had come the third day, and desired to pay homage to the body which had
received God. But nowhere could they find her body ... Astonished at this
mysterious miracle, they could only conclude that He who was pleased
from the Virgin Mary to take flesh and to become man ... the same was
pleased, after her death, to preserve incorrupt her immaculate body, and to
honor it, before the common and universal resurrection...”
Catechism of the Council of Trent (1566)
The Catechism of the Council of Trent made no reference to the Virgin
Mary’s Assumption into heaven.
Catechism of the Catholic Church (1992)
No. 966:
“Finally the Immaculate Virgin, preserved free from all
stain of original sin, when the course of her earthly life was finished, was
taken up body and soul into heavenly glory, and exalted by the Lord as
Queen over all things, so that she might be the more fully conformed to her
Son, the Lord of lords and conqueror of sin and death.” The Assumption of
the Blessed Virgin is a singular participation in her Son’s resurrection and
an anticipation of the resurrection of other Christians:
In giving birth you kept your virginity; in your Dormition you did
not leave the world, O Mother of God, but were joined to the source
of Life. You conceived the living God and, by your prayers, will
deliver our soul from death (Byzantine Liturgy, Feast of the
Dormition).
No. 974:
The Most Blessed Virgin Mary, when the course of her
earthly life was completed, was taken up body and soul into the glory of
heaven, where she already shares in the glory of her Son’s Resurrection,
anticipating the Resurrection of all members of his Body.
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