De Assumptione Beatae Mariae Virginis [incertus]

On the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, One Book. By an Uncertain but Pious Author. Preface. A prayer for divine light to speak worthily. To the questions concerning the temporal dissolution and perpetual assumption of the Virgin and Mother of the Lord, about to answer what I understand, I, with a suppliant vow, beseech you, Almighty God the Father, who commands the clouds and they rain down showers, who touches the mountains and they smoke, who opens the earth and it brings forth, that you may command what I should say, provide what I should utter, open to what end I should direct my speech. For it is venerable to me, O Lord, and most reverend in my heart, to speak about the mother of your Son, and to occupy my tongue and words with her most holy body, who alone merited to receive God and man about to be born, having been made the throne of God and the hall of the eternal king, according to what you have taught us through your holy Patriarchs, Prophets, and Apostles, by figures and words: by which we have believed and are certain; because you have never deceived, you who know neither to be deceived nor to deceive, showing your Son, coeternal and consubstantial with you, to be incarnated, and incarnated through the virgin’s womb, from which he assumed flesh, who created all corporeal things together with you, author and ministratrix, and God made man from man; from her taking nature, not origin, your Holy Spirit sanctifying in her the human womb, and purifying and cleansing it for the conception of your Son, the effect of whose dignity and grace neither heart can conceive nor tongue can express.

For only such a conception and such a birth had been fitting for God, who had come to redeem those whom He had willed to create; to create especially by majesty, to redeem by humility: taking the nature of humility from a sanctified body, holy and immaculate from the immaculate. For the ineffable grace of sanctification, which He who was to be conceived provided, He did not remove when conceived and born. How much it availed in the Virgin’s body is known most fully only to Him who from her nature took the nature which He had created. Through whom I beseech You, Lord, because through Him You bestow all good things, which You choose to bestow, that You grant me to speak inoffensively concerning such great sanctity. Even if not the whole as it is—which is impossible for every human tongue—yet let that very part which is be spoken as it is. Therefore let it be most precious with true preciousness, most holy with certain holiness, most inestimable with most faithful truth. Because these things exceed human reason, may Your Spirit be present, who by His sacred breath may lead us into all the truth of what is to be said: so that, since we must speak of that body and soul which He Himself sanctified beyond natural use and upon which He conferred grace, He may not permit us to speak alien things, but proper ones: to the praise and glory of You, Almighty God the Father, and to the honor of Your Son born of the Virgin, and of the same Holy Spirit, God and our Lord, with whom is Your kingdom and dominion throughout all ages of ages. Amen.

CHAPTER ONE. The author, a lover of truth. In the Scriptures, some things are to be expounded in one way, others in another. Because the matters to be answered are most profound and lofty in their dignity, I beseech my reader to intercede for me, and if he recognizes anything fully stated by me, to be grateful for the gifts of God; but if otherwise, to bear with my humility; for although we have less ability, we nevertheless without doubt desire what is true. Therefore, undertaking to speak, as far as the Lord has granted, about the most holy body of the perpetual virgin Mary and the assumption of her sacred soul, we first say this: that in the divine Scriptures, after the Lord on the cross commended his mother to the disciple (John 19:27), so that chastity might be guarded by chaste services, nothing is found about her except what Luke records in the Acts of the Apostles, when he names them individually, saying: "All these were persevering unanimously in prayer with the women, and with Mary the mother of Jesus, and his brothers" (Acts 1:14). We say this because such great matters are to be treated more cautiously, as they cannot be clearly confirmed by the testimonies of particular authorities. But because Holy Scripture has left some things to be sought by the efforts of investigation, they are not to be considered superfluous when they have been revealed by true investigation. For the authority of truth is fruitful: and when it is diligently examined, it is known to generate from itself what it is.

