Marian devotees celebrate Monday, Aug.15, the Solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the principal and the oldest feast of the Holy Mother.
Commemorative masses will be celebrated in parishes placed under her patronage in different parts of the country.
At the Our Lady of the Assumption Parish in Guinobatan, Albay, holy masses will be offered at 5 a.m., 6:30 a.m., 9 a.m. (solemn concelebrated), 4 p.m., and at 5:30 p.m. The praying of the holy rosary, novena, and the celebration of the holy mass in honor of Our Lady of the Assumption was held from Aug. 6 to 13. The pilgrim image of Our Lady was also brought to all the barangays and sitio chapels in Guinobatan.
Feast masses will also be celebrated at the Our Lady of the Assumption Parish on Asuncion Street, Malate, Manila as well as in Davao City, Davao del Sur; Dauis, Bohol; Tanauan, Leyte; and in San Pedro, Laguna.
Observed as a public holiday in some countries, Roman Catholics consider the Feast of the Assumption as the Blessed Mother’s “heavenly birthday” in commemoration of the belief in her physical assumption into heaven.
The belief of the bodily taking up of Mary, the mother of Jesus, into Heaven at the end of her earthly life, is also observed by the Eastern Orthodox Churches and Oriental Orthodoxy among others,
Mary’s assumption into heaven was defined as a dogma of faith by Pope Pius XII in 1950. The Second Vatican Council states that the “Immaculate Virgin, preserved free from all stains of original sin, was taken up body and soul into heavenly glory, when her earthly life was over, and exalted by the Lord as Queen of all things.”