Today, August 15 is the solemnity of the Assumption.

In 1950, in the Apostolic Constitution Munificentissimus Deus, Pope Pius XII proclaimed the Assumption of Mary a dogma of the Catholic Church in these words: "The Immaculate Motherhood of God, the ever-virgin Mary, having completed the course of her earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heaven."

The Assumption of Mary is one of the four Marian dogmas of the Catholic Church. (The other three... perpetual virginity, Mother of God, Immaculate Conception.)

In the Catholic Church, a dogma is a definitive article of faith that has been solemnly promulgated by the college of bishops at an ecumenical council, or by the Pope when speaking in a statement ex cathedra, in which the magisterium of the Church presents a particular doctrine as necessary for the belief of all Catholic faithful.

Prayer:

Almighty ever-living God, who assumed the Immaculate Virgin Mary, the Mother of your Son, body and soul into heavenly glory, grant we pray, that, always attentive to the things that are above, we may merit to be sharers of her glory. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Ad Jesum per Mariam!