The Assumption of Our Lady

The mystery of the Assumption of the noble Daughter of Zion is closely linked with the mystery of her eternal glory. The Mother of God is glorified as "Queen of the Universe." She who at the Annunciation called herself the "handmaid of the Lord," remained throughout her earthly life faithful to what this name expresses. In this she confirmed that she was a true "disciple" of Christ, who strongly emphasized that his mission was one of service: "the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many" (Mt 20:28). Mary became the first of those who, serving Christ also in others, with humility and patience lead their brothers and sisters to that King, to serve whom is to reign, and she fully obtained that "state of royal freedom" proper to Christ’s disciples (86).

The doctrine of Our Lady’s queenship is by no means new. In the Annunciation episode, the Angel Gabriel’s greeting ran "He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Most High: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end" (Lk 1:32-33). Our Lady’s queenship is thus seen as an association with Christ’s Kingship (87). Then, at the Visitation, Elizabeth used the words "Mother of my Lord" (Lk 1:43). The word Lord (Dominus in Latin and Kyrios in Greek) in this passage, as in the New Testament generally, connotes divinity and royalty, according to many modern scholars, and so Elizabeth greets Mary as Mother of God, Mother of the King (88). Already a fragment of a homily, attributed to Origen, contains this comment on the words Elizabeth spoke at the Visitation: "It is I who should have come to visit you, because you are blessed above all women, you are the Mother of my Lord, you are my Lady" (89). The text passes spontaneously from the expression "the Mother of my Lord" to the title, "my Lady."

Another line of understanding was also developed, stemming from the Annunciation account and other scriptural testimonies to the Kingship of Christ. This idea is in continuity with the Old Testament figure of the Queen Mother (90). Mary is described as Mother of the King, by St. Ephraem for example (+373), and by his contemporary St. Gregory Nazianzen, who speaks of the "Mother of the King of the entire universe" (91). Then an easy transition occurs from the expression "Mother of the King" to "Queen," and it appears for the first time, as far as surviving evidence goes, in the fourth century, again in the writings of St. Ephraem: "Imperial maiden and mistress, Queen, sovereign lady, take me under thy protection, guard me lest Satan, the author of destruction, rise up against me, lest the accursed enemy triumph over me" (92). Starting from the fifth century, almost in the same period in which the Council of Ephesus proclaims her "Mother of God," the title of Queen begins to be attributed to Mary. In this way, Mary is raised above all other creatures, exalting her role and importance in the life of every person and of the whole world. The expression "Lady," meaning sovereign, was later to become Queen, for example in St. John Damascene: "When she became Mother of the Creator, she truly became Queen of all creatures" (93).

With the dogma of the divine maternity of Mary, her perfect sanctity also emerged in clearer light, resulting in a fuller understanding within the Church of Mary’s pre-eminence and dignity. In the sixth and seventh centuries, explicit belief in the Assumption was universal, and Mary, in body and in soul, was envisaged as resplendent with the glory of the risen Savior. By the end of the patristic period the doctrine of the queenship is clearly established: a queenship especially of excellence and grace, but also a queenship of power, of intercession, protection, and patronage. This queenship was later to find artistic expression all over Europe in paintings and sculpture depicting the crowning of Mary by her Son. These ideas are greatly developed in the Middle Ages. One of the greatest proponents was Eadmer, the disciple of St. Anselm: "just as … God, by making all through his power, is Father and Lord of all, so the blessed Mary, by repairing all through her merits, is Mother and Queen of all; for God is the Lord of all things, because by his command he establishes each of them in its own nature, and Mary is the Queen of all things, because she restores each to its original dignity through the grace which she merited" (94).

Gradually, the concept of the mediation of graces assumed great prominence. Mary is Queen principally through her influence over her Son and the guidance of her children towards salvation. The Salve Regina and other antiphons expressed these ideas, and Mary is invoked as Queen of Mercy, whose prayers are all-powerful. Pope Pius XII, in his Encyclical Ad Caeli Reginam, indicated as the basis for Mary’s queenship in addition to her motherhood, her co-operation in the work of the redemption. The Pope recalls that Mary, Queen of heaven and Sovereign of the world, was first the sorrowing Mother near the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ (95). He then established an analogy between Mary and Christ, which helps us understand the significance of the Blessed Virgin’s royal status. Christ is King not only because he is Son of God, but also because he is the Redeemer; Mary is Queen not only because she is Mother of God, but also because, associated as the New Eve with the New Adam, she co-operated in the work of the redemption of the human race (96).

Mary, the handmaid of the Lord, has a share in the Kingdom of her Son. This arises from the fact that she co-operated in Christ’s obedience even at the cost of death. He was therefore raised up by the Father (cf. Phil 2:8-9) and entered into the glory of his kingdom. To him all things are made subject until he subjects himself and all created things to the Father, that God may be all in all (cf. 1 Cor 15:27-28). The glory of Mary’s royal service does not cease with her exaltation: assumed into heaven, she continues her saving service, expressed in her maternal mediation "until the eternal fulfillment of all the elect" (97). Thus, she who here on earth loyally preserved her union with her Son unto the Cross, continues to remain united with him, while all things are subjected to him, until he subjects himself to the Father who put all things in subjection under him (cf. 1 Cor 15:28). In her Assumption into heaven, Mary is, as it were, clothed by the whole reality of the Communion of Saints, and her very union with the Son in glory is wholly oriented towards the definitive fullness of the Kingdom, when "God will be all in all" (1 Cor 15:28).