Mary - Ever Virgin

[StColette]

Mary Ever Virgin

Lk:1:34:
28 And the angel being come in, said unto her: Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.
29 Who having heard, was troubled at his saying and thought with herself what manner of salutation this should be.
30 And the angel said to her: Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found grace with God.
31 Behold thou shalt conceive in thy womb and shalt bring forth a son: and thou shalt call his name Jesus.
32 He shall be great and shall be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of David his father: and he shall reign in the house of Jacob for ever.
33 And of his kingdom there shall be no end.
34 And Mary said to the angel: How shall this be done, because I know not man? (DRV)

Now the first thing we must look at is what the angel says to Mary:

31 Behold thou shalt conceive in thy womb and shalt bring forth a son: and thou shalt call his name Jesus.

Now as we can all tell what the angel is telling Mary is not in present tense, but rather in future tense. We are not aware of the date of this future event, but we do know that it is a future event.

Now look at how Mary answers the angel when he has told her this:

34 And Mary said to the angel: How shall this be done, because I know not man?

Now, after hearing the angel's words this is how Mary responded. Clearly not an answer to from a woman who had planned on having children. It is in fact solid proof of her commitment to remain a virgin. Her question to the angel is very much a valid question, since by her response to what the angel has told her, she has clearly vowed to remain a virgin thus her question " How shall this be done ? " especially since the conception of this child was to be in the future and not at the present. One would not say "How shall this be done" when they had planned on starting a family with someone, rather they would most likely be ecstatic at the thought of she and her spouse being the parents of the Son of God. For remember the angel had not yet told her that she would conceive with the Holy Spirit and thus the Child would be the Son of God. Also in remembering that the event of Mary becoming pregnant and bringing forth a son is in future tense, one would gather that instead of saying " How shall this be done " one would rather ask "When shall this be done ?"

Lk:1:35:

35 And the angel answering, said to her: The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee and the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee. And therefore also the Holy which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. (DRV)

By this verse one can see that the Holy Spirit has taken Mary on as a spouse. Since Mary was to be the spouse of the Holy Spirit, she would belong completely to the Holy Spirit meaning that if she were to have relations with another man she would be committing adultery.

“When the Holy Spirit finds his Spouse in a soul, he flies to that soul, to communicate himself to it, to fill it with his presence, in proportion as he discovers there the presence and the fullness of his Spouse. One of the major reasons why the Holy Spirit does not now work blinding wonders of grace in our souls is that he does not find in us a sufficiently strong union with Mary his indissoluble Spouse.” - True Devotion to Mary Part 1, chapter 1, article 2 -

Brethren of Christ

The classic argument that is used to say that Mary had other children is:

Mt 13:55-56
55 Is not this the carpenter's son? Is not his mother called Mary, and his brethren James, and Joseph, and Simon, and Jude:
56 And his sisters, are they not all with us? Whence therefore hath he all these things?

Thus just by using the term brethren and sisters it is automatically assumed by some that these were biological brothers and sisters of Christ in which they shared the same mother, Mary. The main way to rebuke such a claim is to examine the use of the word brethren, not just in the New Testament but in the Old Testament as well. Often times the Old Testament will be discarded into the waste pile, so to speak, if a certain verse rebukes what they are originally are trying to claim. It's the habit of picking and choosing the verses that they want to use to try and rebuke Catholic teaching and ignoring the others. So in the following tract we'll examine the different ways in which "brethren" is used throughout the entire Bible.

Apostles, Mary, "some women" and Jesus' "brothers" number about 120. That is a lot of "brothers."

Acts:1:12-15
12 ¶ Then they returned to Jerusalem from the mount that is called Olivet, which is nigh Jerusalem, within a sabbath day's journey. (DRV)
13 And when they were come in, they went up into an upper room, where abode Peter and John, James and Andrew, Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James of Alpheus and Simon Zelotes and Jude the brother of James. (DRV)
14 All these were persevering with one mind in prayer with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren. (DRV)
15 ¶ In those days Peter rising up in the midst of the brethren, said (now the number of persons together was about an hundred and twenty): (DRV)

Surely Mary could not have had 120 children. But if you look you will see that the brethren referred to in Acts:1:14 and Acts 1:15 are the same ones. So how could this be???? It isn't possible plain and simple fact.

