Munificentissimus DEUS of Pius XII
munificentissimo The God who can and all the provisions of which are made of providence and wisdom love, in its inscrutable reconciles the life of peoples and in the sorrows and joys of single men, so different ways and in different ways all things work together for good for those who love him (cf. Rom 8, 28).
Our pontificate, as well as the present age, is tormented by many cares, worries and anxieties, for these very serious disaster, and many of the aberration from truth and virtue, but there is a great comfort to see that , while the Catholic faith is manifested most publicly active, it switches every day devotion to the Virgin Mother of God, and almost anywhere and is stimulus hope of a better life and holier. To Thus, while the Blessed Virgin does loving mother to the office of the redeemed by the blood of Christ, the minds and hearts of the children are stimulated by greater commitment to a more loving contemplation of his privileges.
For God, who from all eternity watching the Virgin Mary, with particular fullest satisfaction, "when the fullness of time" (Gal 4, 4), implemented the plan of his providence in such a way that shine in perfect harmony with the privileges and prerogatives that with great liberality has bestowed on her. That if this amount of donations and harmony with the church were always recognized and better penetrate during centuries, in our time has been introduced without doubt in the light most privilege of the bodily assumption into heaven of the Virgin Mary Mother of God.
This privilege shone again radiance since our predecessor Pius IX, of immortal memory, solemnly defined the dogma of the Immaculate Conception of the August Mother of God These two privileges are in fact closely linked. Christ by His death conquered sin and death, and on one and the other is victorious in the power of Christ who has been supernaturally regenerated in baptism. But for general law to the just God will not give the full effect of this victory over death but when it come to an end of time. So too the bodies of the righteous after death dissolve, and only the last day be reunited each with its own glorious soul.
But from this general law of God would free the Blessed Virgin Mary. She totally singular privilege to have won the sin by her Immaculate Conception, so was not subject to the law to remain in the corruption of the tomb, nor did he have to wait for the redemption of his body at the end of the world.
unanimous vote
So when it was solemnly defined that the Virgin Mother of God Mary was immune blot inherited from its conception, the faithful were filled with a most sincere hope that as soon as it was defined by the supreme magisterium of the church is also the dogma of the bodily assumption into heaven of the Virgin Mary.
fact we saw not only an individual believer, but also representatives of nations or ecclesiastical provinces, and indeed many fathers of Vatican ask the Apostle home with live instances this definition.
Following these petitions and votes not only not diminished but increased day by day in number and insistence. In fact, for this purpose were promoted crusades of prayer, and many eminent theologians and intensified their studies on this subject, both in private and in public ecclesiastical universities and other schools for the teaching of sacred subjects, in many parts of the Catholic Marian congresses were held both domestic and international. All of these studies and put in more light in the deposit of faith entrusted to the church was also made of the dogma of the Virgin Mary into heaven, and generally followed with petitions asking earnestly to the Apostolic See that this truth was solemnly defined.
In this pious race, the faithful were admirably united with their pastors, who turned in impressive numbers very similar to this petition the Chair of St. Peter. So when we were elevated to the throne of the supreme pontificate were have already been submitted to the Apostolic See many thousands of such petitions from all parts of the earth and from every class of people: our beloved children of the Sacred College of Cardinals, Venerable Brothers the Archbishops and bishops from dioceses and parishes.
Wherefore, raising because infondesse ardent prayers to God in our minds the light of the Holy Spirit to decide such an important cause, bestow special orders because they were linked together and the forces were initiated more rigorous studies on this subject, and meanwhile it is collected and carefully balance all the petitions from the time of our predecessor Pius IX, of blessed memory, through the ages were sent to the Apostolic See on the assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary into heaven. ( 2)
The Magisterium of the Church
But because it was so important and serious thing, we should ask directly and officially to all the venerable brothers in the episcopate We openly express their thoughts. Therefore, on 1 May 1946 letter addressed to them [encyclical Deiparae Virginis Mariae , in which we asked, "If you, venerable brothers, magnanimous in your wisdom and prudence believe that the bodily Assumption of the Blessed Virgin you can propose and define as a dogma of faith, and if with your clergy and your people want it. "
Those that "the Holy Spirit has made you overseers to shepherd the church of God" (Acts 20, 28) have given an answer to one question each other and almost unanimously in the affirmative. This "remarkable consensus, the Catholic episcopate and faithful," ( 3) the view defined as a dogma of faith, the bodily assumption into heaven of the Mother of God, being the unanimous teaching of the ordinary magisterium of the church and the concordant faith of Christian people, and directly effected by it, to manifest itself in a certain and infallible that the privilege is truth revealed by God and contained in that divine deposit which Christ entrusted to his wife, for him to keep it faithfully and infallibly declared. ( 4) The teaching of the church, not for purely human industry, but for the assistance of the Spirit of truth (cf. Jn 14, 26), and therefore infallible, it fulfills its mandate to keep forever pure and intact the truths revealed, and forward without contamination, without additions, without the degradation. "In fact, as taught by the Vatican, to the successors of Peter was not promised the Holy Spirit, because, by his revelation, showing a new doctrine, but because, for his assistance, holds inviolable fidelity and exhibited with the revelation transmitted by the apostles, or the deposit of faith. " ( 5) Therefore, by universal consent of the ordinary magisterium of the church takes a certain and safe to say that the bodily Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary into heaven, - which, as the heavenly glorification of the virginal body of the 'revered Mother of God, could not be known by any human faculty by his own natural forces is the truth revealed by God, and therefore all the children of the church should believe firmly and faithfully. Since, as the same Vatican Council teaches, "must believed to be divine and catholic faith all those things which are contained in the word of God written or handed down orally or by its ordinary and universal magisterium, proposes for belief as being divinely revealed. " ( 6)
of this common faith of the church had since ancient times down through the centuries, various witnesses, clues and traces, and indeed that faith is left showing ever more clearly.
The faithful, guided and instructed by their pastors, but they learned from the s. Write to the Virgin Mary, during his earthly pilgrimage, led a life full of anxiety, anguish and pain that came true this that the holy old man Simeon had foretold, because un'acutissima sword pierced his heart at the foot of the cross of her divine Son, our Redeemer. Also found no difficulty in admitting that Mary is dead, as his only begotten Son. But this did not prevent them from believing and professing openly that it was not subject to the corruption of the tomb and that his sacred body was not reduced to ashes and decay in the August shrine of the Divine Word. Rather, enlightened by divine grace and urged on by the woman who is the Mother of God and our sweet Mother, have covered in ever clearer light the wonderful harmony of the privileges that God has bestowed Alma Socia providence of our Redeemer, and have reached such a high summit, which be created by any other than the human nature of Christ, was never reached.
The homage of the faithful
same faith clearly show those countless temples dedicated to God in honor of the Virgin Mary taken into heaven, and sacred images therein exposed to the veneration of the faithful, which lay before for all to see this unique triumph of the Blessed Virgin. In addition, cities, dioceses and regions were placed under the special protection and patronage of the Virgin assumed into heaven, also with the approval of the church arose religious institutes that take their name from this privilege. Not to be forgotten that in the Rosary, whose recitation is so highly recommended by the Holy See, is proposed for pious meditation on a mystery that, as everyone knows, is the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin.
The liturgy of the churches of East and West
But in this most beautiful and universal faith of the sacred pastors and faithful Christians is manifested by the fact that since ancient times, is celebrated in the East and a solemn liturgical feast in the West: to here because the holy fathers and doctors of the church never failed to draw light, since, as is well known, the sacred liturgy, "which is also a profession of heavenly truth, submitted to the supreme magisterium of the Church, can offer arguments and evidence of no small importance, to determine some particular point of Christian doctrine. " ( 7)
