The Assumption of Mary

Unlike the other saints who’s bodies will not join their souls in Heaven until the Second Coming of Jesus, the Blessed Virgin Mary’s body was immediately taken up into Heaven along with her soul at the end of her existence on Earth.

Unlike Jesus who ascended into Heaven by his own divine power, Mary was assumed into Heaven by the power of God.

The Eastern Catholic and Orthodox Churches refer to this event as the Dormition of Mary or the Dormition of the Virgin.

No church or other holy place claims to possess Mary’s body and no grave or tomb exists that contains her remains.

Although the Catholic Church has always believed and taught that the Immaculate Mother of God was assumed into Heaven, it was not infallibly defined as a dogma of the Church until 1950 by Pope Pius XII.

Catholics meditate on the Virgin Mary’s Assumption into Heaven as the fourth Glorious Mystery of the Holy Rosary.

The Church celebrates The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary on August 15 each year, a holy day of obligation for Catholics.

She was assumed into Heaven by her Son:

Mary’s body and soul were taken up into Heaven:

“Finally the Immaculate Virgin, preserved free from all stain of original sin, when the course of her earthly life was finished, 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 conformed to her Son, the Lord of lords and conqueror of sin and death.” The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin is a singular participation in her Son’s Resurrection and an anticipation of the resurrection of other Christians: In giving birth you kept your virginity; in your Dormition you did not leave the world, O Mother of God, but were joined to the source of Life. You conceived the living God and, by your prayers, will deliver our souls from death. . . . she is our Mother in the order of grace.
Catechism of the Catholic Church 966

God remembers his faithful:

Jesus will take all of those He loves into Heaven:

Mary’s Assumption into Heaven is proof of eternal life for humans:

Then God’s temple in Heaven was opened, and the ark of his covenant could be seen in the temple. There were flashes of lightning, rumblings, and peals of thunder, an earthquake, and a violent hailstorm. And a great portent appeared in Heaven, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.
Revelation 11:19-12:1

The Bible supports the traditional belief in the Assumption of Mary:

The Ark of the Covenant in Heaven:

Mary is an exception:

Hence the revered Mother of God, from all eternity joined in a hidden way with Jesus Christ in one and the same decree of predestination, immaculate in her conception, a most perfect virgin in her divine motherhood, the noble associate of the divine Redeemer who has won a complete triumph over sin and its consequences, finally obtained, as the supreme culmination of her privileges, that she should be preserved free from the corruption of the tomb and that, like her own Son, having overcome death, she might be taken up body and soul to the glory of Heaven where, as Queen, she sits in splendor at the right hand of her Son, the immortal King of the Ages.
Pope Pius XII, Munificentissimus Deus, November 1, 1950

Ancient tradition reveals the location of the Assumption of Mary: