The following is the text written by Br. Stefano Cecchin OFM, President of the Pontificia Academia Mariana Internationalis, the Holy See's body responsible for the promotion and development of Mariological Studies.
The feast of the Assumption takes the Franciscans back to the little church of St. Mary of the Angels, the cradle of the Order, which has been dedicated to the Assumption since its origins. This is shown by the altarpiece painted by Ilario of Viterbo, which depicts "the angel giving the palm to the Virgin" at the moment when he announces her imminent death according to the apocryphal Gospel called the "Roman Transit". St. Bonaventure recalls Francis' devotion to the Assumption when he writes: "He surrounded the Mother of the Lord Jesus with inexpressible love, because she made the Lord of Majesty our brother and obtained mercy for us. He put his trust in her above all else and made her his and his people's advocate. In her honour he fasted with great devotion from the feast of the Apostles Peter and Paul to the feast of the Assumption" (FF 1165). At a time when both the feast of the Conception and the feast of the Assumption were strongly criticised by those who considered them to have no biblical foundation, Francis seemed to have no doubts. From their Seraphic Father, the friars inherited this particular devotion and undertook to spread it, as the Apostolic Constitution Munificententissimus Deus of Pius XII recalls. It mentions the most important Franciscan masters who promoted it, such as Anthony of Padua, Bonaventure and Bernardine of Siena. The latter "summarised and treated with care all that the theologians of the Middle Ages had said on the mystery of the Assumption, not confining himself to presenting the main considerations already proposed by previous scholars, but adding others". Thus, inspired by other great Franciscan masters such as Matteo of Acquasparta and Ubertino of Casale, he reformulated the theological reasons for the Assumption in seven arguments; they are:
1) the profound union that exists between Mother and Son, so that when Christ was resurrected, Mary had to be resurrected as well;
2) the perfect virginity, which made Mary incorruptible in childbirth, made her incorruptible from the consequences of the tomb: indeed, the Gospel also teaches that virginity is a sign of the future resurrection (cf. Lk 20: 34-36);
3) the commandment to "honour father and mother" required Christ to honour his mother in a very special way, not only in life but also after death;
4) Mary was then the unique and unrepeatable place of the incarnation of the Son of God, the "Virgin made Church", a place that could not be destroyed by death;
5) she is the first disciple of Christ, the perfect model of discipleship, faithfully following him in every step of his life, according to the Gospel passage: "If anyone would serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be" (Jn 12:26): 26), so she too "cannot be anywhere but where Christ is";
6) Since Mary is the "Blessed One" par excellence, the fullness of the heavenly beatitude requires the unity of the person, which is realised in the union of the body with the soul, which is why Mary's soul had to be reunited with the body after death in order to enjoy the fullness of beatitude;
7) finally, according to the most exquisite Franciscan theological anthropology, which unites man and woman, Jesus and Mary, and which was also reaffirmed by the holy Pope John Paul II, the equality of the sexes envisaged that the whole of humanity, that is to say both men and women, should be healed by Christ. And since the Resurrection is the ultimate redemption, it was to be manifested in both male and female, in Jesus and Mary, in order to complete the work of redemption in its fullness, and so that Mary would also be a witness to the Resurrection, so that in heaven there would be not only the male principle but also the female principle, that is, the whole of humanity - "male and female he created them" (Gen 1, 26-27), that they might be one.
To these arguments, as Pius XII points out, Bernardine of Siena added another piece of evidence. In the Church, he says, there has been veneration of the relics and tombs of saints since antiquity. For Mary, however, there is only an empty tomb. Where her body will be. How is it possible that the Church has jealously guarded that of the martyrs and saints and forgotten that of the Queen of all saints? Bernardine concludes that the absence of this body is a sign that she is no longer on earth but in heaven, where she continues her mission as our Mother, Mediatrix and Advocate.
After the proclamation of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception in 1863, the Assumptionist movement began, to which a Tuscan friar, Remigio Buselli, contributed with the publication of what is considered the first scientific treatise on the Assumption: The Virgin Mary living in body and soul in heaven (Florence 1863). In this work the author exhorts the whole Franciscan Family to continue its Marian role in the Church by proclaiming the dogma of the Assumption to complement that of the Immaculate Conception.
The appeal did not go unheeded, and studies and initiatives followed, so much so that on 26 July 1946 the General Definitory created the "Commissio Marialis Franciscana", which was refounded this year at the Pontificia Academia Mariana Internationalis (PAMI) at the Antonianum, with the aim of coordinating the Provinces in Mariological studies, which were then stimulated and directed in a special way towards the reasons for the possible dogmatic definition of the Assumption. The PAMI archives contain all the initiatives taken by the different Provinces of the Order up to the proclamation of the dogma. We must also add the 7 Franciscan Assumption Congresses organised by Br. Carlo Balic, thanks to which everything was prepared that convinced Pope Pius XII to proclaim the dogma on 1 November 1950.
It is a fact that the two Marian dogmas, which some define as Franciscan, have been proclaimed thanks to the great contribution of the whole Franciscan Family. Mary Assumed into Heaven, a sign of sure hope for the final destiny of all, shines in her beauty as proof that it is really possible to "live the Holy Gospel" as she herself first lived it. She is the "Virgin made Church", the woman-home (oikos) who welcomed, guarded and nourished the divine Word, achieving complete conformity with it and becoming a model for us of how to live the Christian life. She is the place, as the Franciscan Masters taught, where God made peace with humanity. Her very name, "Mary", which means "union of heaven and earth", shines in the woman in the Book of Revelation as the attainment of perfect and luminous harmony with all creatures. She is the one who gave Jesus a body made of earth, so that the earth might be deified through union with God.
And since Jesus was also of the earth, he passed through the path of death as well, in order to open the door that leads to immortality through resurrection. And like Jesus, the Immaculate Conception also passed through this way to live in the perfect following of her Son, through death and resurrection. Finally, we should not forget that, according to tradition, St. Francis wrote on the façade of the Porziuncola: "This is the door to eternal life". So that, in order to complete his following of Christ in everything, he would also leave this world in imitation of Jesus, who did not die alone on the Cross, but in the presence of his Mother. That is why Francis let himself be taken to St. Mary of the Angels, so that he too could die with the Mother of the Lord.
And let us not forget Saint Clare, who, at the moment of her death, was comforted by the apparition of the Virgin, who approached her face and showed how the two were so completely united that they could not be distinguished physiognomically. Perhaps it is for this reason that in the Ave Maria, a prayer also beloved and widespread among Franciscans, we conclude with the words: "Pray for us now and at the hour of our death".
