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Authorship, date, and setting
The site's file presents the First Latin Form of the Passing of Mary, an anonymous account of her death and the fate of her body. It identifies no historical author, and its plot alone cannot date this version. Alexander Walker published a translation of this form among apocryphal writings. The work assigns speech to Jesus, Mary, and the apostles; these are elements of its narrative, not verifiable transcripts of apostolic events.
Structure of the single chapter
The site places the whole story in one chapter with 72 numbered passages. At the beginning Mary asks to be warned before her death and receives a palm. The apostles' gathering and her farewell occupy the middle. The procession, opposition to burial, tomb, and Thomas episode follow. The local text is the First Latin Form; Walker's edition also prints a Second Latin Form, which should not be merged with it.
Themes and key passages
The palm received before Mary's departure becomes a visible sign in the procession. The apostles' extraordinary arrival assembles witnesses around her bed. The attack on the bier and the later healing turn hostility into acknowledgment within the story. The missing body in the tomb and the belt shown by Thomas lead to its conclusion. Each scene expresses the narrator's belief; the text gives no independent documentation for the details of Mary's death.
Summary by parts
Passages 1–24: Mary asks Jesus for notice of her departure. She receives the palm, calls acquaintances together, and welcomes John when he comes to attend her.
Passages 25–48: the other apostles appear, watch, and pray. After her death they carry the body in procession; opponents try to interrupt it, and a man involved in the attack loses the use of his hands before asking for help.
Passages 49–72: the body is laid in the tomb. Thomas arrives later, reports what he saw, and shows a belt; the others return to the grave and do not find the body. The account ends in praise and a statement of faith.
Reception and historical limits
Accounts of Mary's passing circulated in different forms, as the two Latin versions printed by Walker show. The Catholic Encyclopedia distinguishes belief in and celebration of the Assumption from apocryphal details: it regards the day, year, and manner of Mary's death as uncertain. This Latin form thus documents a narrative tradition without establishing each episode as a proven historical event.
Sources
- Alexander Walker (trad.), The Passing of Mary: First Latin Form (1886).
- Frederick G. Holweck, The Feast of the Assumption (1907).