REASONS FOR THE ASSUMPTION

Ancient belief in the Assumption was based on the Christian conviction that Christ willed his holy Mother to participate in all his prerogatives. Therefore he associated her in his own glorification by an anticipated resurrection.

The corruption of the grave is a punishment for sin (Gen. 3:19). Our flesh is a "flesh of sin" (Rom. 8:3). Through the desires of this flesh the majority of our sins are committed. In Mary, however, there is not the slightest stain of sin. By her Immaculate Conception and fulness of grace she was entitled to immunity from corruption in her body. The principle of corruption which we bear within us did not exist in her. "Flesh and blood," says the Bible, "cannot possess the kingdom of God" (I Cor. 15:15). Even the bodies of the saints do not deserve to enter the kingdom of God. They must first be renewed by the hand of God. But Mary's body — Immaculate, pure, sinless — is consequently incorruptible.

From the first moment of her conception the state of the Blessed Virgin Mary was analogous, but superior, to the state of Adam and Eve before the Fall. Had they not sinned they would not have heard the divine malediction: "Dust thou art, and unto dust thou shalt return" (Gen. 3,19). Doesn't justice therefore demand that Mary be preserved from a malediction never merited by her?

Mary's Immaculate Body was, in a sense, the origin of sanctification of all mankind. Her flesh was used to form the flesh of her Son; the flesh which he used on the Cross to destroy death and sin, and which he gave to us that we might rise from the dead. Was this flesh, Mary's flesh, Christ's flesh, the instrument of our redemption and resurrection, to be subject to the corruption of the grave?

"The womb that bore Jesus Christ, the hands that caressed him, the arms that embraced him, the breasts that nourished him, the heart that so loved him — it is impossible to think that these crumbled into dust" (Father Canice, OFM Cap.).

Christ's perfect victory over Satan included victory over sin and death. But Mary, the Mother of God, was most intimately associated with Jesus in his victory over Satan. She not only furnished the flesh which Christ sacrificed for our Redemption, but she also had a definite role of cooperation in this Redemption. She was associated with him in the different parts of his triumph. Hence she was associated with him in his victory over death by her anticipated resurrection and Assumption. This argument is used by Pope Pius IX in the Bull Ineffabilis Deus.

In the virginal conception and birth of his Son, God performed an absolutely unique miracle. This miracle was an act of divine respect for the flesh of the Mother of God. Against all the laws of nature he preserved the corporal integrity of his Mother. Would he later allow that Immaculate flesh to suffer the immeasurably greater lesion of the corruption of the grave?

It is a basic principle of Catholic teaching that all the prerogatives and glories of Mary are because of Jesus Christ. His divine dignity presupposes and demands such perfection in his Mother. The flesh of Mary was the Flesh of Christ; and Christ owed it to himself to preserve from dissolution the body that had served to form his own Body. Mary's body, like her soul, had to be sinless and undefiled. The humiliation of the Mother would have been the humiliation of the Son.

AUGUST 15:Assumption of our lady

      Although defined as an article of faith by Pope Pius XII as recently as 1950, the Assumption of Our Lady into heaven had been accepted as true from the earliest years of Christianity's existence.

There was a solid and deep-rooted conviction among the first Christians that something extraordinary had happened to Our Lady at the moment of her departure from this life. This found expression in writings, sermons, devotional practices, and prayers to Mary "assumed into heaven", with churches, religious orders, cities and nations dedicated or consecrated to her under the title of Assumption.

     While the human remains and final resting places of key figures like St Peter or St Paul would become shrines and centres of pilgrimage, in the case of the Blessed Mother of Jesus - the most honoured figure of all besides Our Lord Himself - there is no known final resting place, no relics to venerate.

It is true that belief in the Assumption - not specifically mentioned in the Scriptures - gains theological support from other truths of faith such as Mary's Immaculate Conception, her perpetual virginity and her perfect and intimate association with Christ.

    Since Mary in the Bible is called the mother of Jesus, her cousin Elizabeth describing her as "the mother of my Saviour", and since her Son was God, the second person of the Holy Trinity, it followed she was the Mother of God. It would therefore have been unfitting for the earthly remains of such an exalted figure to see corruption.

But for many Catholics, the most telling verification of the Assumption can be found, not so much in learned theological treatises or definitive doctrinal statements, however necessary these are, but per medium of Mary's many apparitions which the Church has declared worthy of belief - Guadaloupe, Lourdes, Fatima, and others.

   These appearances of Our Lady in a glorified body themselves have lent strong - if indirect - support to the reality of the Assumption.

INFRASTRUCTURE OF PUTHUKKADAI ASSUMPTION OF OUR LADY

Welcome to the Official Our Lady of the Assumption Web Site.

