Catholics understand that at the end of the Virgin's earthly life, Our Lord
assumed his Mother into heaven, body and soul.
We understand that this is different from what occurs with other saints. That is, the saints' love is perfected such
that their souls do not need to go to purgatory. Accordingly, their souls go to heaven while their bodies await the
Resurrection of the Dead. But Mary is different.
In these beautiful images by 13th-14th century Italian Renaissance artists, one sees something unusual: surrounded by angels, saints and others, Our Lady is lying on a bed with her Son nearby. Jesus is holding a small figure of an infant or very young girl. It is easy to understand that this relates to Jesus taking Mary to heaven.
What is not clear is the theological meaning of this imagery. More about this later in the series.
Images:
Top: Giotto's Assumption
Middle: Duccio's Assumption
Bottom: Fra Angelico's Assumption
Today's post is a rewrite of one with a lot of the same content that I published in 2025. Even after publishing the rewrite this morning, I updated it to remove some language about the theology suggested by the images. I have put in a lot of work researching the theology of the Assumption and still don't feel confident that I have it just right. I hope to at least present what some of the concerns are in the upcoming posts in this series.
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