Did Mary Die?

Bulletin Q&A Article, published 10-1-23:

Did Mary physically die, or did she only “fall asleep”? What is Church teaching on this?

This is a difficult question to answer with certainty because there does not seem to be a definitive teaching on the matter. Let’s first look at what the Catechism of the Catholic Church has to say, or more correctly, not say. It quotes the Dogmatic Constitution of the Church from Vatican II:

“Finally the Immaculate Virgin, preserved free from all stain of original sin, when the course of her earthly life was finished, was taken up body and soul into heavenly glory, and exalted by the Lord as Queen over all things, so that she might be the more fully conformed to her Son, the Lord of lords and conqueror of sin and death.”

Most of the Western Fathers believed that Mary actually did die. In the East, the Byzantine Church celebrates the Feast of the Dormition on August 15th, when we celebrate the Assumption. Dormition literally means the process of falling asleep. However, to them the Dormition captures the death, resurrection, and glorification of Mary. St. Paul uses the expression falling asleep as a euphemism for death (1 Thes, 4:13), so the term dormition does not necessarily suggest that Mary did not die.

I looked up Pius XII’s Munificentissimus Deus, the apostolic constitution which defined the dogma of the Assumption in 1950. In the document, Pius XII references the thoughts of many of the Church fathers and concludes:

“Hence the revered Mother of God, from all eternity joined in a hidden way with Jesus Christ in one and the same decree of predestination, immaculate in her conception, a most perfect virgin in her divine motherhood, the noble associate of the divine Redeemer who has won a complete triumph over sin and its consequences, finally obtained, as the supreme culmination of her privileges, that she should be preserved free from the corruption of the tomb and that, like her own Son, having overcome death, she might be taken up body and soul to the glory of heaven where, as Queen, she sits in splendor at the right hand of her Son, the immortal King of the Ages.” That she overcame death implies that she died, and this seems to be the predominant, though not official, position within the Church.

John Paul II probably gives the clearest thoughts on the subject. He stated in an audience on June 25, 1997: “Pius XII, made no pronouncement on the question of Mary’s death. Nevertheless, Pius XII did not intend to deny the fact of her death, but merely did not judge it opportune to affirm solemnly the death of the Mother of God as a truth to be accepted by all believers. Some theologians have in fact maintained that the Blessed Virgin did not die and was immediately raised from earthly life to heavenly glory. However, this opinion was unknown until the 17th century, whereas a common tradition actually exists which sees Mary’s death as her entry into heavenly glory….It is true that in Revelation death is presented as a punishment for sin. However, the fact that the Church proclaims Mary free from original sin by a unique divine privilege does not lead to the conclusion that she also received physical immortality. The Mother is not superior to the Son who underwent death, giving it a new meaning and changing it into a means of salvation.”

As John Paul II states, that Mary died is not a truth that has to be accepted by all believers. But what has to be accepted is that her body did not undergo corruption in the tomb. She did not suffer the consequence of original sin that God gave to mankind: “For you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” This is affirmed in the preface for our Assumption liturgy: “Rightly you would not allow her to see the corruption of the tomb since from her own body she marvelously brought forth your incarnate Son, the Author of all life.”

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