Welcome to the official site for Our Lady of the Assumption church, a Roman Catholic parish of theDiocese of kottar. We are located in beautiful R.C.street puthukkadai, a city in the puthukkadai,kanyakumari dist. This site is dedicated to providing information for parishioners and anyone seeking more information about our wonderful parish.

THE FACT OF ASSUMPTION

           Regarding the day, year, and manner of Our Lady's death, nothing certain is known. The earliest known literary reference to the Assumption is found in the Greek work De Obitu S. Dominae. Catholic faith, however, has always derived our knowledge of the mysteryfrom Apostolic Tradition. Epiphanius (d. 403) acknowledged that he knew nothing definite about it (Haer., lxxix, 11). The dates assigned for it vary between three and fifteen years after Christ's Ascension. Two cities claim to be the place of her departure: Jerusalem andEphesus. Common consent favours Jerusalem, where her tomb is shown; but some argue in favour of Ephesus. The first six centuries did not know of the tomb of Mary at Jerusalem.
The belief in the corporeal assumption of Mary is founded on the apocryphal treatise De Obitu S. Dominae, bearing the name of St. John, which belongs however to the fourth or fifth century. It is also found in the book De Transitu Virginis, falsely ascribed to St. Melito of Sardis, and in a spurious letter attributed to St. Denis the Areopagite. If we consult genuine writings in the East, it is mentioned in thesermons of St. Andrew of Crete, St. John Damascene, St. Modestus of Jerusalem and others. In the West, St. Gregory of Tours (De gloria mart., I, iv) mentions it first. The sermons of St. Jerome and St. Augustine for this feast, however, are spurious. St. John of Damascus(P.G., I, 96) thus formulates the tradition of the Church of Jerusalem:

St. Juvenal, Bishop of Jerusalem, at the Council of Chalcedon (451), made known to the Emperor Marcian and Pulcheria, who wished to possess the body of the Mother of God, that Mary died in the presence of all the Apostles, but that her tomb, when opened, upon the request of St. Thomas, was found empty; wherefrom the Apostles concluded that the body was taken up toheaven.

Today, the belief in the corporeal assumption of Mary is universal in the East and in the West; according to Benedict XIV (De Festis B.V.M., I, viii, 18) it is a probable opinion, which to deny were impious and blasphemous.

20.04.2010 NEWS OF DINAMALAR

         ஆசீர்வசிப்பது போல் மாறியது கை : நம்பிக்கையில் அலைமோதும் மக்கள் கூட்டம் : புதுக்கடையில் பரபரப்பு
புதுக்கடை: புதுக்கடை தூய விண்ணக அன்னை ஆலய சொரூபத்தில் இருந்த குழந்தை ஏசுவின் கை ஆசீர்வசிப்பது போல் திடீரென்று மாறியதால் மக்கள் கூட்டம் அலைமோதுகிறது. புதுக்கடை அருகே தூய விண்ணக அன்னை ஆலயம் உள்ளது. இந்த ஆலயம் மிகவும் பழமையானது. இந்த ஆலயத்தில் கடந்த 11ம் தேதி பிஷப் பீட்டர் ரெமிஜியூஸ் மேரிமாதாவுடன் கூடிய குழந்தை ஏசு சொரூபத்தை அர்ச்சித்து திறந்து வைத்தார். அர்ச்சிப்பின் போது குழந்தை ஏசுவின் கை மடங்கி இருந்ததாக கூறுகின்றனர். பின்னர் திடீரென இந்த கை பக்தர்களை ஆசீர்வதிப்பது போல உயர்ந்துள்ளது. இந்த அதிசயத்தை நேற்று முன்தினம் மாலை சிலர் பார்த்துள்ளனர். உடனே இவர்கள் தங்கள் உறவினர்களிடமும், நண்பர்களிடமும் கூறியுள்ளனர். அதிசய சொரூபத்தை நூற்றுக்கணக்கானோர் பார்வையிட்டு செல்கின்றனர். இது குறித்து புதுக்கடை தூய விண்ணக அன்னை ஆலய பங்குத்தந்தை இன்னசென்ட் அடிகளார் கூறியதாவது: கடந்த 1700ம் ஆண்டு புதுக்கடையில் சர்ச் கட்டப்பட்டது. பின்னர் அதை இடித்துவிட்டு 1846ம் ஆண்டு புதிய  ர்ச் கட்டப்பட்டது. 1911ம் ஆண்டு இந்த வளாகத்தில் தூய விண்ணக அன்னை ஆலயம் கட்டப்பட்டது. இந்த ஆலயம் கட்டி கடந்த 11ம் தேதி நூறு ஆண்டுகள் ஆனது. இதை நினைவு கூரும் விதத்தில் செங்கோல் மார்க் கெபி நிறுவப்பட்டது. இந்த கெபியில் குழந்தை ஏசுவுடன் கூடிய மேரிமாதா சொரூபம் அர்ச்சிக்கப்பட்டது. அர்ச்சிப்பின் போது குழந்தை ஏசுவின் கை மடங்கி இருந்தது. தற்பொழுது கை ஆசீர்வசிப்பது போல் உயர்ந்துள்ளது. இவ்வாறு இன்னசென்ட் அடிகளார் கூறினார்.

