« MUNIFICENTISSIMUS DEUS ». - Opening words of the apostolic constitution with which Pius XII defined (1 Nov. 1950) the dogma of the bodily Assumption of the Blessed Virgin into heaven (AAS, 42 [1950], pp. 754-71).
The notable document, marked by a particularly organic structure, proceeds by a regressive method, tracing the present faith of the universal Church back to the sources of Revelation. The movement in favour of the Assumption, which arose immediately after the definition of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception (the two truths being intimately connected), had grown to such proportions as to induce the Supreme Pontiff to establish a commission for the theological deepening of the doctrine and to seek the opinion of the Catholic episcopate regarding the present faith of the whole Church (clergy and people). The response of the episcopate, morally unanimous in holding the bodily Assumption of the Virgin to be divinely revealed truth, is a secure argument that this doctrine is contained in the deposit entrusted by Christ to the Church « sancte custodiendum et fideliter exponendum » (Vatican Council, sess. IV, cap. 4: Denz-U, 1836). This faith has found various and progressive manifestations in the Church’s life through the centuries: a) churches, images, and acts of piety (the fourth glorious mystery of the Rosary); b) liturgical solemnities in East and West; c) testimonies of the Fathers (St John Damascene, St Germanus of Constantinople, the Encomium in dormitionem Deiparae); d) the teaching of theologians (Blessed Amadeus of Lausanne, St Anthony of Padua, St Albert the Great, St Thomas Aquinas, St Bonaventure, St Bernardino of Siena, St Robert Bellarmine, St Peter Canisius, St Francis de Sales, St Alphonsus, Suárez). The ultimate foundation of this now universal faith, which was slowly made explicit and clarified by the Fathers and theologians, is Holy Scripture, in which is foreshadowed the total victory of Christ and of Mary over sin and its moral and physical consequences (cf. Gen. 3:15; Rom. 4:12; 5:14; 6:8; 1 Cor. 15:21-26, 54-57). The Pope therefore judged that the moment had come to define what is so abundantly documented and so deeply rooted in Christian consciousness, especially since this solemn act would bring great benefits to the Church and the world (greater devotion to Mary, the return of the erring to unity, a higher esteem for human life, victory over widespread materialistic errors, a new argument for faith in the resurrection of the flesh). The bull concludes with the solemn definition.