Often, after careful examination, truth produces a fitting harmony, which it conceals under plain words; and often it insinuates itself through open statements, in which it invites us to seek nothing beyond what the words sound: as in, "Abraham begot Isaac, Isaac begot Jacob, Jacob begot Judah and his brothers" (Matthew 1:2), and other such things, in which only the literal sense is to be held. But some things it commends in such a way that it simultaneously suggests both the letter and the mystical meaning: as in the crossing of the Red Sea, the manna from heaven, the Tabernacle of God, and the Ark of the Covenant, where the prerogative of future figures—namely, the Baptism of Christ and the Church—was shown. Some things it presents only mystically, as when it says that God breathed into the face of Adam the breath of life, although He has no mouth for breathing, nor hands for working, even as the prophet says, "Your hands, Lord, have made and formed me" (Job 10:8). CHAPTER TWO. There are truths about which Scripture is silent, not reason. Among these is the Assumption of the Blessed Mary. There are also certain things which, although they are entirely omitted from mention, are nevertheless believed by true reason, to which the very fitness of the matter serves as a guide and forerunner of belief. For Scripture says nothing about the justice of Melchizedek, the priest of the Most High God, although it is known that the merits of such great praise preceded him. It commends nothing about the happiness of the life of Enoch and Elijah after they were taken up, although all clearly know that those whom the Lord wished to take from here and preserve for the future live blessedly.

What, then, is to be said about Mary’s death, what about her assumption, concerning which divine Scripture commends nothing, unless we are to seek by reason what agrees with truth; and does truth itself become authority, without which authority is necessarily of no avail? For, mindful of the human condition, we do not fear to say that she underwent temporal death, which certainly her own Son, who is both God and man, sustained by the law of the human lot: and this because a man was conceived and brought forth from her womb. CHAPTER III. Whether it is fitting that the body of the blessed Mary has been reduced to dust. It does not follow from Adam’s curse. But if we say that she is held by the bonds of death, and reduced to common decay, worms, and ashes, it must be weighed whether this is fitting for such great sanctity, for such a prerogative of God’s handmaid. For we know that it was said to the first parent, “Because you are dust, and to dust you shall return” (Gen. 3:19). But if this is said concerning death, it is a general sentence; if concerning reduction to dust, this condition the flesh of Christ taken from Mary’s flesh escaped, which did not undergo corruption. For concerning this it is written through the prophet David saying, “For you will not leave my soul in hell, nor will you give your holy one to see corruption” (Ps. 15:10). But concerning which saint this was said, the archangel revealed, who said to Mary, “And that which will be born from you holy, will be called the Son of God” (Luke 1:).

Truly holy, and holy of holies: whence also those things are called the Holy of Holies which preserved those things by which He was figured, who is truly and alone called the Holy of Holies. For this is He of whom the same archangel Gabriel speaks to Daniel among other things which he shows as future, saying, "And let the vision and prophecy be fulfilled, and let the Holy of Holies be anointed" (Dan. IX). For this Holy One did not see corruption, who on the third day returned from the dead, rising with triumph. His flesh, which was taken from Mary, although it died from weakness, revived by the power of God. But this He did, who could die when He wished, and could rise again when He wished. Therefore, the nature taken from the virgin is excepted from that general sentence. But if this does not suit Mary, it yet suits the Lily whom she bore. CHAPTER I, V. Mary free from the curse of Eve. After these things which were said to Adam, from which Mary's Son is excepted, those things which were also said to Eve are to be considered, whether they are general for all women, and whether Mary is excepted in some respect. For it is written, "God also said to the woman, 'I will multiply your hardships and your conceptions. In pain you will bear children, and you will be under the power of a man, and he himself will rule over you'" (Gen. III, 16). Mary endured hardship, whose soul the sword of Christ's passion pierced through (Luke).

