In 1950 my late pastor, Msgr. Schuler, was in Rome on a Fulbright working on the manuscripts of Giovanni Maria Nanino, the successor of Palestrina for the Sistine Chapel. He had great stories about being a priest in Rome in that Holy Year and, specifically, of the Proclamation of the Dogma of the Assumption.
It was a different world. Think about it: the war had ended just 5 years before.
I can only shake my head and think how far we’ve fallen. The laity, the clergy, the hierarchy, are all to blame.
I love Venerable Pope Pius XII! Didn’t he look and act like the Vicar of Christ! Benedictus above says it very well, “I can only shake my head and think how far we’ve fallen”. A Novena of Memoraras to be said tonight for our beloved Church.
It wasn’t until recent (last 6 years) that I learned the Assumption wasn’t that we assumed Mary went to heaven, but no one saw her go.
I love those old Pathe videos.