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Mary’s Perpetual Virginity
Only the Lord entered this
gate
In declaring Mary’s perpetual virginity, the Church not only affirms
that our Blessed Mother is biologically a virgin before Jesus’
birth, during his birth and afterwards, but also that she
dedicated her entire life to serving the Lord with total
moral integrity and perfect chastity. In this article we will
discuss under three sections the virginity of the Mother of
Jesus. First, Mary was a virgin when she conceived Jesus,
virginitas ante partum. Second, she maintained her virginity during Jesus’
birth, in partu. Finally, Mary conserved her virginity all her
life after his birth, post partum.
Virgin before Jesus’ birth
Sacred Scripture
teaches this truth; tradition holds it; we profess it in
our Creed and celebrate it in our liturgy.
In 7:14 of
the Book of the Prophet Isaiah, we read: “Therefore the
Lord himself will give you this sign: The virgin shall
be with child, and bear a son, and shall name
him Immanuel.” The Hebrew word almah (parthenos in Greek) used
here by Isaiah is found six other times in the
Old Testament (Gen 24:43; Exod 2, 8; Ps 67:26; Song
1:3; 6:7; Prov 30:19), all of them meaning virgin. In
this passage Isaiah was announcing something extraordinary and admirable, a
virginal conception. A virginal conception and birth are miraculous events.
Conception through ordinary human sexual relations is certainly nothing extraordinary.
St.
Matthew narrates the birth of Jesus: “Now this is how
the birth of Jesus Christ came about. When his mother
Mary was betrothed to Joseph, but before they lived together,
she was found with child through the Holy Spirit. Joseph
her husband, since he was a righteous man and was
unwilling to expose her to shame, decided to divorce her
quietly. Such was his intention when, behold, the angel of
the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said,
‘Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take
Mary your wife into your home. For it is through
the Holy Spirit that this child has been conceived in
her.’” Matthew continues: “All this took place to fulfill what
the Lord had said through the prophet: ‘Behold, the virgin
shall be with child and bear a son, and they
shall name him Emmanuel,’ which means ‘God is with us’”
(Matt 1:18-23).
St. Luke wrote: “In the sixth month, the angel
Gabriel was sent from God to a town of Galilee
called Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man named
Joseph, of the house of David, and the virgin’s name
was Mary.” Later on, the angel told the virgin Mary:
“Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a
son, and you shall name him Jesus.” When Mary asked
for an explanation, the angel replied: “The Holy Spirit will
come upon you, and the power of the Most High
will overshadow you … for nothing will be impossible for
God” (Luke 1:26-38). This passage provides the basis of our
belief, that Jesus was conceived not through human means but
by the power of the Holy Spirit. So God’s words
prove beyond doubt that our Blessed Mother was a virgin
and her virginity remained intact in conceiving Jesus.
The Fathers and
doctors of the Church unanimously defend Jesus’ virginal conception. St.
Ignatius Martyr wrote: “From the beginning of the world, three
great mysteries remained hidden, the virginity of Mary, the birth
and death of our Lord.” St. Justin, St. Irenaeus, St.
Ephraim, St. Gregory, St. Epiphanius, St. Augustine, St. Leo the
Great, Tertullian and Origen all defended Mary’s virginity. To quote
St. Epiphanius: “Holy is our Savior, who descended from heaven,
worked our salvation from the womb of the virgin, was
born from the same virgin, conceived by the Holy Spirit.”
St. Lactantius wrote: “It is not fitting that the Son
of God should have two fathers, one eternal and one
temporal. As God, Jesus had no mother, and likewise as
man, Jesus had no father.” St. Thomas Aquinas was of
the opinion that Jesus’ conception and birth did not damage
the virginity of Mary, but rather purified and ennobled it,
just as when the Word of God was begotten from
his Father, he did not dishonor but showed the Father’s
infinite and most pure fecundity. St. Peter Canisius reasoned that
since Jesus was mankind’s redeemer, he should not be born
like the rest of us, inheriting Adam’s sins. All born
from Adam are born from concupiscence and need redemption. And
for St. Leo the Great, Jesus’ conception and birth were
so pure and immaculate through the work of the Holy
Spirit that they are a model of our rebirth through
the water of baptism. St. Ambrose compares Jesus with Adam.