But her conception did not multiply, nor did she live under the authority of a man, that is, a husband, she who received Christ from the Holy Spirit in her most pure womb, and remained a virgin with her virginity intact. Because she conceived him without the pollution of sin and without the detriment of male union, she gave birth without pain, and without violation of her integrity, she remained intact in the modesty of her virginity. For this He was able to effect through His mother, because God chose to be born of a human being in this way. Therefore Mary, even if she shares in the afflictions of Eve, does not share in giving birth with pain. For her singular holiness and singular grace, by which she was singularly deemed worthy of receiving God, merited this. Not undeservedly, therefore, is she excepted from certain general truths by a true estimation, which such great grace preserves and the prerogative of dignity exalts. For how great Christ’s power can be, the whole world shows; how great His grace, Mary’s integrity shows: which, just as it is different from nature, so it is different from common experience. What then, if in such great diversity we say that she underwent the death of the human lot, yet is not held by its bonds, she through whom God wished to be born and to share in the substance of flesh, would that be impious? For we know that Jesus can do all things, who says of Himself, “All power has been given to me in heaven and on earth” (Matthew 28:18).

CHAPTER V. It is to be believed that Christ honored his mother in this. Indeed, his own nature. The unity of grace with Christ. The special unity of Mary with Christ. Therefore, if he wished to preserve the integrity of his mother’s virginity with modesty, why would he not wish to keep her incorrupt from the foulness of decay? Let him speak who has known the mind of the Lord, and who was his counselor: Does it not pertain to the kindness of the Lord to preserve the honor of his mother, he who had come not to abolish the law, but to fulfill it (Matt. 5:17)? For just as the law commands the honor of a mother, so it condemns dishonor. For he who in life honored her above others by the grace of his conception, it is pious to believe that he honored her with a singular salvation in death and with a special grace. For he could have kept her free from decay and dust, he who, being born from her, could leave her a virgin. For decay and worms are the reproach of the human condition, from which reproach, since Jesus is alien, the nature of Mary is excepted, which Jesus is proved to have taken from her. For the flesh of Jesus is the flesh of Mary, and much more specially than that of Joseph the Jew and his other brothers, to whom he said, “He is our brother and our flesh” (Gen. 37:27). For the flesh of Christ, although it was magnified by the glory of the resurrection and glorified by a powerful ascension above all heavens, nevertheless the same nature of flesh remained and remains, which was taken from Mary.

For he himself is the one who was conceived, and born, and raised from the dead through the glory of the Father: as he indeed testifies after the resurrection, when he says to the Apostles, "See my hands and my feet, that I myself am he" (Luke 24:39). For what does "I myself am he" mean, except that I am not other than who I was when I suffered? This you can indeed recognize, who recognize the wounds of the nails in my hands and feet. Therefore, the same one ascended into the heavens, and the flesh which he received from his mother he carried beyond the stars: honoring all human nature, and much more his mother's. If, therefore, the son is the nature of the mother, it is fitting that she be also the mother of the son, not as pertains to equal administration, but as pertains to the same reciprocal substance: so that man from man, flesh from flesh, mother from son, son from mother, not to the unity of person, but to the unity of bodily nature and substance. For if grace can create unity without the property of a special nature, how much more where there is unity of grace, and a special birth of the body? For the unity of grace is that of the disciples in Christ, concerning whom he himself said, "Holy Father, keep them in your name: those whom you have given to me, I do not wish them to be one as we are.

And again concerning all the righteous: "I do not ask only for these, but also for those who will believe through their word in me, that all may be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you" — that is, that they may be through grace what we are through the nature of divinity. For if this unity of grace, which is preserved for all who believe in Christ, is not taken away even in the estimation of the less wise concerning Mary, how much more does the special character of nature itself, together with the unity of grace, make mother and son, son and mother, one? It must also be considered what he subsequently added concerning those whom he wished to be one with him through grace. For he says: "Holy Father, I want those whom you have given to me to be where I am, with me, so that they may see my glory which you have given me" (John 17:11, 20, etc.). What a great and inestimable good of God, who wishes to have his own with him in glory, so that they may enjoy his glory, who, joined to him here by their faith, are judged worthy to be one with him! If, therefore, he wishes to have them with him, and through this he, who can do all things, is just; what is to be thought concerning the Mother, where she is deemed worthy to be held, if not in the presence of the Son?

