Did The Blessed Virign Mary Die?

For some reason, whether the Blessed Virgin Mary had actually died came into my blank mind few days ago when I was thinking of a topic for this blog.  Today, I searched the internet and found an answer at Catholicism.About.com.  This is what it says, in part:

Pope Pius XII, in Munificentissimus Deus, his November 1, 1950, declaration of the dogma of the Assumption of Mary, cites ancient liturgical texts from both East and West, as well as the writings of the Church Fathers, all indicating that the Blessed Virgin had died before her body was assumed into Heaven. Pius echoes this tradition in his own words:

this feast shows, not only that the dead body of the Blessed Virgin Mary remained incorrupt, but that she gained a triumph out of death, her heavenly glorification after the example of her only begotten Son, Jesus Christ . . .

Still, the dogma, as Pius XII defined it, leaves the question of whether the Virgin Mary died open. What Catholics must believe is

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.

"[H]aving completed the course of her earthly life" is ambiguous; it allows for the possibility that Mary may not have died before her Assumption. In other words, while tradition has always indicated that Mary did die, Catholics are not bound, at least by the definition of the dogma, to believe it. [1], [2] (Emphasis added.)

My emphasis preordains my conclusion: The Blessed Virgin Mary, by having triumphed over death means that She did not  die before She was assumed into Heaven. [3]

The reasoning is simple.  The Blessed Virgin Mary is the Immaculate Conception, meaning that our Blessed Mother was conceived without the stain of Original Sin.  The consequence of Original Sin is death.  Thus, I conclude: No Original Sin, no death.


[1] http://catholicism.about.com/od/beliefsteachings/f/Did-The-Virgin-Mary-Die.htm
[2] This is the link to the original Munificentissimus Deus for anyone interested in reading it (I did not): http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/pius_xii/apost_constitutions/documents/hf_p-xii_apc_19501101_munificentissimus-deus_en.html
[3] Earlier in the same sentence, Pius XII referred to the "dead body" of the Blessed Virgin Mary having remained incorrupt.  That on its face is plain contradiction.  The only way I can resolve the pope's contradiction is to refer to the supposed "death" of a girl in Matthew 9:23-26 whom Jesus said was only sleeping.  "When Jesus entered the synagogue leader’s house and saw the noisy crowd and people playing pipes, he said, 'Go away. The girl is not dead but asleep.'  But they laughed at him. After the crowd had been put outside, he went in and took the girl by the hand, and she got up. News of this spread through all that region."  See https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+9%3A23-26&version=NIV