On Assumption Day, or on the eve of it, many people set off to spend the holiday at one of the farewell places. We list some of the many European and Hungarian locations.
"According to the tradition that goes back to the early church, the Redeemer did not release the body of his mother, Mary, to earthly life, but resurrected her shortly after her death and took her to heavenly glory. This view, also inherited in popular piety for centuries, was adopted by XII Pope Pius raised it to the rank of dogma in his bull Munificentissimus Deus (1950). In doing so, he actually recognized the living testimony of the sacred folklore tradition," writes the Magyar Katolikus Lexikon.
The Assumption of Mary is the greatest feast of the Virgin Mary, which is celebrated by the world church on August 15. This year, this day falls on a Monday, so the celebration begins today, with pilgrimages and farewell walks.
Perhaps it is not too late to go to a nearby place of farewell to take part in today's Mass and ceremonies. There are a lot of them, we mention only a few from here and from Europe
In the middle of the nineteenth century, in the Massabielle cave near Lourdes, the Virgin appeared to the poor, uneducated, fourteen-year-old Bernadette Soubirous. The "Lady" wore a snow-white dress and a dazzling white cloak, a sky-blue belt around her waist, golden roses on her feet, and a rosary in her hand. He appeared a total of eighteen times until July 16, asking for repentance and atonement. On February 25, he called on the little girl, Bernadette, to find a spring at a specific point in the cave, drink from it and wash in it, and in the dialect of the Lady of Lourdes, she also revealed her name: "I am the Immaculate Conception."
The appearance of Our Lady in Lourdes was celebrated for the first time in the diocese of Tarbes, from 1890. From 1908, the 50th anniversary of the apparitions, Pope Pius X extended the celebration to the entire Church.
Fatima is the largest Marian shrine in the world, next to Lourdes, and millions make pilgrimages here every year. In 1918, a chapel was built on the site of the apparitions of the Virgin. After that, a retreat house and a hospital were established in the valley. The construction of the basilica began in 1928. The large square in front of the sanctuary was created in 1951.
The Máriapócs statue in Szabolcs-Szatmár-Bereg county was made in 1676 by László Csigri, a Máriapócs judge, out of a vow and gratitude, to commemorate his release from Turkish slavery. On November 4, 1696, while priest Dániel Papp was conducting the Holy Liturgy in the small wooden church, farmer Mihály Eöry from Pócs noticed that tears flowed profusely from both eyes of the icon of the Mother of God placed on the iconostasis. The extraordinary event filled those present with admiration.
The tears continued without a break for two weeks, then with minor interruptions until December 8. According to contemporary records, on the last day of the tears, it was so cold that the wine and water in the chalice froze, but Mary's tears still fell abundantly.
After the image was transported to Vienna at the end of the 17th century by the emperor, the original Pócs teardrop image was placed in the 16th century in the southern aisle of the Stephansdom in Vienna. it is still preserved today under an artistic altar under a 19th-century marble canopy.
Several copies of the original picture were made, but neither the Vienna nor the copies made of it ever shed tears, except for the one that was taken back to Pócs.
Source and full article: Magyar Hírlap
Featured image: YouTube
