Thus Saint Alphonsus teaches that Our Lady was the “Queen of Martyrs,” as we recite in the Litany, since her martyrdom was “longer and greater than that of all the martyrs.”
So Mary never died yet she was a martyr...
So what do you do, store one truth on one side of your brain and the other truth on the other side and hope they never meet???
Q. Did Mary die as a martyr???
A. Well yes she did...All Catholics know that...
Q. Well then Mary was not assumed to heaven while still alive???
A. Well of course she was...Our Church has always taught that...
Oh, I see....get me outta' here, quick!!!
Actually, the Church doesn’t specifically teach Mary physically died or not, only that she was assumed bodily into Heaven. Pope Pius XII solemnly defined in Munificentissimus Deus on Nov. 1, 1950, 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.” However, if she physically died, the Church doesn’t provide a date or means.
She is Queen of Martyrs, as she is also Queen of Heaven, as mother of the King, the first Christian martyr.
It seems logical to me that Mary, being human, would have any number of human questions. What were those questions? I don’t know. However, we can suppose she may have had questions, and how she may have responded.