in the liturgical books, which show the party is of the Dormition both of ' Assumption of Our Lady, there are expressions in a way consistent in saying that when the Virgin Mother of God ascended to heaven from this exile, to his sacred body, by Divine providence, consentaneous things happened to her dignity as Mother of the Incarnate Word and other privileges bestowed upon her. This is argued, to bring an illustrious example, that in Sacramentary that our predecessor Hadrian I, of immortal memory, sent to the Emperor Charlemagne. In fact, it reads: "Worthy of worship is for us, O Lord, the feast of this day, in which the holy Mother of God suffered temporal death, but could not be humiliated by the bonds of death the one who generated the your Son, our Lord, embodied by her. " ( 8)
What is here indicated with the usual sobriety of the Roman Liturgy in the books of other ancient liturgies, both Eastern and Western, is expressed more widely and with greater clarity. The Sacramentary Gallican , for example, defines this privilege of Mary 'inexplicable mystery, the more admirable, as is unique among men. " And in the Byzantine liturgy is repeatedly linked to the bodily assumption of Mary is not only the dignity of Mother of God, but also with other privileges, especially with her virginal motherhood, predetermined by a singular design of Divine Providence: "To you God, king of the universe, granted things that are above nature, as in childbirth because you kept virgin, incorrupt in the tomb preserved your body, and with the divine conglorificò the translation. " ( 9)
The Feast of the Assumption
The fact that the Apostolic See, the heir of the office entrusted to the Prince of the apostles to confirm their brethren in faith (cf. Lk 22, 32), with his authority increasingly made this solemn celebration, effectively stimulated the faithful to a greater appreciation of the greatness of this mystery. So the feast of the honorable position that he had from the outset in other Marian celebrations, was brought in after the most solemn of the whole liturgical cycle. Our predecessor St. Sergius I, requiring the litany stational or procession for the four Marian feasts, along with lists the Nativity, the Annunciation and the Purification the Dormition of Mary. ( 10) Following s. Leo IV would add to the party, which already was celebrated under the title of the Assumption of the Blessed Mother of God, a greater solemnity, prescribing the day before and the eighth, and in that circumstance would personally attend the celebration in the midst of a great multitude of the faithful. ( 11) also that even in ancient times this festival was preceded by the obligation of fasting is clear from this that certifies our predecessor St. Nicholas I, when speaking of the principal fasts "that the holy Roman church received from antiquity and it looks still. " ( 12)
But since the liturgy of the Catholic church does not create faith, but the supposed, and from this result, as fruit from the tree, the practices of worship, the holy fathers and the great doctors in homilies and speeches directed to the people at this party there drew as the first source doctrine, but spoke of this as something known and accepted by the faithful, the better clarify, I clarify and examine the meaning and purpose, special declaration that the liturgical books had only fleetingly mentioned: that the subject of the festival was not only the incorruptibility of the lifeless body of the Blessed Virgin Mary, but also his triumph over death and his heavenly "glorification" in the likeness of His only begotten Jesus Christ.
The voice of the holy fathers
So s. John of Damascus, which stands as a witness of all of this esteemed tradition, whereas the bodily assumption dell'alma Mother of God in light of its other privileges, with vigorous eloquence, exclaims: "It was necessary that she who had kept in confinement unharmed her virginity, even without any corruption preserve his body after death. It was necessary that she who had carried in her womb the Creator made baby, lived in the divine tabernacles. It was necessary for the bride the heavenly Father lived in the thalami. It was necessary that she who had seen his son on the cross, receiving the sword in the heart of where it was immune to pain in giving birth to him, contemplating him seated at the right hand of the Father. It was necessary that the Mother of God to possess what belongs to the Son, and all creatures should be honored as the Mother and Handmaid of God. " ( 13)
These expressions of s. John Damascene correspond closely to those of others, affirming the same doctrine. In fact, words are less precise and clear in speeches at the party held earlier or contemporary with other fathers. Thus, to cite other examples, s. Germanus of Constantinople was consentaneous incorruption and assumption into heaven of the body of the Virgin Mother of God, not only to her divine motherhood, but also the special holiness of her virginal body the same: "You, as it was written, appears" in beauty " and your virginal body is all holy, all chaste, all homes of God, so also for this resolution is then immune from the powder, but transformed, as human nell'eccelsa life of incorruptibility, but still alive, most glorious, unharmed and with the fullness of life. " ( 14) And another old writer says: "How glorious Mother of Christ, our Savior and our God, the giver of life and immortality is brought to life by him, covered in an eternal incorruptibility of the body with him, that he rose from the grave and took him, so familiar to him alone. " ( 15)
With the extension and the establishment of the liturgical feast, the shepherds of the church and religious speakers, in increasing numbers, they made a duty to state openly and clearly that is the mystery location of the party and its close connection with other revealed truths.
The teaching of theologians
Among the scholastic theologians are not lacking those who, wishing to penetrate deeper into the truths revealed and show the agreement between the theological reason and the Catholic faith, they noted that this privilege of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary agrees perfectly with the truth that we are taught from Scripture.
