The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin is the dogma so far defined by the Church. The definition was made by Pope Pius XII on 1st November 1950. Though defined in recent times, belief in the Assumption existed in the Church from a very early era. Let us remind ourselves that dogmatic definition is the formal proclamation as an article of faith of an already existing belief.

The last mention of Our Lady in the New Testament is her presence with the apostles who were at prayer in the upper room at Jerusalem after Christ's ascension. "All these joined in continuous prayer together with several women, including Mary the mother of Jesus" (Acts 1:14). There is nothing in the New Testament about her later life. It well suited her humility (Luke 1:48) to fade away after her God-given task had been accomplished. We have to turn to tradition for information about her last days.

In the first place, there is no tradition regarding Mary's burial place. The early Christians were much concerned about the tombs of martyrs and other saintly men and women. Their remains were objects of veneration for them. If that was how they regarded the tomb of the saints, how much more would they have been concerned about the body of the mother of Christ and the place where it was interred. Her grave would have in fact frequently visited by the early Christians and eventually become a visited by the early Christians and eventually become a great shrine in Christendom. But tradition has no record of a tomb of the Blessed Virgin. We have to infer from this that her body did not remain in the tomb even if it had been buried.

Devotion to Our Lady existed quite early in the Church. The concept of Mother of God was formally upheld by the council of Ephesus (431) and the Council of Chalcedon (451). In the 5th century the Eastern Church was already celebrating, among other feasts of Our Lady, one called 'the Memorial of Mary' on August 15, corresponding to ' the birthday into heaven' of the martyrs. The feast eventually came to be known as the 'Dormition' (falling asleep) of Our Lady. In the 7th century Rome adopted the feast and in the following century the title 'Dormition' was replaced by 'Assumption' under Pope Adrian I (772-795). Among the fathers who have written on the Assumption is St John Damascene (c.675-750) who bears eloquent testimony to the doctrine. Of later saints who had a devotion to Our Lady of the Assumption was St. Anthony of Padua (13th century).

The traditional belief in the Assumption is obviously based on the reasoning that Mary who was called by divine design to the role of Mother of Christ, and therefore Mother of God, and was uniquely favoured with many graces and was free from the consequences of sin, would have therefore been freed from the corruption of the body. "Dust you are and to dust you shall return." (Gen. 3:19) was a consequence of sin.

Before the definition, Pope Pius XII issued an encyclical letter Deiparae Virginis asking his brother bishops and through them the clergy and laity to let him know their views regarding a definition. The response of the universal Church was overwhelmingly in favour of a definition It was clear that the common belief of the faithful was that Mary was bodily assumed into heaven. In the apostolic constitution Munificentissimus Deus defining Mary's bodily Assumption, the Pope proclaimed: "We pronounce, declare and define it to be a divinely revealed dogma that the Immaculate Mother of God, the ever Virgin Mary, having completed the course of her earthly life was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory." (Denzinger-Schonmetzer, 3903). The definition does not say whether or not Mary actually experienced death before her Assumption. It is clear that by using the phrase "having completed the course of her earthly life "the Pope was leaving the matter open, to be probed by theologians.

John Henry Newman proposed four points appealing to reason for the acceptance of the Assumption:

a. Mary's divine Son loved her too much to let her body remain in the grave.
b. Not only because of his love for her but also since she was transcendently holy and full of grace, unlike anyone else, he would have raised her bodily into heaven.
c. There is no mention in tradition of any tomb relating to Mary.
d. Since a servant of God like Elijah had been bodily raised to heaven (2 Kings 2:11) Christ would not have denied that privilege to his Mother who was far more worthy of it.