There's Somthing About Mary

At the last EfM meeting there was discussion about the belief that Mary was born sinless (the Immaculate Conception), and was taken directly into Heaven (The Assumption).  I think that we might have encouraged the impression that these ideas have been formulated relatively recently by modern Popes.  So I jumped down the rabbit hole of the internet to see why and how these have become beliefs.

The Council of Trent (a long one, 1545-1563) said that Mary, "by a special privilege of God" was born free from original sin.  Pope Pius XII in 1943 expanded this teaching by saying Mary was free from both original sin and from any personal sin throughout her life. Before that, Pope Pius IX in 1854 had stated that Mary was free from original sin "through the foreseen merits of Jesus Christ."                            

The early church fathers might have seen the uniqueness of Mary when comparing Christ's obedience to God with Adam's disobedience.  Eve was an accidental  virgin simply because there was no procreation in Eden; Mary's virginity was appropriate to her humble acceptance of God's call.  As Eve became complicit with Adam in sin, so Mary should be connected with Christ through sinlessness.  Tertullian wrote in 210 that "while Eve was still a virgin the word of the devil crept in to erect an edifice of death. Likewise through a virgin the Word of God was introduced to set up a structure of life."

And St. Ambrose of Milan in 387 wrote of "Mary, a virgin not only undefiled, but a virgin whom grace had made inviolate, free of every stain of sin."   Ephraim the Syrian, in a 361 prayer to Jesus, recognized that "there is no blemish in you nor any stains upon your Mother."   St. Augustine taught that everyone was guilty,  "except the holy Virgin Mary, concerning whom, on account of the honor of the Lord, I wish to have absolutely no question when treating of sins."

In other words Mary received grace from Christ, before His incarnation, in order to become the  Mother of God.  If Christ was without sin, then it was only proper that Mary should be, "for the honor of the Lord".  An online Catholic tract makes this explicit.  "We will all one day be rendered immaculate (sinless), but Mary, as the prototypical Christian, received this grace early. God granted her freedom from sin to make her a fitting mother for his Son." https://www.catholic.com/tract/mary-full-of-grace

Yet, today the Roman Catholic Church appears to be the only branch of Christianity that insists on the doctrine.  Wikipedia points out that, for differing reasons, belief in the Immaculate Conception is not required in Eastern Orthodoxy or Protestantism generally.  "Belief in Mary's immaculate conception is not a doctrine within Anglicanism, although it is shared by many Anglo-Catholics." 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immaculate_Conception#Anglicanism

The bodily assumption of Mary has a similar history.  It wasn't until 1950 that Pope Pius XII declared The Assumption to be an infallible dogma.  But an apocryphal writing called The Passing of the Virgin from the year 300 declared "it has appeared right to us your servants that, as you, having overcome death, do reign in glory, so you should raise up the body of your Mother and take her with you, rejoicing, into heaven."  Timothy of Jerusalem, in a homily given in 400, taught that “the Virgin is immortal to this day, seeing that he who had dwelt in her transported her to the regions of her assumption”. 


Gregory of Tours provided more details when, in 584, he explained that after the death of Mary, "the apostles took up her body on a bier and placed it in a tomb, and they guarded it, expecting the Lord to come. And behold, again the Lord stood by them; the holy body having been received, he commanded that it be taken in a cloud into paradise, where now, rejoined to the soul, [Mary’s body] rejoices with the Lord’s chosen ones...."

As Gregory's account illustrates, many Catholics believe that Mary first died, but was miraculously resurrected before being taken up to Heaven.  Other Catholics believe in a direct assumption without Mary first having died.  Eastern Orthodox Christians believe the former explanation.  Catholics, though, can legitimately believe either way.  Again, Wikipedia explains that "within Anglican doctrine, the Assumption of Mary is either rejected or regarded as adiaphora (a thing indifferent)".
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assumption_of_Mary

But the Anglo-Catholic International Commission in 2004 issued a non-binding declaration for study and discussion saying that both The Assumption and Immaculate Conception, "understood within the biblical pattern of the economy of hope and grace can be said to be consonant with the teaching of Scriptures and the ancient traditions."  The doctrines might be understood by both Catholics and Anglicans as part of scriptural tradition, without making more restrictive demands on faith.

I kind of like that last formulation.   Believe what you can and strive for a personal economy of hope and grace.