jesus Christ’s ascent into Heaven. The Assumption of Mary is celebrated on August 15th. The Catholic Church has celebrated this feast since the 6th century in the East. Rome began celebrating it in the 7th century.
The New Testament lacks details about Mary’s life’s end. Epiphanius of Salamis admitted in the late 4th century that he found no reliable accounts of her death. He mentioned three beliefs. Mary either died peacefully, was martyred, or did not die at all. Epiphanius even compared Mary to Elijah. Elijah was assumed into heaven without dying.
Around 600 AD, Emperor Maurice established the Feast of the Assumption in the East. About fifty years later, it appeared in the West. Pope Sergius I decreed a procession for the feast around that time.
John Damascene cited the Historia Eutímica in a homily. He stated that Juvenal, Bishop of Jerusalem, told Emperor Marcian and his wife Pulqueria that Mary died among the Apostles at the Council of Chalcedon in 451 AD. When the Apostles opened her tomb at Saint Thomas’ request, they found it empty. They concluded that her body had been taken to Heaven.
The first official mention of the Assumption is in Eastern liturgy. In the 4th century, the feast of “The Memory of Mary” was celebrated. It commemorated Mary’s entrance into Heaven. By the 6th century, the feast was called the Dormitio or Koimesis of Mary. This celebrated the end of her earthly life and her Assumption into Heaven. The name changed from Dormition to Assumption in the 7th century.
The Greek work De Obitu S. Dominae from the 4th or 5th century contains the earliest known literary reference to the Assumption. Jerusalem and Ephesus both claim to be the event’s location.
The story continues with the apocryphal Liber Requiei Mariae from the 3rd or possibly 2nd century. It is the oldest narrative about Mary’s final days. Other ancient texts reference the Assumption. They include “The Great Discourse on the Dormition” and “The Apocryphon of the Dormition in Six Books.” This proves the existence of a cult dedicated to the Virgin nearly a century before the Council of Ephesus in 431.
According to one text, Mary was resurrected and assumed into heaven immediately after being buried. Jesus asked his apostles what they wanted him to do with her. Peter suggested that Mary’s body be resurrected and taken to Heaven. The apostles then placed her body in a tomb in Gethsemane. For three days, invisible angels praised Christ. After the third day, the voices disappeared. Everyone realized her body had been moved to Paradise.
The most popular of the “Assumption Gospels” is the Book of John about the Dormition of Mary. It is attributed to John the Theologian. These apocryphal writings influenced homilies and writings of Eastern speakers. The Catholic Church saw a theological basis in these stories.
The Dormition feast was established in Constantinople around 600 AD. About fifty years later, it was introduced to Rome. Pope Leo IV gave the feast a vigil and an octave. Pope Nicholas I equated it with Christmas and Easter. Pope Benedict XIV declared denying the Assumption impious and blasphemous.
In 1950, Pope Pius XII declared the Assumption of Mary a dogma of faith. Iglesia Asuncion de Maria stands as a beacon of this belief. It connects the faithful to centuries of tradition. It reminds us of Mary’s ascent to heavenly glory.