Abbey-Roads2

Solemnity.

In the Eastern Church, this feast is called, The Dormition of the Mother of God - which means the “falling asleep” of the Mother of God.  Tradition has it that Our Lady passed from this life as in ecstasy, or an intense sleep.  Some believe she never died like the rest of us.  I can’t imagine Our Lady would have wanted that however, to have missed out on what her own divine Son experienced.  We will not know for certain until we get to heaven ourselves. 

Few Latin rite Catholics may realize that the Roman Church celebrates the Dormition as well, that feast is observed in the old calendar on August 13th, and 3 days later, the feast of the Assumption is solemnly celebrated.  The Church has never officially said the Blessed Virgin never died - what the Church has declared and defined  is that the Holy Mother of God was assumed -  raised bodily  - into heaven, since the Lord “would not allow decay to touch her body.” (Preface)  Thus, “She who bore Christ in her womb was raised body and soul to be with him in heaven.” (Collect)  There (she) “the queen takes her place at Christ’s right hand” in glory (Psalm 45).  In heaven Our Lady is the “beginning and the pattern of the Church in its perfection, and a sign of hope for (God’s) people on their pilgrim way.” (Preface)

“…the departure of the soul of Our Lady is not termed a “death” like that of other mortals, but rather a “dormition” — a “falling asleep in the Lord”, as the early Christians called it. (Cf. Acts 7:60) All writers on the subject are unanimous — it was Her supreme love for God, nothing else, which was its cause. Tradition affirms that She knew in advance that Her departure was at hand, and prepared with incredible fervor for the holy moment, when She would hear the voice of Her Son say: “Come to Your eternal repose, O blessed Mother: arise and come, You who are My Heart’s friend, the most beautiful of women. The winter is over, the springtime begins; come, My all-beautiful one, My beloved; there is no stain in You; I prefer Your perfumes to all others.” - Source

I too like to think Our Lady died in a rapture of love.  When we read the mystics on prayer, they often say that if the Lord did not end their ecstasies, many times they felt they would die of love, that the soul would leave their body.  They experienced intense pain and at the same time such ravishing love, their souls longed for death.  Certainly this could be something of what the Blessed Virgin’s dying of love must have been? 

Although I don’t know the manner of Our Lady’s dormition, it is with deep joy I confess that I certainly believe these and all the truths the Catholic Church teaches…

The dogma defined:

44. For which reason, after we have poured forth prayers of supplication again and again to God, and have invoked the light of the Spirit of Truth, for the glory of Almighty God who has lavished his special affection upon the Virgin Mary, for the honor of her Son, the immortal King of the Ages and the Victor over sin and death, for the increase of the glory of that same august Mother, and for the joy and exultation of the entire Church; 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. - Source

Henry Karlson also has a very good post on the subject here.