The Passing of Mary, Latin recension A

Transitus Mariae (recensio A) · Anonymous (Latin dormition narrative) · 5th-6th century · apocryphon

Latin · domain: latin-apocrypha · researched 2026-11-14

Why this is in the register

Tischendorf printed the earliest Latin dormition narrative as 'Transitus Mariae A' (editio princeps, pp. 113-138) in Apocalypses Apocryphae (Leipzig, 1866), together with 'Transitus Mariae B'; the contents list of the Olms reprint records both recensions (https://archive.org/details/apocalypsesapoc00perkgoog; https://hollis.harvard.edu/discovery/search?query=any,contains,Transitus%20Mariae&tab=Everything&search_scope=MyInst_and_CI&vid=01HVD_INST:HVD2&offset=0 English dormition narratives do exist — 'The Book of John concerning the Falling Asleep of Mary' (Ante-Nicene Fathers 8, p. 587) and 'The Passing of Mary' (p. 592) (https://archive.org/details/antenicenefather08buff) — and Elliott 1993 carries an appendix 'The Assumption of the Virgin' (https://hollis.harvard.edu/discovery/search?query=any,contains,Apocryphal%20New%20Testament%20Elliott&tab=Everything&search_scope=MyInst_and_CI&vid=01HVD_INST:HVD2&offset=0 but neither volume states which Latin recension it renders. Shoemaker's translation appendices in The Ancient Traditions of the Virgin Mary's Dormition and Assumption (Oxford, 2002) are confined to Ethiopic, Greek, Syriac and Coptic narratives (https://hollis.harvard.edu/discovery/search?query=any,contains,Ancient%20Traditions%20Virgin%20Mary%20Dormition%20Assumption%20Shoemaker&tab=Everything&search_scope=MyInst_and_CI&vid=01HVD_INST:HVD2&offset=0 No English translation of Tischendorf's Transitus A as such was located, so the Latin recension is at best partially served.

The Latin Transitus is the route by which the dormition story reached the West: it underlies the Assumption feast, the dormition iconography and the apocryphal material in the Golden Legend. English readers can reach one or two narratives in older collections but cannot read the oldest Latin recension as a continuous text or compare it with the Greek and Syriac forms.

Existing translations recorded

Electronic text

Scanned witnesses

Scan search: not checked. Not searched in the scan pass: this dossier was outside the 121-work scan target set.

Harvard Hollis

Hollis query: The Passing of Mary Latin recension — 0 record(s). No catalogue record was retrieved.

Sources checked

• https://archive.org/details/antenicenefather08buff
• https://archive.org/details/apocalypsesapoc00perkgoog
• HOLLIS search — Ancient Traditions Virgin Mary Dormition Assumption Shoemaker
• HOLLIS search — Apocryphal New Testament Elliott
• HOLLIS search — Transitus Mariae

Cite: Tergwame, “The Passing of Mary, Latin recension A” (latin gap dossier), 2026. https://naxiai.com/christian/gaps/latin-transitus-mariae-a