Adam was created with the virgin land, and Jesus, from
the flesh of the Virgin Mary. God the Father formed
Adam with the clay of the earth; the Holy Spirit
formed Jesus in the womb of Mary. Both were from
God and a virgin mother. But Adam is God’s creation,
Jesus is God’s substance. In a similar vein St. John
Damascene compares the origin of Eve with that of Jesus.
Both Eve and Jesus came into being without the sexual
union of man and woman. And Tertullian compares Mary with
Eve. Eve believed in the devil’s word and conceived malice
and sin; Mary believed in the archangel Gabriel’s word and
conceived virtue and salvation for the world. Mary was to
be the virgin Mother of God. To be a virgin
shows that Jesus was true God, that is, Jesus had
no human father. And to be a mother shows that
Jesus was a true man. All the above gives us
abundant reasons for holding as dogma, as an article of
faith, that our Savior Jesus Christ was conceived and born
from the Virgin Mary.
Virgin at Jesus’ birth
People have believed that
our Blessed Mother lost her virginity on giving birth to
Jesus, such as a certain fourth-century Jovinianus, and a number
of Protestants at the time of the Reformation. But the
Church teaches otherwise in its councils and creeds. When defining
Mary’s virginity as a dogma at the Lateran Council in
649, Pope Martin I proclaimed solemnly: Mary is virgin before,
during and after the birth of Jesus. Both the prophet
Isaiah and St. Matthew said that a virgin would conceive
and give birth to a son. On the virginity of
our Blessed Mother during the birth of Jesus, the Fathers
of the Church also unanimously agreed. St. Gregory Thaumaturgus (the
Wonderworker) said about Jesus: “You are born of Mary Virgin.
… Her virginity was not an obstacle for your birth,
nor did your birth violate her virginity. … Birth and
virginity, two contrary things, were united. Because for you, who
are the Creator, this is easy and simple.” St. Peter
Chrysologus simply wrote: “A virgin conceived, a virgin gives birth,
a virgin she remains.” Similar opinions can be gathered from
the writings of St. Ignatius Martyr, St. Ephraim, St. Ambrose,
St. Augustine, St. Ildephonsus of Toledo and others. In its
liturgy the Church celebrates Mary’s perpetual virginity. We pray in
one of the responsorials for the feast of our Lord’s
Presentation: “The virgin conceived and gave birth to a son,
yet she remained a virgin forever.” The great theologian St.
Thomas Aquinas gives us the reason, stating that Jesus is
the Incarnate Word of God. Since he was conceived without
corruption in the Virgin Mary, it is also fitting that
he be born without corruption of the Mother’s virginity. As
our redeemer Jesus came to save us from corruption, so
it was not becoming for Jesus to destroy his mother’s
virginity. Mary is the Mother of God. If Jesus were
born the same way as any other human, how could
Mary be God’s mother? Mary is the new Eve, in
contrast with the old Eve. After original sin Eve was
to give birth in pain and corruption. Mary, the new
Eve, without sin, was exempt from the results of original
sin.
How did Mary keep her virginity at Jesus’ birth? Jesus
was miraculously conceived and miraculously born. St. Athanasius and St.
Bernard compare the birth of Jesus from the womb of
the Blessed Mother to the rays of the sun going
through a window pane, leaving the glass intact. Through God’s
power two bodies can be at the same place at
the same time. His intervention can suspend the impenetrability of
the bodies. After the Resurrection Jesus’ risen body went through
closed doors. Today his body and blood are sacramentally in
the consecrated hosts. Therefore the virgin conception and virgin birth
of Jesus, the God-man, do not present any difficulty for
the Lord.
Virgin after Jesus’ birth
All through the centuries people have
denied Mary’s perpetual virginity, attributing more children to Mary and
Joseph. Yet from ancient times the Church has taught that
Jesus, conceived through the power of the Holy Spirit, was
the only son Mary had, and that she maintained her
virginity all her life. Pope St. Siricius said that God
the Father reserved the womb of the Blessed Mother solely
for his only-begotten Son. St. Ambrose and St. Thomas Aquinas
assigned a spiritual meaning to Ezekiel 44:2: “This gate is
to remain closed; it is not to be opened for
anyone to enter by it; since the Lord, the God
of Israel, has entered by it, it shall remain closed.”
