The Virginity of Mary

The Mother of Christ was a virgin in conceiving our Lord; Christ has no human father. It is not fitting that Christ should have a father other than the Eternal Father. And St. Augustine says (De Sanct. Virg.): “Itis fitting that our Head, by a great miracle, should be born, inthe flesh, of a virgin, to signify that his members should be born,in the Spirit, of a virgin Church.”

The Mother of Christ was a virgin in giving birth to her Divine Son. She fulfills the prophecy (Isa.7:14): “Behold a virgin shall conceive, and shall bear ason.” And St. Augustine, in a Christmas sermon, declares how suitable is the Virgin Birth of Christ: “He who came to cure corruption should not, by his birth, violate integrity.”Christ was born of Mary, by divine power, so that her body was not broken or violated. Nor did Mary endure birth-pangs, or need the help of kindly neighbor-women for the delivering of her Child. Painlessly, and without change in Mary’s virgin body, her Son emerged from the tabernacle of her spotless womb, as he was later to emerge from the tomb, without moving the stone or breaking the seal of Pilate.

The Mother of God was a virgin after the birth of Christ. Mary had no children other than our Lord. For: (a) Theonly begotten of the Father has such dignity as God, that he must necessarily, as man, be the only-begotten of his mother. (b) Thevirginal womb of Mary is the shrine of the Holy Ghost, and should not be desecrated by a merely human conception. (c) It is unthinkable that Mary, after the divinely wrought conception of Christ in her womb, should choose to forfeit the sacred virginitymiraculously preserved in her during the conception and birth ofour Lord. (d) St. Joseph would never have presumed to approachcarnally one whom he knew, by the angel’s word, to have conceived of the Holy Ghost. Hence, we must say that Mary, before,during, and after the birth of Christ, was a virgin.

Mary had a vow of virginity. Her words to the angel ofthe Annunciation, “I know not man” (Luke 1:34), indicate as much. Besides, works of perfection are more excellent when consecrated by a vow, and Mary’s virginity had surely the greatest excellence it could have. Mary took a husband, as custom required, yet took with him a vow of virginity.