On this basis, they presented to illustrate this Marian privilege different reasons, almost contained in germ in the fact that Jesus wanted Mary's Assumption into heaven for his filial piety towards her. Therefore considered that the strength of these arguments rests on the incomparable dignity of divine motherhood and all those qualities that follow: his great sanctity, superior to all men and all the angels, the intimate union of Mary with her Son, the Son and the love supreme that led to his most worthy Mother.
frequently then meet theologians and religious speakers, in the footsteps of the holy fathers, ( 16) to illustrate their faith in recruiting you need, with a certain freedom, facts and sayings of the s . Scripture. So to name but a few texts among the most widely used, there are those who bear the words of the Psalmist: "Come O Lord, into thy rest, thou and the ark of your sanctification" (Ps 131, 8), and seen in the 'Ark of the Covenant made of incorruptible wood and placed in the temple Lord's, almost a pure image of the body of the Virgin Mary, preserved from all corruption of the tomb and raised in such glory in heaven. For the same purpose describing the Queen entering triumphantly into the palace of heaven and is seated at the right of the divine Redeemer (Ps. 44, 10.14-16) and the Bride of the Song of Songs, "which rises from the desert like a column of smoke from aromas of myrrh and frankincense "to be crowned ( Ct 3, 6, cf. 4, 8, 6, 9). The one and the other figures are presented as the Heavenly Bride and Queen, who, together with the divine Bridegroom, is raised to the palace of heaven.
also shadowed the doctors saw the school intake the Virgin Mother of God, not only in various figures of the Old Testament, but also in the Woman clothed with the sun, that the apostle John beheld the island of Patmos (Rev 12, 1s). Thus, among the sayings of the New Testament, considered with particular interest the words "Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee, blessed art thou among women" (Lk 1, 28), as seen in the mystery of 'taking a supplement of the fullness of grace bestowed upon the Blessed Virgin, and a blessing in singular opposition to the curse of Eve.
So on the principle of scholastic theology, the pious Amedeo, bishop of Lausanne, said that the flesh of the Virgin Mary remained incorrupt, - you can not believe that her body saw corruption - because it really was reunited with his soul and together with it was bathed in glory in the highest court of heaven. "It was in fact full of grace and blessed among women (Luke 1, 28). She alone merited to conceive the true God from true God, who gave birth to a virgin, virgin nursed, squeezing the breast, and to which he served throughout his holy services and tributes. " ( 17)
Among the sacred writers then that at this time, using texts of Scripture or similes and analogies, illustrate and confirm the pious sentence recruited, occupies a special place in the Evangelical Doctor, s. Anthony of Padua. On the feast of the Assumption, commenting on the words of Isaiah: "I will glorify the place to pose my feet" (Is 60, 13), stated with confidence that the divine Redeemer has so glorified, exalted his beloved mother, from which had taken human flesh. "With what is clearly - he says - that the Blessed Virgin was taken with the body, which was the site of the feet of the Lord." So writes the Psalmist, "Come, O Lord, into thy rest, thou and the ark of your sanctification." Like Jesus Christ, says the saint resources from defeat death and ascended to his Father's right hand, then 'resources even the Ark of his sanctification, because on this day the Virgin Mary was taken to the thalamus of heaven ". ( 18)
doctrine s. Albertus Magnus and St. Thomas Aquinas
When in the Middle Ages, scholastic theology was at its peak, s. Albert the Great, having collected to prove this truth, various topics, based on s. Scripture, tradition, liturgy and theological reason, with concludes: "For these reasons and many other authorities and it is clear that the Blessed Mother of God was assumed body and soul above the choirs of angels. And what we believe is absolutely true. " ( 19) And in a speech on the day of the Annunciation of Mary, explaining these words of greeting: "Hail, full of grace ...», the universal doctor compares the Blessed Virgin with Eve and says expressly that it was immune from the fourfold curse which Eve was subject. ( 20)
The Angelic Doctor, following the remains of his illustrious teacher, though he never explicitly reviewed the matter, but every time I occasionally talk about it constantly with the Catholic Church believes that all together ' blood was taken in the sky even the body of Mary. ( 21)
The interpretation of s. Bonaventure
