The mid-fourteenth-century þáttr, or ‘short saga’, about Jón Halldórsson of Skálholt (d. 1339) includes the death scene of this learned bishop, who, in addition to other ecclesiastical innovations, instituted the feast of Corpus Christi in Iceland. It relates that Jón became gravely ill during a visit to his former Dominican priory in Bergen. The bishop of Bergen administered the last sacrament as Candlemas approached – the day that celebrates the Purification of the Virgin Mary. On Candlemas morning a Mass was sung in Mary's honour. Jón was present but he soon fell into a doze. When the bishop awoke he told those attending that he had seen a kindly looking woman enter the room. Then the figure, dressed in clothes befitting a nun and holding a candle in each hand, ascended through the roof. Asked what the dying bishop thought this signified, he answered that he had been allowed a vision of the Virgin ascending. And, were it not for his sins, his own soul would in due course follow her.

Illustrious churchmen were known to have witnessed Mary's heavenward ascent. In Maríu saga, Mary appears to Anselm in a dream and comforts the saint in his hour of despair. He saw how she ‘smoothly ascended from his sight and home to heaven's palace’ [‘lidandi sidan fra hans augliti vpp i lopt ok heim til himinrikis hallar’]. In Jóns þáttr Halldórssonar the novelty of the scene may be linked with its setting on the feast of the Purification in a way that underlines the potency of Jón's own assured salvation. The feast celebrates the Virgin's purification for forty days after the birth of Christ and her subsequent re-entry into the Temple. The feast was commonly seen, in a typological sense, to prefigure the sinner's repentance and entry into Paradise. The two candles held by Mary not only represent the sacrifices she brought into the Temple, but also the qualities that allow the Christian to enter everlasting life. The scene also highlights Bishop Jón Halldórsson's humility, since he states that his sins will bar him from immediately following Mary. Humility, too, is associated with the feast of the Purification. Anyone with a basic knowledge of Christian doctrine knew that the Virgin did not need cleansing before entering the Temple.