The Liturgical Evolution of the Dogma of Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary

Abstract

This paper presents the evolution of Our Lady’s Assumption dogma in the context of the liturgy. It turns out that the process of formation of this article of faith was advancing in the East as well as in the West. There was an interesting change taking place in respect to the name of the feast which at the beginning was called “The Commemoration of Holy Mary” (“Memoria Sanctae Mariae”), then “The Dormition” (“dormitio”, “koimesis”) and finally “The Assumption” (“Assumptio”). The research for this article was made in Polish Theological literature publishes between 1950 (the solemn proclamation of the dogma) and 1965. It is clearly seen that the Mariologists’ views were deeply rooted in the Scripture and the Tradition of the Church. In addition to this, it must be said that the Polish Mariologists offered a very creative and original interpretation of the dogmatic material they worked with. They did not just study the documents but also presented some new solutions that were a valuable input into the development of the Mariological thought.