August 6, 2016
St. Mary of the Assumption Church
Upper Marlboro, MD
Unveiling Ceremony of the Painting of Our Lady Assumed into Heaven
Remarks by Fr. Thomas LaHood
June 4, 1824 marks the official beginning of the parish of St. Mary’s in Upper Marlboro
with the laying of the cornerstone of her first church. Catholics had been practicing the faith in
Upper Marlboro since the founding of the town in 1706. However, up to the
Revolution, such practice had to be done secretly in Mass rooms or house
chapels because of the penal laws. In 1898 the cornerstone was laid for the
present church on the site of the 1824 church. Up until the 1950s the
parish was known as St. Mary’s Upper Marlboro. In 1950, this would begin
to change.
On November 1, 1950 Pope Pius XII issued the Apostolic Constitution Munificentissimus
Deus (The Most Bountiful God) defining the Dogma of the Assumption of the Most Blessed
Virgin Mary, stating that:
Thus, from the universal agreement of the Church's ordinary teaching authority we have a
certain and firm proof, demonstrating that the Blessed Virgin Mary's bodily Assumption into
heaven- which surely no faculty of the human mind could know by its own natural powers, as far
as the heavenly glorification of the virginal body of the loving Mother of God is concerned-is a
truth that has been revealed by God and consequently something that must be firmly and
faithfully believed by all children of the Church.
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Hence the revered Mother of God, from all eternity joined in a hidden way with Jesus Christ in
one and the same decree of predestination, immaculate in her conception, a most perfect virgin
in her divine motherhood, the noble associate of the divine Redeemer who has won a complete
triumph over sin and its consequences, finally obtained, as the supreme culmination of her
privileges, that she should be preserved free from the corruption of the tomb and that, like her
own Son, having overcome death, she might be taken up body and soul to the glory of heaven
where, as Queen, she sits in splendor at the right hand of her Son, the immortal King of the
Ages.
For which reason, after we have poured forth prayers of supplication again and again to
God, and have invoked the light of the Spirit of Truth, for the glory of Almighty God who has
lavished his special affection upon the Virgin Mary, for the honor of her Son, the immortal King
of the Ages and the Victor over sin and death, for the increase of the glory of that same august
Mother, and for the joy and exultation of the entire Church; by the authority of our Lord Jesus
Christ, of the Blessed Apostles Peter and Paul, and by our own authority, we pronounce, declare,
and define it to be a divinely revealed dogma:
that the Immaculate Mother of God, the ever Virgin Mary, having completed the course of her
earthly life, was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory.
Hence if anyone, which God forbid, should dare willfully to deny or to call into doubt that which
we have defined, let him know that he has fallen away completely from the divine and Catholic
Faith.
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Why was the Holy Father inspired to define and proclaim this Dogma at that time?
Certainly, one very important reason was the rise of Fascism and Communism. Two accounts of
man’s life that reduced our hope to this world. Nazism with its Third Reich that would last a
thousand years; stealing from the bible this image of an immense or incalculable period time.
Communism promises a worker’s paradise, a philosophy that proposes both the end or final
purpose of human life and society and the means to that end. After a terrible war to end one of
these ideologies and in the midst of a cold war against the other, Pope Pius understood that
God in His Providence wanted to provide the faithful with a reminder of our true and only
destiny willed by God: eternal life.
Even though these ideologies has been discredited, if not defeated, the materialistic
view of human live upon which they were grounded is still very much with us. The ideologies
which plague us today all promise complete happiness and fulfillment in this life. The account
of human life that says that our bodies and our lives are material for us to form with our own
will to power and for our own final end or purpose seems to be everywhere.
The need to keep the Assumption of the Blessed Mother before us is just as strong
today. We need to be constantly reminded that we are created by God; that our lives are a gift
from our Creator to be lived according to His will, trusting in His promise of eternal life. This is
how Mary lived and that is the reward she received.
