Mary, Mother of God…The Perpetual Virginity of Mary

EL GRECO, 1544-1614 Detail of THE HOLY FAMILY AND ST. ANNE
ca.1587-1596Toledo, Spain :Hospital de Tavera

Mary Ever-Virgin
Perpetual Virginity of Mary

The Catholic Church:

The second Dogma proclaimed by the Church on Virgin Mary is her Perpetual Virginity, defined under anathema in the third canon of the Lateran Council held in the time of Pope Martin I, A.D. 649, insisting the Council that Mary remained “ever-Virgin”… Virgin Mary was a virgin before, during, and perpetually after the birth of Christ (Ante partum, in partu, post partum), a belief also re-asserted during the first decades of the Protestant reformation.
Even before that, the Council of Constantinople II (553-554) twice referred to Mary as “ever-virgin.”… other Councils also refer to the perpetual Virginity of Mary as ever-Virgin, and the Dogmas proclaiming the Immaculate Conception and the Assumption also refer to Mary as ever-Virgin.
The Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed, as recited in the Mass, expresses belief in Christ “incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary”.
Church Fathers spoke of Mary as having remained a virgin throughout her life:
Athanasius (Alexandria, 293-373); Epiphanius (Palestine, 315-403); Jerome (Stridon, present day Yugoslavia, 345-419); Augustine (Numidia, now Algeria, 354-430); Cyril (Alexandria, 376-444)… St. Irenaeus Origen Tertullian St. John Chrysostom St. Epiphanius St. Basil St. Isidore St. Ildefonsus St. Jerome devotes his entire treatise against Helvidius to the perpetual virginity of Our Blessed Lady (see especially nos. 4, 13, 18)
This doctrine underwent a period of discussion until the late 4th century when general consensus emerged. The earliest witness to the perpetual virginity of Mary seems to appear in the apocryphal Protogospel of James (ca 150). Tertullian (d ca 220) denied the virginity of Mary after Jesus’ birth. Origen (d 254), by contrast, taught Mary’s perpetual virginity. In the East, St Athanasius strongly defended Mary’s virginity after the birth of Jesus. Shortly after, St Basil the Great (d ca 380) accepted Mary’s perpetual virginity and claimed that it reflected the general sense of believers; though he did not consider it to be a dogma. Around the same time, in the West, Jovinian and Helvidius denied the perpetual virginity while Ambrose (d. 397), Jerome (d. 420) and Augustine (d. 430) staunchly defended it. After this time, Monasticism spread widely and the value of consecrated virginity became better known and widely accepted. General agreement and clear teaching on the perpetual virginity of Mary seem to have followed.
The official acts of the Fifth Ecumenical Council held at Constantinople in 553 refer to Mary as aeiparthenos (i.e. ever-virgin). For example, an anathema against the ‘three chapters’ condemns those who deny:
that nativity of these latter days when the Word of God came down from the heavens and was made flesh of holy and glorious Mary, mother of God and ever-virgin, and was born from her …
These statements were not made in reference to a direct discussion of Mary’s virginity. Hence, some argue that this statement was not a dogmatic definition, even though it was issued within a definatory document. For Catholics, such definitions may be made by the Episcopal college, in communion with its President, the Bishop of Rome, or by the Pope in virtue of his Presidency over the entire Episcopal college. Such definitions must be derived, at least implicitly, from the revelation closed at the death of the Apostles.
Though not an Ecumenical Council, the Lateran Council of 649 convened by Pope Martin I also issued an important statement affirming Mary’s lifelong virginity:
If anyone does not, according to the Holy Fathers, confess truly and properly that holy Mary, ever virgin and immaculate, is Mother of God, since in this latter age she conceived in true reality without human seed from the Holy Spirit, God the Word Himself, who before the ages was born of God the Father, and gave birth to Him without corruption, her virginity remaining equally inviolate after the birth, let him be condemned.
After Constantinople II, the title was universally accepted by the Church. Though already present in certain liturgical contexts, references to Mary’s perpetual virginity were then propagated universally in the liturgical life of the Church. Hence, questioning the dogma’s status as a ‘definition’ does not appear to be constructive.
Note that some teachings which belong to the deposit of faith may not have been confirmed by a formal dogmatic definition (e.g. immortality of the soul?).
This is often the case with teachings which have never been seriously contested.
There are other norms by which the Church may have assurance that a teaching has been infallibly revealed by God: consensus fidelium (i.e. general agreement among the entire body of believers “from the bishops down to the last of the lay faithful” [Lumen Gentium #12]); and “universal ordinary magisterium” (i.e. frequent authoritative teachings affirming one perspective on a topic given by the Pope alone, or by the episcopate in general). On the topic of Mary’s perpetual virginity, we have double assurance that the teaching may be considered as infallibly revealed in light of the statement of the 5th Ecumenical Council and by virtue of its constant use in the life of the Church afterwards (i.e. consensus of the faithful and universal ordinary magisterium).
The dogma of Mary’s perpetual virginity is not merely a reference to a historical fact. This historical fact has a deeper meaning, a spiritual dimension. It speaks of the radical character of her God-relatedness. The life of Mary exists only for, in and through God. Further, it speaks of the singularity of the Christ event. Finally, note that this teaching illustrates Mary’s character as type of the Church:
Following the example of Mary, the Church remains the virgin faithful to her spouse … For the Church is the Spouse of Christ, as is clear from the Pauline Letters (cf. Eph 5:21-33; 2 Cor 11:2), and from the title found in John: “bride of the Lamb” (Rev 21:9). If the Church as spouse “keeps the fidelity she has pledged to Christ”, this fidelity, even though in the Apostle’s teaching it has become an image of marriage (cf Eph 5:23-33), also has value as a model of total self-giving to God in celibacy “for the kingdom of heaven”, in virginity consecrated to God (cf. Mt 19:11-12; 2 Cor 11:2). Precisely such virginity, after the example of the Virgin of Nazareth, is the source of a special spiritual fruitfulness: it is the source of motherhood in the Holy Spirit. (Mother of the Redeemer #43)