the same opinion is, among many others, the Seraphic Doctor, who considers it absolutely certain that, as God had preserved the Blessed Virgin Mary from the violation of decency and integrity in the virginal conception and birth, so did not allow that his body is rotting in tisfying and ash. ( 22) and then interpreting and applying arbitrary and the Blessed Virgin in these words of s. Scripture: "Who is this that cometh from the desert, flowing with delights, leaning upon her beloved?" (Ct 8, 5), so reason: "And here is that there may be made up (in the heavenly city) bodily. ... Since it ... happiness is not full, if there were personal, and as the person is not the soul, but the mixture is clear that there is according to the compound, the body and soul, he would not have a full enjoyment " . ( 23)
School of Thought in the fifteenth century
Late in the school, which in the fifteenth century, s. Bernardino of Siena, summarizing and again dealing with all diligence that the medieval theologians had said and discussed in this regard is not narrowed to bring the main considerations have already been proposed earlier by doctors, but he added others. The similarity with that of the Divine Mother Divine Son, as to the dignity and nobility of soul and body - so you can not think that the Heavenly Queen is separate from the King of heaven - which openly calls for "Maria should not be but Dov 'is Christ'; ( 24) is also reasonable and fitting that they are already glorified in heaven the soul and the body, such as man, so also the woman, and finally the fact that the church has never tried and proposed to the veneration of the faithful the bodily relics of the Blessed Virgin, provides an argument that can be called "almost a proof-sensitive. " ( 25)
The latest confirmation of the sacred writers
More recently the ABOVE-MENTIONED opinions of the Fathers and Doctors were in common use. By joining the consensus of the Christians, sent from the past centuries, s. Robert Bellarmine exclaimed: "And who, pray, could believe that the ark of holiness, the home of the Word the temple of the Holy Spirit has fallen? My soul abhors the only think that this virginal flesh which God brought forth, she gave birth, food, led him, or has been reduced to ashes or has been fed to the worms. " ( 26 )
Likewise s. Francis de Sales, having argued that it is doubtful that Jesus Christ has followed in the most perfect divine mandate, with which imposes the children to honor their parents, asks this question: "Who is that child, if he could not bring back to life his mother and bring her with him in heaven after death? ". ( 27)
E s. Alfonso says: "Jesus, Mary's body preserved from corruption, because it was redundant in his disgrace damaged by decay that virginal flesh, of which he was already dressed." ( 28)
now clear, however, the mystery that is the subject of this festival, there were doctors who deal with rather than theological reasons, from which it is shown it is most fitting body assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary into heaven, turned their attention to the faith of the church, the mystical Spouse of Christ, or not having spot or wrinkle (cf. Eph 5, 27), which is called by the Apostle "the pillar and foundation of truth" (1 Tim 3, 15) and supported this common faith believed foolhardy not to say heretical, the decision to the contrary. In fact, s. Peter Canisius, among many others, after having declared that The term employment means not only the glorification of the soul, but also of the body and having noted that the church has for many centuries solemnly worships and celebrates this mystery of Mary of the Assumption, says: "This sentence has already been accepted by several centuries and is raised so the soul of the pious faithful, and so agree to the entire church, that those who deny that the body of Mary was assumed into heaven, we must not even listened patiently, but booed as too obstinate, or at all and foolhardy animated by a spirit not Catholic, but a heretic. " ( 29)
Simultaneously, the eminent doctor, and established as standard of Mariology that ' mysteries of grace that God has worked in the Virgin, not to be measured according to law, but according to God's omnipotence, the supposed convenience of the thing in itself, and excludes any contradiction or repugnance by the s. Scripture ( 30) relying on the faith of the whole church, about the mystery of the Assumption, he could conclude that this mystery was to believe with the same firmness of mind, with which he had believed the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin; and even then believed that these two truths could be defined.
All these reasons and considerations of the holy fathers and theologians as the ultimate foundation s. Scripture, which presents us with the loving Mother of God closely united to her divine Son and always share in his fate. So it seems almost impossible to imagine that after this life, can be separated from Christ - do not say, with the soul, but even with the body - the one who conceived him, gave birth to him, fed him with her milk, took it between his arms and hugged him in the chest. Since our Redeemer is the Son of Mary, could not, as an observer of the perfect divine law, not to honor the eternal Father even more than the beloved Mother. Being able to give so much honor to the Mother, preserved free from the corruption of the tomb, we must believe that he really did.
