Episode Details

It's the Feast of Assumption of the Blessed Virgin, 1st Class, with the color of White. In this episode: the meditation: "Listening to God", today's news from the Church: "Bishop de Sivry Visits a Camp of the Eucharistic Crusade", and today's thought from the Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre. Have feedback or questions about the DD or our other shows? podcast@sspx.org

Sources Used Today:

• "Listening to God" — From Trinity Sunday to the Assumption
  • https://angeluspress.org/products/from-trinity-sunday-to-the-assumption
  
  
• "Bishop de Sivry Visits a Camp of the Eucharistic Crusade" (FSSPX.news)
  • https://fsspx.news/en/news/bishop-sivry-visits-camp-eucharistic-crusade-60496
  
  
• The Spiritual Life — Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre (Angelus Press)
  • https://angeluspress.org/products/spiritual-life-archbishop
  
  

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The History of the Feast of the Assumption of Mary

The Feast of the Assumption may feel like one of those celebrations that has simply always been on the Catholic calendar. And in a sense, it almost has. Christians were celebrating the end of Our Lady's earthly life many centuries before the Church formally defined the Assumption as a dogma.

The earliest celebrations developed in the Christian East. By the fifth and sixth centuries, August 15 was associated with a feast commemorating Mary's death, or "Dormition," meaning her falling asleep. The emperor Maurice helped establish August 15 throughout the Byzantine Empire, and the feast gradually became one of the great celebrations of Eastern Christianity.

But here's where the history gets interesting.

Christians possessed tombs and relics associated with countless Apostles and martyrs. Yet there was no universally accepted shrine claiming to possess the body of the Blessed Virgin. Ancient traditions instead spoke of Mary's tomb being found empty after her death, because God had taken her body into heaven.

Those traditions spread westward.

By the seventh century, the feast was being celebrated in Rome. Pope Sergius I included it among the great Marian feasts marked by a solemn procession through the city. Over time, Western Christians increasingly called it the Assumption, emphasizing that Mary had been taken body and soul into heavenly glory.

Medieval Europe absolutely embraced the feast.

August 15 b