Mary is the gate, and Jesus was the only one
to enter it. In Luke 1:34 Mary said to the
angel: “How can this be, since I have no relations
with a man?” This indicates that our Blessed Mother did
not intend to have a sexual relationship with any man.
In John 19:26 the dying Jesus entrusted his mother to
John the Evangelist, saying “Woman, behold your son.” If our
Blessed Mother had other children, Jesus would not have done
this. Regarding Mary’s virginity after Jesus’ birth, proper exegesis is
needed to clear up some confusion. Concerning Jesus’ conception and
birth, the words “before,” “until,” and “firstborn” have occasionally cast
doubt in people’s minds. The most common error is caused
by the term “brothers and sisters” mentioned in the Bible.
Some light will be shed on these difficulties.
In Matthew 1:18
we read: “When his mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph,
but before they lived together, she was found with child
through the Holy Spirit.” Mary was with child before she
lived together with Joseph, that is to say, before she
was brought to Joseph’s home through the wedding ceremonies. This
scriptural passage simply indicates that the child Mary carries is
not Joseph’s. It says nothing about what happens after the
wedding. So it cannot be concluded that Mary and Joseph
had sexual relations after the wedding.
Then Matthew 1:25 says that
Joseph had no relations with Mary until she bore a
son, and he named him Jesus. Again, this verse does
not say that Joseph had relations with Mary after the
birth of Jesus. It simply states that Joseph had no
sexual relations beforehand.
Luke 2:6-7 records: “While they were there, the
time came for her to have her child, and she
gave birth to her firstborn son.” Some people conclude that,
since Jesus is the firstborn son of Mary and Joseph,
there must be second, third, fourth children. But this is
not the case. The word “firstborn” means that Mary had
no child previously, and that Jesus was the first one
who came out of Mary’s womb. It does not necessarily
demand that Mary had more children. St. Jerome says that
every only son is the firstborn.
The most serious problem for
many comes from the “brothers and sisters” of Jesus mentioned
in the Bible. In John 2:12 we read: “After this,
he and his mother, his brothers, and his disciples went
down to Capernaum and stayed there only a few days.”
In Matthew 13:54-56: “He came to his native place and
taught the people in their synagogue. They were astonished and
said ‘Where did this man get such wisdom and mighty
deeds? Is he not the carpenter’s son? Is not his
mother named Mary and his brother James, Joseph, Simon, and
Judas? Are not his sisters all with us? Where did
this man get all this?’” Luke 8:19: “Then his mother
and his brothers came to him but were unable to
join him because of the crowd.” Acts 1:14, talking about
the first Christian community in Jerusalem, says that they all
devoted themselves with one accord to prayer, together with some
women, and Mary, the mother of Jesus, and his brothers.
And Paul wrote in his First Letter to the Corinthians
9:5: “Do we not have the right to take along
a Christian wife, as do the rest of the Apostles,
and the brothers of the Lord, and Kephas?”
But we know
that in the Gospels our Blessed Mother is always referred
to as Jesus’ mother, not the mother of any other
man or woman. And Jesus is called the son of
Mary, not a son of Mary. In the finding of
Jesus in the temple, when Jesus was 12 years old,
we see no trace that Mary and Joseph had other
children.
How about the people mentioned as Jesus’ brothers and sisters?
Who are they? First of all, the term “brother” and
“sister” is used in a very broad sense in the
Bible. From Genesis 12:5 we know that Lot was the
nephew of Abram, later known as Abraham. Thus the verse
says: “Abram left Haran, his hometown, and took his wife
Sarai, his brother’s son Lot … and they set out
for the land of Canaan.” Yet in Genesis 13:8 Lot
is considered Abram’s brother: “When dispute broke out between the
herdsmen of Abram’s livestock and those of Lot’s, Abram said
to Lot, ‘Let there be no dispute between me and
you, nor between my herdsmen and yours, for we are
brothers’” (See the Jerusalem Bible version). Likewise Laban is the
brother of Rebecca, Jacob’s mother. Hence Laban is Jacob’s uncle,
but he is called Jacob’s brother (Gen 29:15). In the
Song of Songs one’s wife is referred to as his
sister: “You have ravished my heart, my sister, my bride;
You have ravished my heart with one glance of your
eyes, with one bead of your necklace” (Song 4:9). Of
course we know that at the Last Judgment Jesus will
call all men his brothers, for he will say to
those on his right: “Amen, I say to you, whatever
you did for one of these least brothers of mine,
you did for me” (Matt 26:40).
