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Pius XII defines the Assumption of Mary

1950 · Rome (Rome, Italy)

On 1 November 1950, in the apostolic constitution Munificentissimus Deus, Pius XII defines as dogma that Mary, having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory. It is the first, and so far the only, definition issued under the infallibility defined at Vatican I in 1870.

Tagged: Catholic

The Event

Date
1950 (exact)
Era
The Modern and Global Church; Standard periodization of Catholic history
Location
Rome; today Rome, Italy
Traditions
Catholicism
Streams
Catholic
Key figures
Pius XII
Key texts
Munificentissimus Deus

Connections

Illustration for First Vatican Council History Event First Vatican Council 1869–1870 exercises the infallibility the council defined

Primary Sources

  • Pius XII, Munificentissimus Deus, 1950.

Secondary Sources

  • Chadwick, Owen. A History of the Popes, 1830-1914. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1998.
  • Duffy, Eamon. Saints and Sinners: A History of the Popes. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2006.
  • Hastings, Adrian, ed. A World History of Christianity. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1999.
  • MacCulloch, Diarmaid. A History of Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years. London: Penguin, 2009.
  • O'Malley, John W. Trent: What Happened at the Council. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2013.

Provenance: HIST-1344; confidence 0.95; accessed 2026-10-30.

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