Mary is the new Eva
But in particular it should be noted that, since the second century, the Virgin Mary is presented by the Holy Fathers as the new Eve, closely united with Adam, although he is subject, the struggle against the infernal enemy, which, as has been foretold by Proto ( Gen 3, 15), would end with the fullest victory over sin and death, always joined in the writings of the Apostle of the Gentiles (cf. Rom cc. 5 and 6; 1 Cor 15, 21-26.54-57). Wherefore, as the glorious resurrection of Christ was an essential part and final sign of this victory, so also for the struggle that Mary has in common with his Son was to have concluded with the glorification of her virginal body, for, as the Apostle says, "when ... from this mortal body will be covered with immortality, then shall be the word that is written: Death has been absorbed in victory "(1 Cor 15, 54).
Thus the revered Mother of God, so mysteriously united to Jesus Christ from all eternity "with the same decree" ( 31) of predestination, immaculate in its conception, a most perfect virgin in her divine motherhood, the noble associate of the divine Redeemer who has won a complete triumph over sin and its consequences, in the end, as the supreme culmination of her privileges, she should be preserved from the corruption of the tomb, And conquered death, as her Son, might be taken up body and soul to heavenly glory, where Queen shines to the right of his Son, the immortal King of ages (cf. 1 Tim 1, 17).
The reasons for the new dogma
Since the universal church in which he lives, the Spirit of truth and leads unerringly to the knowledge of revealed truth, over the centuries has manifested in many ways his faith, and since all the bishops of the Catholic world with almost unanimous consent request that it be defined as a dogma of divine and catholic faith the truth Blessed Virgin Mary's bodily assumption into heaven - a truth-based s. Scripture, implanted deeply in the souls of the faithful, confirmed by the ecclesiastical worship since ancient times, utterly in keeping with other revealed truths, beautifully illustrated and explained by the study of science and wisdom of theologians - believe time fixed by the providence of God to proclaim solemn privilege of the Virgin Mary.
We, who have placed our pontificate under the special patronage of the Blessed Virgin, to whom we turned sad in so many contingencies, we, the public ritual that we have consecrated the whole human race to her Immaculate Heart, and we repeatedly experienced his very valuable protection, we have firm confidence that this solemn proclamation and definition of recruitment will be of great benefit to all humanity, because it will give glory to the Most Holy Trinity, which the Virgin Mother of God is bound by constraints peculiar. There is indeed hope that all Christians are encouraged by a greater devotion to the Mother of Heaven, and that the hearts of all those who glory in the Christian name be moved to desire union with the Mystical Body of Jesus Christ and the increase His own love toward the woman who has guts mother to all members of that August body. There is to be hoped that those who meditate upon the glorious example of Mary have always best to persuade the value of human life, it is totally dedicated to the exercise of the will of Heavenly Father and the good of others, that while the materialism and corruption of morals derived from it threaten to engulf every virtue and wreak havoc of life, causing wars, be placed before the eyes of all so bright at the highest quality end souls and bodies are intended, then that belief in the corporeal assumption of Mary into heaven make it firmer and more active faith in our resurrection .
The providential coincidence then this solemn event with the Holy Year that is taking place, there is particularly welcome, and this fact allows us to decorate the front of the Virgin Mother of God of this brilliant jewel, while the most celebrated anniversary, and to leave an everlasting monument of our ardent devotion to the Queen of Heaven.
The solemn definition
"Therefore, having raised more instances of supplication to God and have invoked the light of the Spirit of Truth, to the glory of Almighty God, who poured the Virgin Mary in his special kindness in honor of her Son, the immortal King of ages and conqueror of sin and death, for the greater glory of his August mother and the joy and exultation of the whole church, to the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul and Nostra, pronounce, declare and define God to be revealed dogma: the Immaculate Mother of God ever Virgin Mary, having completed the course of earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory. "
Therefore, if any, God forbid, should dare to doubt or deny that it intentionally has been defined by us, you know that has failed to divine and Catholic faith.
order that this Our definition of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary to heaven body is brought to the universal church, we wanted them to perpetual memory this Our apostolic letter, commanding that its copies or even copies printed, signed by the hand of some public notary and bearing the seal of some person constituted in ecclesiastical dignity, pay absolutely all the same faith that lends itself to this, if it were exhibited or shown.
No one, therefore it is lawful to infringe this our declaration, proclamation and definition, and contrary to or oppose it. If anyone dared to tempt the other hand, knows that you incur the indignation of Almighty God and his blessed Apostles Peter and Paul.
Given in Rome, at St. Peter, in the year of jubilee maximum 1950, 1 November, the Feast of All Saints, in the twelfth year of our pontificate.
We PIO, bishop of the Catholic Church, thus defining
we signed
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