Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary

On August 15, the piety of the Catholic devotees honors the Feast of the Assumption.

This is holy day of obligation in the United States. It is the most ancient feast of Mary but its origin is unknown. The feast of Assumption completes God's work in Mary since it was not fitting that the flesh that had given life to God himself should ever undergo corruption. The Assumption is God's crowning of His work as Mary ends her earthly life and enters eternity. Mary had been taken up, body and soul, into heaven.

The Feast of Assumption is a dogma of the Faith declared by Pope Pius XII in 1950. The feast turns our eyes in that direction, where we will follow when our earthly life is over. The Assumption looks to eternity and gives us hope that we, too, will follow Our Lady when our life is ended

Source St. Michael Center for the BVM, Honolulu, HI Please visit their site and you can find Assumption Day traditions as well as other interesting articles on the Assumption.

"The Immaculate Mother of God, the ever-virgin Mary, having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heaven."

- Pope Pius XII, Munificentissimus Deus