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:

God remembers his faithful:

“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

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

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:

Mary is an exception:

The new Eve experiences now what we hope to experience later:

Yet, according to the general rule, God does not will to grant to the just the full effect of the victory over death until the end of time has come. And so it is that the bodies of even the just are corrupted after death, and only on the last day will they be joined, each to its own glorious soul. Now God has willed that the Blessed Virgin Mary should be exempted from this general rule. She, by an entirely unique privilege, completely overcame sin by her Immaculate Conception, and as a result she was not subject to the law of remaining in the corruption of the grave, and she did not have to wait until the end of time for the redemption of her body.
Pope Pius XII, Munificentissimus Deus , 1 November 1950

Praying in the very place that Mary was assumed into Heaven: