What was the Assumption of the Virgin Mary like?

On the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, the Church rejoices to contemplate the glorious mystery of her who, assumed into heaven body and soul, precedes us as Mother and model of faith.

This holy day invites us to reflect on the fullness of grace with which Mary was blessed from the moment of her conception, and how her earthly life culminated in her Assumption into heavenly glory, where she constantly intercedes for us before her Son, Jesus Christ.

In this article, we will explore the Church in which, according to the tradition of the Christian Church, the Assumption of the Virgin Mary is believed to have occurred, and also how this event was related by Blessed Anne Catherine Emmerich.

Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary

• Dormition Abbey of the Blessed Virgin Mary

By Andrew Shiva / Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=40997053

The Dormition Abbey of the Virgin Mary, located on Mount Sion in Jerusalem, is a place of deep devotion for Catholics, marked by the mystery of the Assumption of the Virgin.

In this holy place, the Church reverently remembers the moment when the Virgin Mary was taken to heaven. This abbey, with its majestic Romanesque architecture, has an image of the Virgin in her dormition, which invites prayer and meditation on the love and promise of eternal life in Christ. It is a sacred site where the faithful can draw closer to Mary and feel her maternal intercession.

• For more information on this church, visit the Dormition Abbey website.
• Location: Next to Zion Gate in Jerusalem, Israel.

The Assumption of the Virgin Mary – visions of Blessed Catherine Emmerich

As Catherine of Emmerich recounts about her visions, ‘The Holy Virgin rested peacefully on her cot, the moment of her death seemed to have arrived. She was wrapped in a night dress and her veil was gathered square on her forehead, she only lowered it over her face when speaking to men. I saw her take nothing in the last days, except from time to time a spoonful of juice that the servant squeezed from certain yellow fruits arranged in clusters.’

When Our Lady knew that the hour was approaching, she wished, in conformity with the Will of God, to bless those who were present and to bid them farewell. Her bedroom was uncovered and she sat on the bed, her face white, resplendent and as if entirely illuminated.

All the attending friends were in the front part of the room. First, the Apostles entered, approaching one after another to Mary’s bedroom and kneeling beside her bed. She blessed each one of them, crossing her hands over their heads and lightly touching their foreheads.

She spoke to all and did everything Jesus had ordered her to do. She spoke to John about the arrangements he should make for her burial, and she instructed him to give her clothes to her servant and to another poor woman who used to come to serve her. After the Apostles, the disciples approached Mary’s bed and received her blessing, as did the women. I saw that one of them leaned over Mary and that the Virgin embraced her.

My open eyes that followed the most pure and immaculate soul of Mary saw her enter the Heavenly Jerusalem and reach the Throne of the Holy Trinity. I saw a great number of souls among which I recognized Saints Joachim and Anne, Joseph, Elizabeth, Zechariah, and John the Baptist coming to meet Mary with respectful joy.

She took her flight through them to the Throne of God and of His Son, who, shining upon everything else the light that came from His wounds, received her with an all Divine love, presented her as a scepter and showed her the Earth beneath His feet as if He were bestowing upon Her some Heavenly Power. Thus I saw her enter Glory and I forgot everything that was happening around Mary on earth.

After this vision, when I looked at the Earth again, I saw the body of the Blessed Virgin resplendent . It rested on the bed, with a luminous face, closed eyes, and arms crossed over her chest. The Apostles, disciples, and holy women were kneeling and praying around the body.

Then I saw the holy women spread a cloth over the Holy Body and the Apostles with the disciples withdrew to the front part of the house. The women covered themselves with their dresses and veils, sat on the floor, and either kneeling or sitting, sang funeral lamentations. The Apostles and disciples covered their heads with the band of cloth they wore around their neck and held a funeral service. Two of them always prayed alternately at the head and at the feet of the Holy Body.

Then the women removed the Holy Body with all its clothes from the bed and placed it in a long basket filled with thick blankets and mats, so that it was raised above the basket. Then two of them put a large cloth spread over the body and two others undressed her under the linen, leaving her only her long woolen tunic.

They also cut the beautiful curls from the hair of the Holy Virgin and kept them as a remembrance of her. Immediately the Holy Body was dressed in a new open robe and then by means of linens placed underneath, it was respectfully deposited on a table on which the mortuary cloths and the bands that were to be used had already been placed.

They then wrapped the Holy Body with the linens from the ankles to the chest and tightened it firmly with the bands. The head, hands, and feet were not wrapped in this manner. Then they placed the Holy Body in the coffin and placed on her chest a Crown of white, red, and sky-blue flowers, as an emblem of her Virginity.

MASAKO ISHIDA//GETTY IMAGES

Then the Apostles, the disciples and all the attendants, entered to see again before being covered the Holy Face that was so dear to them. They knelt and wept around the Holy Body, all touched the bound hands of Our Mother Mary as if to say goodbye and withdrew.

The women also bid her their final farewells, covered her face, put the lid on the coffin and nailed gray cloth bands in the center and at the ends. Then they placed the coffin on a bier, Peter and John carried it on their shoulders out of the house.

I believe that they took turns, because later I saw that the coffin was carried by six Apostles, and when they arrived at the tomb, they placed the Holy Body on the ground, and four of them carried it to the cavern and deposited it in the excavation that was to serve as a sepulchral bed. All the attendants entered there one by one, scattered scents and flowers around, knelt praying and shedding tears and then withdrew.

At night, many Apostles and holy women prayed and sang hymns in the small garden in front of the tomb. Then I was shown a wonderfully moving scene: I saw a very wide luminous path descending from heaven towards the sepulcher, and there moved a radiance formed of three spheres full of angels and blessed souls surrounding Our Lord and the resplendent Soul of Mary.

The figure of Jesus Christ with rays emanating from His scars, waved before the Virgin. Around Mary’s soul, I saw in the inner sphere, small figures of children, in the second, there were children about six years old, and in the third outer sphere, adolescents or young people. I only saw their faces distinctly; everything else appeared to me as luminous, radiant figures.

When this vision, which became clearer and clearer to me, had reached the tomb, I saw a luminous path extending from there to the Heavenly Jerusalem. Then the soul of the Blessed Virgin, following Jesus, descended into the tomb through the rock and then, uniting with her Body which had been transfigured, clear and bright, Mary rose accompanied by her Divine Son and the choir of Blessed Spirits towards the Heavenly Jerusalem. All that light was lost there, and I saw nothing more on Earth but the silent vault of the starry sky.

As Saint Thomas did not arrive in time to say goodbye to the Mother and could not attend the Holy Burial; he had in his mind and heart to arrive on time. But upon learning of the outcome from the other Apostles, he became sad and tearful and lamented not having arrived in time.

He inwardly had the fervent desire to see her one last time and so he let the others know. Several days had already passed since the burial; everyone wanted to return to the Sepulcher and grant Thomas’s request. They made a resolution and the next day, very early in the morning, they set out on the path to the Sepulcher of Our Holy Mother.

Standing in front of the Sepulcher, they removed the seal-stone from the entrance and Oh! Wonder of Wonders, a soft aroma of fresh roses came from the vault. They all felt moved and perplexed when they smelled that perfume; they looked at each other silently asking, with their eyes and with signs in their hands, “Shall we go in?” and still looking at each other, they all nodded their heads and passed through the vault.

They entered the Holy Sepulcher towards the place where they had deposited the coffin containing the Most Holy Body of the Virgin Mary, and even greater was the emotion and surprise among them when they saw that in the place there were only fresh, fragrant, and aromatic roses. They signified that the Lord had come to seek His Most Holy Mother to take her to His Celestial Glory and Her Body would not suffer corruption.

In the contemplation of Anne Catherine Emmerich’s visions, the Assumption of the Virgin Mary is presented to us as a mystery of faith that transcends the natural. Through her detailed narrative, we are witnesses to the Virgin’s unconditional love for her Son and her longing to join Him in eternity.