Perpetual Virginity (Baptismal formula; since 3rd century)

The expression perpetual virginity, ever-virgin, or simply “Mary the Virgin” refers primarily to the conception and birth of Jesus. From the first formulations of faith, especially in baptismal formulas or professions of faith, the Church professed that Jesus Christ was conceived without human seed by the power of the Holy Spirit only. Here lies the decisive meaning of expressions such as “conceived in the womb of the Virgin Mary,” “Mary’s virginal conception,” or “virgin birth.” Early baptismal formula (since the 3rd century) state Mary’s virginity without further explaining it, but there is no doubt about its physical meaning. Later statements are more explicit. Mary conceived “without any detriment to her virginity, which remained inviolate even after his birth” (Council of the Lateran, 649).
Although never explicated in detail, the Catholic Church holds as dogma that Mary was and is Virgin before, in and after Christ’s birth.
It stresses thus the radical novelty of the Incarnation and Mary’s no less radical and exclusive dedication to her mission as mother of her Son, Jesus Christ. Vatican II reiterated the teaching about Mary, the Ever-Virgin, by stating that Christ’s birth did not diminish Mary’s virginal integrity but sanctified it (LG 57).
The Catechism of the Catholic Church ponders the deeper meaning of the virgin bride and perpetual virginity (Read CCC 499-507). It also maintains that Jesus Christ was Mary’s only child. The so-called “brothers and sisters” are close relations.