CHAPTER VI. Mary’s body already twofold in heaven. Therefore, as far as I can see, as far as I understand, as far as I believe, Mary’s soul enjoys the radiance of Christ and his glorious sights; ever thirsting to see and ever beholding, while it is ineffably nourished, she is honored by her Son with a certain more excellent and special prerogative: possessing in Christ her body which she bore, glorified at the right hand of the Father; and if not her body through which she bore, yet her body which she bore. And why not her body through which she bore? If no authority yet examined stands in the way, I truly believe also the body through which she bore; because such great sanctification is worthier of heaven than of earth. The throne of God, the bridal chamber of the Lord of heaven, the house and tabernacle of Christ, it is fitting that it be where he himself is. For so precious a treasure it is more fitting for heaven to keep than for earth; such great integrity is rightly followed by incorruptibility, not by any dissolution of decay. Therefore that most sacred body, from which Christ took flesh and united the divine nature with the human, not losing what it was but assuming what it was not, so that the Word became flesh, that is, God became man—that it should be given as food for worms, because I cannot bear to think it, I dread to say, to the common lot of decay and of future dust from worms. Concerning which, if I thought nothing more highly than about my own body, I would say nothing except as about my own.

That which without any ambiguity must be resolved into death, after death will be decay, after decay the worm, after the worm, as is fitting, the most abject dust. This does not seem credible concerning Mary, because the incomparable gift of grace thrusts such an estimation far away. CHAPTER VII. It is inferred from Christ’s petition for his servants. Angels served Christ on earth. The consideration of many things invites me to say this: among which indeed is that which Truth itself once said to its servants, “He who serves me, let him follow me; and where I am, there my servant will be” (John 12:26). For if this is the general sentence concerning all who serve Christ through faith and pious work, how much more and in what way does it apply specially to Mary? For that Mary was a minister to Christ by the exhibition of work and the most rigid truth of faith, everyone who is of sound mind understands. Without doubt, she was a minister by work, who bore him in her womb, and nourished and cherished him when he was brought forth in childbirth, and, as the Gospel says, laid him in a manger (Luke 2:7), and, fleeing from the face of Herod, hid him in Egypt (Matthew 2:13), and followed all his infancy with a mother’s affection; so that even up to the cross, on which she saw her son, already a perfect man, hanging, she undoubtedly did not withdraw from following him, not only with the steps of her feet as if out of reverence for the Lord, but also with the affection of imitation.

Mary, therefore, as the most devoted minister of Christ's special works in their qualities, was likewise without doubt a follower of religious faith and the charity of true belief. For she could not but be believing in his divinity, she who knew that she had conceived him not by male seed according to the order of nature, but by divine breath at the announcement of the Archangel; always seeing the attendance of ministering Angels with him, both when conceived and when born, when indeed there was with the Angel a multitude of the heavenly host crying out and saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men of good will" (Luke 2:14); and when he fled into Egypt, and when he returned from there again; by which she could clearly know that such services were fitting only for God. Whence also the announcement of the star, and the unexpected leading of the Magi from the most distant regions, were for her the greatest proof of the truth. Likewise the meeting of Simeon and Anna, unusual for others and special for her, by prophetic dignity. All of which Mary indeed preserved, strengthened in faith by all these things, she pondered with a pious heart; to such an extent that she was altogether not wavering, but certain of her son's power, as of the true power of God, when at the wedding feast the wine ran out she said, "They have no wine" (John 2:3), knowing plainly that he could do that which he soon happened to fulfill by divine miracle.

