Thursday, 15 August 2024

Assumption of Mary

The Assumption statue at Rabat, Gozo, Malta

A mid-summer solemnity is the one we celebrate today - that of the Assumption of the Blessed Mother, a dogma of faith that was proclaimed by Pope Pius XII on November 1st, 1950. In his encyclical “Munificentissimus Deus” the Pope solemnly declared, “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.” More than half the parishes in Malta are dedicated to the Blessed Mother, 10 of them precisely to the Assumption, and today, processions are held in each of them. Devotion to the Blessed Mother has always been strong in Malta, and as early as 1575, there were 92 churches dedicated to Mary, and many more have increased over the years.

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