"From now on, will all ages call me blessed." Luke 1:48-49
The Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary on 15 August commemorates Mary's bodily assumption into Heaven at the conclusion of her earthly life — a foretaste of our own bodily resurrection at the end of time.
“It was fitting that she, who had kept her virginity in childbirth, should keep her own body free from all corruption even after death," wrote St John Damascene in the 7-8th century.
"It was fitting that God’s Mother should possess what belongs to her Son, and that she should be honored by every creature as the Mother and the Handmaid of God.”
Our Lady's assumption into Heaven has been celebrated universally throughout the Catholic Church since the 6th century.
The Church's teaching on the Assumption was formally defined by Pope Pius XII on 1 November, 1950, when he exercised papal infallibility to declare:
"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."
So now you know! Have a great feast day! Our Lady, assumed into Heaven, pray for us.