Behold, therefore, Mary, minister of Christ by faith and deed, and a devoted follower even unto his death, not more by step than by the affection of imitation, as must be believed: if she was not there where Christ wishes his ministers to be, where then will she be? And if she was there, was it with equal grace? And if with equal grace, where is the equal judgment of God, who renders to each according to his merits? If, therefore, grace was given to the living Mary above all, will it be diminished for the dead Mary? Far from it: because if the death of all the saints is precious, that of Mary is certainly most precious: whom such great grace attended that she is called and is the Mother of God. CHAPTER VIII. Christ could preserve Mary from corruption. He willed it, because it was fitting. Therefore, having considered all these things, and by true reason, I judge it must be confessed that Mary is in Christ, and with Christ; in Christ, because in him we live, move, and have our being; with Christ, assumed gloriously to the joys of eternity, received more honorably by the kindness of Christ than the rest, just as here grace honored her above the rest; and that she was not brought to the common humility after death, namely of putrefaction and worm and dust, she who bore her own and everyone's Savior: in whose power it is that not a hair from the head of the saints perishes, it is also in his power to preserve her whole in soul and body.

Of whose power, if no churchman doubts that He can preserve His mother incorrupt in perpetuity, why should it be doubted that He willed it, as pertains to the grace of such great benignity? If divine will alone, by grace, chose to preserve not only the bodies of children unharmed among the crackling flames of violent fires, but even their garments themselves unburned, why should He refuse in His own mother what He chose in another's garment? He willed to preserve Jonah incorrupt in the belly of the whale, contrary to natural use, by mercy alone (Jonah 2:1). Will He not preserve Mary incorrupt, contrary to nature, by grace? Daniel was preserved from the most ravenous hunger of lions (Daniel 6:22); shall Mary not be preserved, endowed with such great merits of dignities? All these things we have said because we do not know them preserving nature: in Mary's integrity we do not doubt that grace could do more than nature. For these things we speak are works of divinity; and therefore they are possible, because they are from omnipotence. Christ, moreover, is the Power of God and the Wisdom of God, to whom belong all things that are the Father's; all things that are His will are His; to will, however, all things that are just and worthy. And through this, Mary seems worthily to rejoice with ineffable joy in soul and body, in the...

first with her son, with her own son, through her own son, and that she ought to undergo no hardship of corruption, which no corruption of integrity followed when she bore so great a son: so that she may always be incorrupt, whom such great grace has suffused; may she live with integrity, who gave birth to the whole and perfect life of all; may she be with him whom she carried in her womb, may she be with him, she who bore, cherished, and nourished him, Mary the Mother of God, the Nurse of God, the Servant of God, and the Follower of God: concerning whom, as I have already said, because I dare not think otherwise, I presume not to speak otherwise. CHAPTER IX. With what intention the author has asserted the foregoing. Let your fraternal Charity therefore receive this understanding, according to what the Spirit of Christ has inspired. The matters have been shown in part, which have urged me to speak thus. But if anyone should choose to oppose these things, not wishing to say that Christ cannot do these things, let them show why it is not fitting for him to will, and thus that it is not so. And if they have truly manifested that they know the counsel of God concerning these things, I will begin to believe them, concerning matters about which I have not presumed to think otherwise: and I will marvel that they have investigated the depth of divine counsel, which I, with the Apostle, seem to owe reverent admiration, saying: the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God, how inscrutable are his judgments, and how unsearchable are his ways (Rom. 11:33). And because, according to the same apostle, we know in part, and we prophesy in part (1 Cor.

I have spoken about these matters, not as much as the subject deserves, but as I believed I ought to speak. If, therefore, what I have written is true, I thank you, O Christ, because I could not think of your holy Virgin mother anything other than what is pious and worthy. If, therefore, I have spoken as I ought, approve, O Christ, I beseech you, you and yours; but if I have not spoken as I ought, forgive, you and yours. Who with God the Father and the Holy Spirit live and reign through all ages of ages. Amen.