 On 1 November 1950 , Pius XII defined the dogma of the Assumption of Mary , namely that she " having completed the course of her earthly life , was assumed body and soul into heavenly glory . " The dogma was preceded by the 1946 encyclical Deiparae Virginis Mariae , which requested all Catholic bishops to express their opinion on a possible dogmatization . On 8 September 1953 , the encyclical Fulgens corona announced a Marian year for 1954 , the centennial of the Dogma of the Immaculate Conception . In the encyclical Ad caeli reginam he promulgated the Queenship of Mary feast . Mystici corporis summarizes his mariology . 