As the Holy Father Pope Pius went on to proclaim:
It is to be hoped that all the faithful will be stirred up to a stronger piety toward their heavenly
Mother, and that the souls of all those who glory in the Christian name may be moved by the
desire of sharing in the unity of Jesus Christ's Mystical Body and of increasing their love for her
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who shows her motherly heart to all the members of this august body. And so we may hope that
those who meditate upon the glorious example Mary offers us may be more and more
convinced of the value of a human life entirely devoted to carrying out the heavenly Father's will
and to bringing good to others. Thus, while the illusory teachings of materialism and the
corruption of morals that follows from these teachings threaten to extinguish the light of virtue
and to ruin the lives of men by exciting discord among them, in this magnificent way all may see
clearly to what a lofty goal our bodies and souls are destined. Finally it is our hope that belief in
Mary's bodily Assumption into heaven will make our belief in our own resurrection stronger and
render it more effective.
The Pastors assigned to St. Mary’s Upper Marlboro, whether consciously or not, worked
to advance this hope of Pius XII. During the 1950s the parish came to be known as St. Mary of
the Assumption. By the mid-1950’s the letterhead of the parish, which up to then had said
either St. Mary’s Upper Marlboro or St. Mary’s Rectory, was changed to say St. Mary of the
Assumption.
On May 8, 2014, David H. Gwynn, Sr. a lifelong and very active parishioner passed away.
His wife, Lucille, designated the Lion’s Club and St. Mary of the Assumption as the chosen
recipients of any donations in David’s name. After many generous donations to the church were
made in David’s name, I asked Lucille what we should do with the money. She asked me if I had
any special project in mind. As a matter of fact, ever since I arrived here, I had considered that
the space beneath the stained glass windows behind the altar was begging for some work of
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art. I suggested a picture of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin May, as the patroness of our
parish. Lucille was agreeable to this, so I set about finding a picture we could use. After
searching the internet and various religious catalogues, I could not find anything that would be
appropriate.
When I saw that St. Mary’s Piscataway had commissioned a picture of Fr. Andrew White
baptizing Kittimaquund, the Chief of the Piscataway tribe, I got in touch with Henry Wingate the
artist for that picture. Henry, a devout Catholic artist was very interested in the subject of the
Assumption. We worked out an agreement and obtained approval by the Archdiocese. Lucille
agreed with the project and pledged the additional funds necessary to cover the cost of the
picture.
Every Catholic Church should have at least one beautiful, original work of sacred art.
While fabricated and copied works of art help to bring many saints and devotions to the people
of a parish, an original work presents a sacred person or event in a special way. Even if we had a
photograph or a video of the actual Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, this picture would
make that event more present to us than even that photograph or video. A photograph or
video is a presentation of the effect of light on chemicals or electrical sensors; whereas, the
painting is a presentation of the intentional being of the saint or sacred event in the soul of the
faithful artist. The painting is an extension of the artist’s faith, a faith that is alive by virtue of
the Holy Spirit. Therefore, the original work of art presents the person or event more intensely
than even a photograph or video. The actual, original work is alive in a way fabricated or copied
works are not.
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This painting will bring people closer to God because of its beauty. Our ability to
cooperate with God in the creation and the appreciation of beauty is a sign of God’s goodness
and of our dignity. Having a beautiful work of art at the center of the Church will lift people’s
hearts and minds to God. Also, children, who cannot always follow the liturgy of the Mass, can
look in awe and wonder at this painting. It will evangelize our children and teach them in a
profound way the beauty and goodness of God.
The work of art should also be representational. Abstract works of religious art present
a puzzle, representational works present a mystery. With an abstract work the task of the
viewer is to solve the puzzle of what is being presented. Representational art presents the
mystery of the saint or sacred event itself. While the viewer is limited to seeing the Assumption
of the Blessed Virgin Mary when viewing this picture, for example, the meaning and impact of
this mystery in the life of the viewer is unlimited. The viewer can contemplate Mary’s divine
motherhood, her love for her divine son, her perfect discipleship, her role as motherintercessor for all of her children, the hope we all have of being raised, like her, body and soul
into the glory of Heaven, etc. These and many more insights and consolations are there for the
faithful to experience when viewing this picture.
Before we finally unveil the picture I want to personally thank Lucille Gwynn and the
members of the Gwynn and Wyvill families that helped to make this possible. I want to thank
Henry Wingate for taking on this commission but, above all, for taking his God given talent and
working to perfect it ever more in the service of our Lord and His Church. Thanks to Lucy and
Michaelah Arnold who made the veil. It will continue to be used for Holy Week. Now, I ask
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Lucille Gwynn and Henry Wingate to come forward and unveil for us “The Assumption of the
Blessed Virgin Mary.”
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