On Aug, 15 Catholics and many other Christians celebrate the feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. This significant feast day recalls the spiritual and physical departure of the mother of Jesus Christ from the earth, when both her soul and her body were taken into the presence of God.
Venerable Pope Pius XII confirmed this belief about the Virgin Mary as the perennial teaching of the Church when he defined it formally as a dogma of Catholic faith in 1950, invoking papal infallibility to proclaim, “that the Immaculate Mother of God, the ever-Virgin Mary, having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory.”
His apostolic constitution “Munificentissimus Deus” (“Most Bountiful God”), which affirmed the dogma, contained the pontiff’s accounts of many longstanding traditions by which the Church has celebrated the Assumption throughout its history.
The constitution also cited testimonies from the early Church fathers on the subject, and described the history of theological reflection on many Biblical passages which are seen as indicating that Mary was assumed into heaven following her death.
Although the bodily assumption of Mary is not explicitly recorded in Scripture, Catholic tradition identifies her with the “woman clothed with the sun” who is described in the 12th chapter of the Book of Revelation.
The passage calls that woman’s appearance “a great sign” which “appeared in heaven,” indicating that she is the mother of the Jewish Messiah and has “the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.” Accordingly, Catholic iconography of the Western tradition often depicts the Virgin Mary’s assumption into heaven in this manner.
Eastern Christians have also traditionally held Mary’s assumption into heaven as an essential component of their faith. Pius XII cited several early Byzantine liturgical texts, as well as St. John of Damascus, the eighth-century Christian theologian, monk and Doctor of the Church, in his own authoritative definition of her Assumption.
“It was fitting,” St. John of Damascus wrote in a sermon on the Assumption, “that she, who had kept her virginity intact in childbirth, should keep her own body free from all corruption even after death,” and “that she, who had carried the creator as a child at her breast, should dwell in the divine tabernacles.”
In Eastern Christian tradition, the same feast is celebrated on the same calendar date, although typically known as the Dormition (“falling asleep”) of Mary. Eastern Catholic celebration of the Dormition is preceded by a two-week period of fasting similar to Lent. Pius XII, in “Munificentissimus Deus,” mentioned this same fasting period as belonging to the traditional patrimony of Western Christians as well.
— Catholic News Agency
On Aug. 20 the Catholic Church will honor St. Bernard of Clairvaux, the 12th-century monk who helped to build up the Cistercian order – some of whom are known today as the Trappists. Bernard is considered the last of the Church Fathers in the Western tradition.
Bernard was born during the year 1090, near the French town of Dijon. His father Tescelin and his mother Aleth belonged to the highest class of nobility in the region and had six other children. Bernard, their third child, received an especially good education in response to a local man's prophecy that he was destined for great achievements.
After his mother's death, Bernard began to consider a life of solitude and prayer. At Citeaux, near Dijon, a group of monks had gathered in 1098 with the intention of returning to St. Benedict's original rule of monasticism from the sixth century. Bernard, together with 30 other noblemen of Dijon, sought to join this monastery around the year 1113.
Three years into his life as a monk of Citeaux, Bernard received a commission from his abbot to become the head of a new monastery, practicing the same rule of life. Bernard himself dubbed the new monastery's location "Clairvaux," or "Clear Valley."
In his zeal to set an example for the Cistercian monastic reform, Bernard lived a life of such severe penance that his health suffered, and his superiors in the order had to persuade him to be more moderate. Meanwhile, the monastery thrived and attracted large number of men, including Bernard's five brothers and his widowed father.
In 1119, Bernard played an important role in the first General Chapter of the Cistercian Order, which drew up its constitutions and rules. The following year, he composed a treatise on the vice of pride and the virtue of humility, as well as a series of homilies in praise of the Blessed Virgin Mary. He also defended the Cistercians against charges from other monks, who claimed that their rule was too severe.
At the local Council of Troyes, in 1128, Bernard assisted the Cardinal Bishop of Albano in resolving internal disputes within the Church of Paris. At this same council, Bernard outlined the rule of life for the Knights Templars, the Catholic military order charged with the defense of the Holy Land. Bernard developed the ideals of Christian knighthood in his writings addressed to the Templars.
These were not the Abbot of Clairvaux's last forays into civil and religious controversies. He also defended the Church's freedom against the intrusions of temporal rulers and he admonished bishops who had abandoned their sees. In 1130, he had the responsibility of determining which of two rival clerics, both claiming to have been elected pope, would ultimately occupy the Chair of Peter.
Bernard became a close adviser to Pope Innocent II, who prevailed in the controversy. Further threats to the Church's peace and unity occupied him for much of the 1130s, although he continued to produce important writings, including his commentary on the Biblical "Song of Songs." He also sent monks to established new Cistercian monasteries throughout Western Europe.
One of Bernard's own Cistercian monks became Pope Eugene III in 1145, prompting Bernard to write him a letter of instructions that subsequent popes have also found valuable. When Eugene declared a crusade for the protection of Christians in Antioch and Jerusalem during 1146, he appointed Bernard to strengthen the faith of the crusaders with his preaching.
The "Second Crusade," however, failed in its attempt to take the Syrian city of Damascus. This was a heavy blow to Bernard's cause, and he received undue blame for a defeat more likely due to political intrigue and military misconduct. Bernard sent a letter to the pope, stating that the crusade failed because of the moral failings of its participants.
Pope Eugene III, Bernard's onetime disciple and close friend, died in 1153 and was eventually beatified. Bernard died the same year, at the age of 63, having spent 40 years as a monk. He personally founded 163 Cistercian monasteries, a number which had more than doubled by the time of his death.
Pope Alexander III canonized St. Bernard of Clairvaux in 1174. During the 19th century, Pope Pius VIII declared him to be a Doctor of the Church.
— CNA/EWTN News