Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary – 15 August

Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary

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 12:1(NRSV)

This feast day celebrates the spiritual and physical departure of the mother of Jesus Christ from the earth, when both her soul and her body were taken into the presence of God.

The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary has been an unbroken consistent belief through the centuries. In 1950 Pope Pius XII (Pope 1939 – 1958) stated the belief: the Blessed Virgin Mary, “having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory.”                                      (Apostolic Constitution Munificentissimus Deus).

In his vision John sees a great woman clothed with the sun,
with the moon under her feet, and a crown of twelve stars.
There is much complex symbolism
but the woman may be recognised as a symbol
of the People of God, both Israel and the Church but,
more importantly, the Blessed Virgin Mary. (Rev 12. 1 – 6)

In St George’s one of the windows in the Lady Chapel depicts Mary in heaven.