Did Mary Die?

The Dogma of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin has led many faithful Catholics to believe that Mary did not die but rather was taken up into heaven body and soul without death. But what does the Church teach? 

To begin, the Dogma of the Assumption in the Apostolic Constitution Munificentissimus Deus says this:

…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.

Note that Mary was assumed “having completed the course of her earthly life.” This does not mean that Mary died or did not die; it just means that after her earthly life had ended, she began to live a heavenly life. This is what all Catholics are bound to believe.

If this passage is read in isolation, it makes it seem like the Church is agnostic about whether Mary died or not; however, if the document is read in its entirety, we see passages like this:

[The ancient liturgies show] not only that the dead body of the Blessed Virgin Mary remained incorrupt, but that she gained a triumph out of death, her heavenly glorification after the example of her only begotten Son, Jesus Christ…

Venerable to us, O Lord, is the festivity of this day on which the holy Mother of God suffered temporal death, but still could not be kept down by the bonds of death, who has begotten your Son our Lord incarnate from herself.

It was fitting that she, who had kept her virginity intact in childbirth, should keep her own body free from all corruption even after death.

Many other quotes could be taken from the text to support the teaching that Mary died, but these suffice for now. 

Saint Thomas is also referenced in this document as one who believed Mary died before being assumed. He never addresses the assumption in depth, but he has this to say about Mary’s Assumption: 

Christ arose on the third day; but the resurrection of the others is put off until the end of the world, except for some who have been granted a special privilege, as the blessed Virgin…

The Church teaches that Mary died, and while one may believe the opposite and still be in good standing, Pope Pius XII (the author of Munificentissimus Deus) intends the faithful to believe that Mary died before her glorious Assumption. Anyone seeking to deepen their devotion to Mary should take twenty minutes to read this beautiful document.

Thanks for reading,

The Daily Thomist

Reference: 

https://www.vatican.va/content/pius-xii/en/apost_constitutions/documents/hf_p-xii_apc_19501101_munificentissimus-deus.html

https://aquinas.cc/la/en/~Credo.S5.18