The Assumption as Reminder

Attributed to Bartolomeo di Fruosino (1366/69–1441),

The Assumption

From an Antiphonary in the use of Santa Annunziata d`Ortabello in Florence

1417

Manuscript

Douai - BM - ms. 1171 f. 074v

"The Glorious Mysteries ...

In the Ascension, Christ was raised in glory to the right hand of the Father, while Mary herself would be raised to that same glory in the Assumption, enjoying beforehand, by a unique privilege, the destiny reserved for all the just at the resurrection of the dead. Crowned in glory – as she appears in the last glorious mystery – Mary shines forth as Queen of the Angels and Saints, the anticipation and the supreme realization of the eschatological state of the Church....

The glorious mysteries thus lead the faithful to greater hope for the eschatological goal towards which they journey as members of the pilgrim People of God in history. This can only impel them to bear courageous witness to that “good news” which gives meaning to their entire existence."

(Pope John Paul II, Apostolic Letter, Rosarium Virginis Mariae 16th October 2002)

"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."

(From Pope Pius XII Munificentissimus Deus (Defining the Dogma of the Assumption) (1st November 1950) )

Bartolomeo di Fruosino was a pupil of Agnolo Gaddi (d.1396). He was a panel and fresco painter as well as an illuminator of books.

By 1402 he was in Florence. From then until 1438 he is frequently recorded in the accounts of Santa Maria Nuova, where he worked side by side with Lorenzo Monaco and in the immediate circle of Fra Angelico.

He sometimes collaborated with Lorenzo Monaco in single pictures