THE FACT OF THE ASSUMPTION
Courtesy New Advent Catholic Encyclopedia



Regarding the day, year, and manner of Our Lady's death, nothing certain is known. The earliest known literary reference to the Assumption is found in the Greek work De Obitu S. Dominae. Catholic faith, however, has always derived our knowledge of the mystery from Apostolic Tradition. Epiphanius (d. 403) acknowledged that he knew nothing definite about it (Haer., lxxix, 11). The dates assigned for it vary between three and fifteen years after Christ's Ascension. Two cities claim to be the place of her departure: Jerusalem and Ephesus. Common consent favours Jerusalem, where her tomb is shown; but some argue in favour of Ephesus. The first six centuries did not know of the tomb of Mary at Jerusalem. St. Juvenal, Bishop of Jerusalem, at the Council of Chalcedon (451), made known to the Emperor Marcian and Pulcheria, who wished to possess the body of the Mother of God, that Mary died in the presence of all the Apostles, but that her tomb, when opened, upon the request of St. Thomas, was found empty; wherefrom the Apostles concluded that the body was taken up to heaven. Today, the belief in the corporeal assumption of Mary is universal in the East and in the West; according to Benedict XIV (De Festis B.V.M., I, viii, 18).

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ST. PAUL THE APOSTLE
Courtesy Wikipedia Online Encyclopedia



St. Paul the Apostle (year of birth unknown, died A.D. 64-67) (Hebrew: aul HaTarsi, means: Saul of Tarsus), the "Apostle to the Gentiles" (Romans 11:13, Galatians 2:8) was, together with Saint Peter, the most notable of Early Christian missionaries. In the New Testament account, Paul did not know Jesus in life, unlike the Twelve Apostles; he came to faith through a vision of the risen Jesus (1 Corinthians 15:8-9) and stressed that his apostolic authority was based on his vision. As he wrote, he "received it [the Gospel] by revelation from Jesus Christ" (Galatians 1:1112); according to Acts, his conversion took place as he was traveling the road to Damascus. Paul's influence on Christian thinking arguably has been more significant than any other single New Testament author. His influence on the main strands of Christian thought has been massive: from St. Augustine of Hippo to the controversies between Gottschalk and Hincmar of Reims; between Thomism and Molinism; Martin Luther, John Calvin and the Arminians; to Jansenism and the Jesuit theologians, and even to the German church of the twentieth century through the writings of the scholar Karl Barth, whose commentary on the Letter to the Romans had a political as well as theological impact.

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