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Maxime Ponsot
Published on
Each summer, two dates are to check in the calendar for those who do not have a long vacation: July 14 and August 15, two holidays. What is celebrated on the occasion of the first is generally good in the heads of all compatriots (national holiday, in case). The exact meaning of the second, on the other hand, sometimes less.
Especially for non-believers. Because, originally, August 15 has been a holiday – and for almost 400 years – because it is aboutA Christian feast. In this case, that of The Assumptionobserved by Catholics and Orthodox. But what is it celebrating?
A party in honor of the Blessed Virgin
In Christian worship, the assumption means The rise in heaven of the Virgin Mary. The faithful celebrate this date as the day it raised itself, without going through the passage of death.
This is why she is also named “the Dormition of the Mother of Jesus”. Term used, in Christian vocabulary, to designate the death of saints and piles when it is not a violent death.
One of the great festivals of Christian life, “she commemorates the glory of Mary with God at the end of her earthly life”, explains the Catholic Church of France. “Mary was removed from earthly life to enter into life in God. For Mary, the Assumption is the continuation of his participation in the life of Jesus. »»
The feast of the Assumption celebrates death, the resurrection, entry into heaven and the coronation of Blessed Virgin Mary.
But “Mary does not rise alone towards heaven, it is God who makes the choice to” assume “, body and soul, by bringing it together to her son without waiting for the final resurrection, as she knew how to unite, body and soul, to him from her earthly life”, details the Catholic Church. Hence the difference with the feast of ascent.
Assumption ≠ Ascension
From the Latin “assumptio” (take with yourself, choose, borrow, according to the dictionary of the French Academy), the Assumption is not to be confused with the ascent, from the Latin “Ascensio” (to go up, to climb, according to the same source).
A difference in etymology that comes from the idea that Jesus (for which the ascent is celebrated, between April 30 and June 3) would have raised itself to heaven, when the Virgin Mary, it would have raised by the divine will.
A date chosen by the Father of the Sun King
Historically, it is a king of France who, in a way, sanctuarized the date. During his reign, Louis XIII, with his wife Anne of Austria, had difficulty having an heir.
He solemnly “consecrates” France under the protection of the Virgin Mary, and asks her subjects to carry out every August 15 (already the day of the Assumption) a solemn procession in each parish and acts of devotions.
In 1638, the one who became Louis XIV was born. Tradition then associated this royal wish with this birth, arrived in the months that followed.
Later, the Catholic party under the Old Regime was abandoned during the Revolution. Then she was replaced by a day unemployed by the Emperor Napoleon to … celebrate his birthday. Before being restored under Napoleon III, during the Second Empire.
A holiday and traditions
Finally, it was not until 1950 that the Assumption became one of the dogmas of the Catholic Church, under the impetus of Pope Pius XII. The Orthodox church has never done the same. For certain Protestant confessions (Lutheran and Anglican), August 15 remained the main party dedicated to Marie, but without references to the Assumption.
Today, this date allows practitioners to meet. It is marked by large organized pilgrimages. Especially in Lourdes, where thousands of people gather each year.
For the others, it is the means of taking advantage of a day of rest, since the date is one of the 11 days legal public holidays in the year listed by the Labor Code, while others may soon be deleted.
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