August 15 is a Holy Day of Obligation for the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Parishes throughout the country will be invited to join in prayer for the renewal of the dedication. Your local parish has been provided with suggested formats and hymns so that we are united in how we celebrate this occasion.

If you are not a practising Catholic or do not have an affiliation to a local parish, you are still warmly welcome to join us. A list of parishes is available here.

Feast of the Assumption National Mass

Location: St Mary of the Angels, Boulcott Street, Wellington CBD

Date: 15 August 2021

The Catholic bishops of Aotearoa gathered in Wellington to renew the dedication. 

Filmed moments from the mass will be shared on www.facebook.com/catholicdiscoverynz over an extended period.

A more complete version of the film is available here on the Catholic Discovery YouTube channel.

We share this prayer to honour this occasion. Specially printed prayer cards will be distributed within each of our dioceses.

Prayer is below or download here.

E te Atua aroha mā te whakapuaki

i tō mātou whakapono

Loving God in professing this faith

In which we are united as your people

we unite ourselves with the yes of your mother

Mary, the first disciple.

E te Atua, te Puna o ngā mea ora katoa, 

te kaihomai o ngā mea pai katoa

O God, Source of all life, giver of all that is good

We, your people of Aotearoa New Zealand

Meet in the bonds of your love

Keep us faithful in our response to your love

with Mary patroness of our land.

E te Atua aroha, ka karangahia houtia mātou 

e koe ki ngā hua o te ora.

Loving God, you call us anew to the abundance of life

For which we have been created.

In our life with you we mature

in relationship with you,

with one another, and with our land

We repent the harm we have caused in this holy place

To our sisters and brothers and to our land.

In humility we turn to Mary, 

Mother of God, Assumed into Heaven

E te Atua, mā roto i te korowai o Maria 

te whāea o tāu tamaiti, tō mātou whāea anō hoki

O God, under the patronage of Mary,

 the mother of your son, and our mother

We join with those gathered in the Hokianga in January 1838

with the leadership of Jean-Baptiste Pompallier

first Catholic bishop of this place

to dedicate our land of Aotearoa New Zealand

To the care of Mary, Mother of God, Assumed into Heaven.

I tenei wā, ka whakahoungia e mātou tēnei oati tapu

We now renew this dedication

Turning to Mary with new fervour

In union with her Son

Our Lord Jesus Christ

Who lives and reigns with you

In the unity of the Holy Spirit

God forever and ever

Amen

The artwork will hikoi throughout New Zealand, visiting parishes, schools, and places of significance. This hikoi will commence on the Feast of the Assumption, 15 August 2021, and end after a year, on 15 August 2022.

Please note the dates presented above are provisional and subject to change. Our ability to post dates on this website has been affected by current Covid-19 Alert Level restrictions.

Te Hīkoi Wairua mo Te Ara a Maria will travel through the Diocese of Dunedin and Christchurch until mid-December. Once they become available, detailed listings will be posted on https://www.tearaamaria.nz/events

After this tour the artwork will be permanently installed in Wellington at the St. Mary of the Angels Church. This will be celebrated with a Shrine dedication on the Feast of Assumption, 15 August 2022.

Enjoy this piece of music specially composed by Father Chris Skinner SM a priest of the Society of Mary. An appropriate connection as it was priests of the Society of Mary that accompanied Bishop Pompallier when he arrived in New Zealand in 1838.

Click on the three dots and choose to download song.

From his arrival in January 1838 Bishop Pompallier sought to foster a relationship with the tangata whenua, the first people of this land Aotearoa. In responding to a Māori tradition for music the Bishop offered a hymn, composed in their own language, and giving honour to a woman living in relationship with the transcendent, and encouraging love

In the almost two centuries of Catholic faith this powerful and beautiful hymn has been welcomed and sung throughout our land. Different regional pronunciations and subsequent adaptations of the original lyrics have made it difficult to sing this national hymn in a way that is unified and harmonious.

With the Feast of the Assumption with the rededication of Aotearoa New Zealand to Mary, Mother of God, Assumed into Heaven, we have taken the opportunity to once again learn again this hymn, lyric, melody and pronunciation, from the people of the Hokianga for whom this himene was first composed.

Lyrics to this beautiful himene can be downloaded here.

The Lead Sheet in G can be accessed here. Please note the lyrics included on the music sheet differ from the original lyrics we are promoting.

The National Liturgy Office and friends have produced a number of video guides about Mō Maria that can be viewed on YouTube 

The videos include background stories, history, lyrics and a guide to pronounciation. More information is included on a National Liturgy Office page dedicated to Mō Maria.

A soundtrack of the himene being lovingly sung by students, parents and teachers of Te Kura Taumata o Panguru is included below. The file can be downloaded by clicking on the three dots.

Mō Maria aianei

O tātou waiata

Kia kaha rā tātou

Kia nui te aroha

For Mary now

Our songs

Let us be strong

Let there be great love.

Chorus

Mō Maria aianei

O tātou waiata

Kia kaha rā tātou

Kia nui te aroha

For Mary now

Our songs

Let us be strong

Let there be great love.

Verse 2

Aroha ki te Atua

Aroha ki a Maria

i te Rangi,

te whenua

āke tonu, āke tonu.

Love God

Love Mary

In heaven

And on earth

For ever and ever.

Chorus