Josef Pohle, following Scheeben, declares that in the
first five centuries there is no indication of belief in the Assumption of
Mary, neither in literature nor in Christian monuments: “There is a void that
no bridge spans whereby we might reach the observed and witnessed event.”
(Pohle, Lehrbuch d. Dogmatic, t. II [1909], p. 293) The notable attempt,
undertaken by Father Jugie, the renowned orientalist, to fill up this
regrettable gap, (Jugie, “La Mort at l’Assomption de le Sainte Vierge dans la
Tradition des cinq premiers siècles,” Echos d’Orient, 1926 & 1927)
is condemned and rejected by a scientific criticism, severe but just. (Cf. Cavallera, “A Propos d’une enquête patristique sur
l’Assomption,” Bulletin de littérature ecclésiastique, 1926, p. 97. Also,
Rivière, “Questions mariales d’actualité,” Revue des sciences Religieuses,
t. XII [1932], pp. 78-81) Thus concludes the survey drawn up by Jean Rivière:
“For the good of his thesis the author, who promises a long historical and
dogmatic work, where the Assumption will be studied under every aspect, will do
well to abandon the testimony of the first five centuries, as did his
predecessors, or to establish it on surer foundations.” (Rivière, loc. cit.,
p. 81) (Joseph Duhr, The Glorious Assumption of the Mother of God [trans.
John Manning Fraunces; London: Burns Oates, 1950], 15)
Father Jugie had taken account of these critics and has
given up basing belief in the Assumption on history. But as far as we can see,
it is impossible to follow the author further when he tries to derive the
Assumption from the dogma of the Immaculate Conception. Our work, concerned on
another plane, does not allow us to give a detailed criticism at the moment of
the work of the eminent orientalist, otherwise so richly documented. A sketch
of its main outlines will be found in Father Charles Balic’s article “De
definibilitate assumptionis B. Virginis in caelum,” Antonianum, t. XXI
(1926), p. 3-67. (Ibid., 119-20 n. 4)
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