CATHOLIC TEACHING

In this dogmatic statement, the phrase "having completed the course of her earthly life," leaves open the question of whether the Virgin Mary died before her assumption or whether she was assumed before death; both possibilities are allowed. Mary's assumption is said to have been a divine gift to her as the 'Mother of God'.                                                                                                                                                        Ludwig Ott's view is that, as Mary completed her life as a shining example to the human race, the perspective of the gift of assumption is offered to the whole human race.

In Ludwig Ott's Fundamentals of Catholic Dogma he states that "the fact of her death is almost generally accepted by the Fathers and Theologians, and is expressly affirmed in the Liturgy of the Church", to which he adduces a number of helpful citations, and concludes that "for Mary, death, in consequence of her freedom from original sin and from personal sin, was not a consequence of punishment of sin. However, it seems fitting that Mary's body, which was by nature mortal, should be, in conformity with that of her Divine Son, subject to the general law of death". The point of her bodily death has not been infallibly defined, and many believe that she did not die at all, but was assumed directly into Heaven. The dogmatic definition within the Apostolic ConstitutionMunificentissimus Deus which, according to Roman Catholic dogma, infallibly proclaims the doctrine of the Assumption leaves open the question whether, in connection with her departure, Mary underwent bodily death; that is, it does not dogmatically define the point one way or the other, as shown by the words "having completed the course of her earthly life".

On November 1, 1950, Pope Pius XII solemnly declared:

By the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, of the Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul, and by our own authority, 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

Roman Catholic theologians consider this declaration by Pius XII to be an ex cathedra use of Papal Infallibility.^[17][18] Although Pope Pius XII deliberately left open the question of whether Mary died before her Assumption, the more common teaching of the early Fathers is that she did.

MARY'S BIRTHDAY

The Assumption is important to many Catholic and Orthodox Christians as the Virgin Mary's heavenly birthday (the day that Mary was received into Heaven). Her acceptance into the glory of Heaven is seen by them as the symbol of the promise made by Jesus to all enduring Christians that they too will be received into paradise. The Assumption of Mary is symbolised in the Fleur-de-lys Madonna.

The present Italian name of the holiday, "Ferragosto", may derive from the Latin name, Feriae Augusti ("Holidays of the Emperor Augustus"), since the month of August took its name from the emperor. The Solemnity of the Assumption on August 15 was celebrated in the eastern Church from the 6th Century. The Catholic Church adopted this date as a Holy Day of Obligation to commemorate the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the real physical elevation of her sinless soul and incorrupt body into Heaven.

The Solemnity of the Assumption on August 15 is a public holiday in many countries, including Andorra, Austria, Belgium, Bosnia, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chile, Republic of Congo, Côte d'Ivoire, Croatia, Colombia, Cyprus, East Timor, France, Gabon, Greece, Republic of Guinea, Haiti, Italy, Lebanon, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Republic of Macedonia, Madagascar, Malta, Mauritius, Republic of Moldova, Monaco, Paraguay, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Rwanda, Senegal, Seychelles, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, Tahiti, Togo, and Vanuatu. It is also a holiday in some predominantly Catholic states of Germany, including Bavaria and Saarland. In Guatemala it is observed in Guatemala City and in the town of Santa Maria Nebaj, both of which claim her as their patron saint. Also, this day is combined with Mother's Day in Costa Rica. In many places, religious parades and popular festivals are held to celebrate this day. Prominent Catholic and Orthodox countries in which Assumption day is an important festival but is not recognized by the state as a public holiday include Argentina, Brazil, Czech Republic, Ireland, Mexico, the Philippines and Russia. In Canada, Assumption Day is the Fête Nationale of the Acadians, of whom she is the patron saint. Businesses close on that day in heavily francophone parts of New Brunswick, Canada. The Virgin Assumed in Heaven is also patroness of the Maltese Islands and her feast, celebrated on 15 August, apart from being a public holiday in Malta is also celebrated with great solemnity in all the local churches especially in the seven localities known as the Seba' Santa Marijiet. In Anglicanism and Lutheranism, the feast is kept, but without official use of the word "Assumption".