The names of Jesus’ sisters
are not given. But four men are mentioned as Jesus’
brothers. They are James, Joseph, Simon and Judas. Who were
they? The Gospel readings shed some light on their identity.
In John 19:25 we read: “Standing by the cross of
Jesus were his mother and his mother’s sister, Mary, the
wife of Clopas, and Mary of Magdala.” In Matthew 27:55-56
we read: “There were many women there, looking on from
a distance, who had followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering to
him. Among them were Mary Magdalene and Mary, the mother
of James and Joseph, and the mother of the sons
of Zebedee.” Here we see the identity of two of
the four above mentioned, that is, James and Joseph. They
are sons of a Mary who is the wife of
Clopas. This Mary is different from our Blessed Mother. So
James and Joseph, the so-called brothers of Jesus are not
our Lord’s biological brothers. Also in Mark 16:40: “There were
also women looking on from a distance. Among them were
Mary Magdalene, Mary, the mother of the younger James and
of Joses, and Salome.” Clopas is Greek. Cleophas is Aramaic.
Alphaeus in Aramaic can be rendered in Greek as Alphaeus
or Clopas. So it seems the Clopas, Cleophas or Alphaeus
mentioned in the biblical passages are the same person, the
father of James and Joseph, and the husband of the
Mary who stood at the foot of the cross with
our Blessed Mother. According to Hegesippus, a second-century historian, this
Cleophas was St. Joseph’s brother. If this is the case,
then James and Joseph, the “brothers of Jesus,” are actually
cousins of our Lord. This makes sense, because the Hebrew
and Aramaic languages have no word for cousin. (The Hebrew
term ahim can mean brother or cousin. The translators of
the Septuagint translated it into adelphos, a Greek word meaning
brothers, not anepsios, meaning cousins.) Cousins are called brothers. As
for the other two names, Simon and Judas, they also
may be children of Alphaeus by a previous marriage.
Most Fathers
of the Church believe that Mary took a vow of
virginity. St. Augustine reasons about Mary’s answer to the announcing
angel: “How shall this be done, because I know not
man?” She would not have said this unless she had
already vowed virginity to God. In his monumental Summa Theologiae
St. Thomas Aquinas gives three reasons for Mary’s perpetual virginity:
First, Jesus is the Only-Begotten of the Father, so it
was becoming that he should be the only-begotten of his
Mother. Second, Mary’s virginal womb is the shrine of the
Holy Spirit, wherein he had formed the flesh of Christ;
wherefore it was unbecoming that intercourse with man should desecrate
it. Third, this is derogatory to the dignity and holiness
of God’s Mother: For she would seem to be most
ungrateful, were she not content with such a Son.
Other defenses
of Mary’s perpetual virginity may be found in the writings
of Origen, St. Ambrose, St. Peter Chrysologus and St. Ildefonsus
of Toledo.
The Church has always professed the truth of Jesus’
virgin birth and the perpetual virginity of our Blessed Mother.
In the Creed we assert that Jesus was conceived by
the power of the Holy Spirit and born of the
Virgin Mary. In the divine office of the feast of
the Annunciation we officially pray, “Zion, let your wedding chamber
be prepared to receive Christ your King. The Virgin conceived
and gave birth to a son, yet she remained a
virgin forever. She knelt in worship before her child.” And
in chapter VIII of the Dogmatic Constitution Lumen Gentium (On
the Church), the Second Vatican Council clearly and amply reaffirmed
Jesus’ virginal birth and Mary’s virginity. Mary’s perpetual virginity is
an article of faith. We believe it wholeheartedly.
Father John Wang,
PhD, is a retired university professor living in Missoula, Montana.
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