Mary & the Saints
The Assumption of Mary
At the end of her earthly life, Mary was taken body and soul into heavenly glory, a fitting anticipation of the resurrection promised to all believers.
Catholic teaching
As the one who bore the Author of Life in her own body, Mary was preserved from bodily corruption and assumed into heaven, sharing already in the glory her Son promises to all the redeemed. The Assumption does not claim she did not experience death, but that she was not left to bodily decay.
Biblical foundation
Revelation's vision of 'a woman clothed with the sun' crowned with twelve stars has long been read by the Church, alongside its primary ecclesial sense, as pointing to Mary's heavenly glorification. Psalm 132 speaks of the ark of God's presence, a type of Mary, 'arising to his resting place.'
Scripture references
Historical evidence
No city ever claimed to possess Mary's bodily relics, unlike the veneration of relics of virtually every other major saint, an eloquent negative witness alongside ancient feasts of her 'Dormition' celebrated in Jerusalem by the fifth century.
The Church Fathers
“It was fitting that she who preserved her virginity intact in giving birth should keep her own body free from all corruption even after death.”