Lot, Abraham's nephew (Gen 11:26-2 , described as Abraham's brother .

Gn:11:26-27
26 And Thare lived seventy years, and begot Abram, and Nachor, and Aran. (DRV)
27 ¶ And these are the generations of Thare: Thare begot Abram, Nachor, and Aran. And Aran begot Lot. (DRV)

Gn:14:14:
14 Which when Abram had heard, to wit, that his brother Lot was taken, he numbered of the servants born in his house, three hundred and eighteen, well appointed: and pursued them to Dan. (DRV)

Laban, Jacob's uncle, calls Jacob his "brother" .

Gn:29:10-15
10 And when Jacob saw her, and knew her to be his cousin german, and that they were the sheep of Laban, his uncle: he removed the stone wherewith the well was closed.
11 And having watered the flock, he kissed her: and lifting up his voice wept.
12 And he told her that he was her father's brother, and the son of Rebecca: but she went in haste and told her father.
13 Who, when he heard that Jacob his sister's son was come, ran forth to meet him: and embracing him, and heartily kissing him, brought him into his house. And when he had heard the causes of his journey,
14 He answered: Thou art my bone and my flesh. And after the days of one month were expired,
15 ¶ He said to him: Because thou art my brother, shalt thou serve me without wages? Tell me what wages thou wilt have.
(DRV)

Here we are again. Laban is Jacob's uncle yet Laban calls Jacob his brother. Again meaning kinship.

The next argument from some non-Catholics includes the statement of " well if they were truly His cousins it would be translated as such, and not translated as brethren."
Simple knowledge of certain words in Aramaic would clearly give the answer to this argument. There is no recorded word that has the meaning of cousin in Aramaic thus meaning that the word for "brethren" in Aramaic would have extended its use into a person's kinsmen.

" The word for brother (or sister), adelphos (adelpha) in Greek, denotes a brother or sister, or near kinsman. Aramaic and other semitic languages could not distinguish between a blood brother or sister and a cousin, for example. Hence, John the Baptist, a cousin of Jesus (the son of Elizabeth, cousin of Mary) would be called "a brother (adelphos) of Jesus." In the plural, the word means a community based on identity of origin or life. Additionally, the word adelphos is used for (1) male children of the same parents (Mt 1:2); (2) male descendants of the same parents (Acts 7:23); (3) male children of the same mother (Gal 1:19); (4) people of the same nationality (Acts 3:17); (5) any man, a neighbor (Lk 10:29); (6) persons united by a common interest (Mt 5:47); (7) persons united by a common calling (Rev 22:9); (8) mankind (Mt 25:40); (9) the disciples (Mt 23:8); and (10) believers (Mt 23:8). (From Vine's Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words, Thomas Nelson, Publisher.) "

[url="http://www.ewtn.com/faith/teachings/maryc2.htm"]http://www.ewtn.com/faith/teachings/maryc2.htm[/url]

Different meanings of Brethren -

THE PERPETUAL VIRGINITY OF BLESSED MARY:
Against Helvidius
by St. Jerome

"THE LORD'S BRETHREN"