THE CHURCH PRESENTS MARY AS ‘EVER VIRGIN’
Pope John Paul II
________________________________________

General Audience 28 August 1996

1. The Church has always professed her belief in the perpetual virginity of Mary. The most ancient texts, when referring to the conception of Jesus, call Mary simply “virgin”, inferring that they considered this quality a permanent fact with regard to her whole life.
The early Christians expressed this conviction of faith in the Greek term aeiparthenos—”ever virgin”—created to describe Mary’s person in a unique and effective manner, and to express in a single word the Church’s belief in her perpetual virginity. We find it used in the second symbol of faith composed by St Epiphanius in the year 374, in relation to the Incarnation: the
Son of God “was incarnate, that is, he was generated in a perfect way by Mary, the ever blessed virgin through the Holy Spirit” (Ancoratus, 119,5; DS 44).
The expression “ever virgin” was taken up by the Second Council of Constantinople (553), which affirms: the Word of God, “incarnate of the holy and glorious Mother of God and ever virgin Mary, was born of her” (DS 422). This doctrine is confirmed by two other Ecumenical Councils, the Fourth Lateran Council (1215) (DS 801) and the Second Council of Lyons (1274) (DS 852), and by the text of the definition of the dogma of the Assumption (1950) (DS 3903) in which Mary’s perpetual virginity is adopted as one of the reasons why she was taken up in body and soul to heavenly glory.
Mary is virgin before, during and after giving birth
2. In a brief formula, the Church traditionally presents Mary as “virgin before, during and after giving birth”, affirming, by indicating these three moments, that she never ceased to be a virgin.
Of the three, the affirmation of her virginity “before giving birth” is, undoubtedly, the most important, because it refers to Jesus’ conception and directly touches the very mystery of the Incarnation. From the beginning it has been constantly present in the Church’s belief.
Her virginity “during and after giving birth”, although implicit in the title virgin already attributed to Mary from the Church’s earliest days, became the object of deep doctrinal study since some began explicitly to cast doubts on it. Pope St Hormisdas explains that “the Son of God became Son of man, born in time in the manner of a man, opening his mother’s womb to birth [cf. Lk 2:23] and, through God’s power, not dissolving his mother’s virginity” (DS 368). This doctrine was confirmed by the Second Vatican Council, which states that the firstborn Son of Mary did not diminish his Mother’s virginal integrity but sanctified it (Lumen gentium, n. 57). As regards her virginity after the birth, it must first of all be pointed out that there are no reasons for thinking that the will to remain a virgin, which Mary expressed at the moment of the Annunciation (cf. Lk 1:34) was then changed. Moreover, the immediate meaning of the words. “Woman, behold, your son!”, “Behold, your mother” (Jn 19:26), which Jesus addressed to Mary and to his favourite disciple from the Cross, imply that Mary had no other children.
Those who deny her virginity after the birth thought they had found a convincing argument in the term “firstborn”, attributed to Jesus in the Gospel (Lk 2:7), almost as though this word implied that Mary had borne other children after Jesus. But the word “firstborn” literally means “a child not preceded by another” and, in itself, makes no reference to the existence of other children. Moreover, the Evangelist stresses this characteristic of the Child since certain obligations proper to Jewish law were linked to the birth of the firstborn son, independently of whether the mother might have given birth to other children. Thus every only son was subject to these prescriptions because he was “begotten first” (cf. Lk 2:23).
Several degrees of relationship are implied by the term ‘brother’
3. According to some, Mary’s virginity after the birth is denied by the Gospel texts which record the existence of four “brothers of Jesus”: James, Joseph, Simon and Judas (Mt 13:55-56, Mk 6:3) and of several sisters.
It should be recalled that no specific term exists in Hebrew and Aramaic to express the word “cousin”, and that the terms “brother” and “sister” therefore included several degrees of relationship. In fact, the phrase “brothers of Jesus” indicates “the children” of a Mary who was a disciple of Christ (cf. Mt 27:56) and who is significantly described as “the other Mary” (Mt 28:1). “They are close relations of Jesus, according to an Old Testament expression” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, n. 500).
Mary Most Holy is thus the “ever virgin”. Her prerogative is the consequence of her divine motherhood which totally consecrated her to Christ’s mission of redemption.

________________________________________
Taken from:
L’Osservatore Romano
Weekly Edition in English
4 September 1996