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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