I now ask to which class you consider the Lord's brethren in the Gospel must be assigned. They are brethren by nature, you say. But Scripture does not say so; it calls them neither sons of Mary, nor of Joseph. Shall we say they are brethren by race? But it is absurd to suppose that a few Jews were called His brethren when all Jews of the time might upon this principle have borne the title. Were they brethren by virtue of close intimacy and the union of heart and mind? If that were so, who were more truly His brethren than the apostles who received His private instruction and were called by Him His mother and His brethren? Again, if all men, as such, were His brethren, it would have been foolish to deliver a special message,
"Behold, your brethren seek you," for all men alike were entitled to the name. The only alternative is to adopt the previous explanation and understand them to be called brethren in virtue of the bond of kindred, not of love and sympathy, nor by prerogative of race, nor yet by nature.
Just as Lot was called Abraham's brother, and Jacob Laban's, just as the daughters of Zelophehad received a lot among their brethren, just as Abraham himself had to wife Sarah his sister, for he says, "She is indeed my sister, on the father's side, not on the mother's" [Gen. 22:11], that is to say, she was the daughter of his brother, not of his sister. Otherwise, what are we to say of Abraham, a just man, taking to wife the daughter of his own father? Scripture, in relating the history of the men of early times, does not outrage our ears by speaking of the enormity in express terms, but prefers to leave it to be inferred by the reader, and God afterwards gives to the prohibition the sanction of the law, and threatens, "He who takes his sister, born of his father, or of his mother, and beholds her nakedness, has committed abomination, he shall be utterly destroyed. He has uncovered his sister's nakedness, he shall bear his sin" [Lev. 18:9].
18. There are things which, in your extreme ignorance, you had never read, and therefore you neglected the whole range of Scripture and employed your madness in outraging the Virgin, like the man in the story who, being unknown to everybody and finding that he could devise no good deed by which to gain renown, burned the temple of Diana, and when no one revealed the sacrilegious act, it is said that he himself went up and down proclaiming that he was the man who had applied the fire. The rulers of Ephesus were curious to know what made him do this thing, whereupon he replied that if he could not have fame for good deeds, all men should give him credit for bad ones.
Grecian history relates the incident. But you do worse. You have set on fire the Temple of the Lord's body! You have defiled the sanctuary of the Holy Spirit from which you are determined to make a team of four brethren and a heap of sisters come forth! In a word, joining in the chorus of the Jews, you say, "Is not this the carpenter's son? is not his mother called Mary? and his brethren James, and Joseph, and Simon, and Judas? and his sisters, are they not all with us? The word all would not be used if there were not a crowd of them" [Matt. 13:55, Mark 6:3].
Pray tell me, who, before you appeared, was acquainted with this blasphemy? who thought the theory worth a tuppence? You have gained your desire, and are become notorious by crime. For myself, who am your opponent, although we live in the same city [Rome], I don't know, as the saying is, whether you are white or black. I pass over faults of diction which abound in every book you write. I say not a word about your absurd introduction. Good heavens! I do not ask for eloquence, since, having none yourself, you applied for a supply of it to your brother Craterius. I do not ask for grace of style; I look for purity of soul: for with Christians it is the greatest of solecisms and of vices of style to introduce anything base either in word or action.
I have come to the conclusion of my argument. I will deal with you as though I had as yet prevailed nothing; and you will find yourself on the horns of a dilemma. It is clear that our Lord's brethren bore the name in the same way that Joseph was called his father: "I and your father sought you sorrowing" [Luke 1:18]. It was His mother who said this, not the Jews. The Evangelist himself relates that His father and His mother were marveling at the things which were spoken concerning Him, and there are similar passages which we have already quoted in which Joseph and Mary are called his parents.
Seeing that you have been foolish enough to persuade yourself that the Greek manuscripts are corrupt, you will perhaps plead the diversity of readings. I therefore come to the Gospel of John, and there it is plainly written, "Philip finds Nathaniel, and says unto him, We have found him of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph" [John 1:45]. You will certainly find this in your manuscript. Now tell me, how is Jesus the son of Joseph when it is clear that He was begotten of the Holy Spirit? Was Joseph His true father? Dull as you are, you will not venture to say that. Was he His reputed father? If so, let the same rule be applied to them when they are called brethren, that you apply to Joseph when he is called father.

full article found at www.cin.org/users/james/files/helvidiu.htm
___

After read the article you will actually see the different types of "brethren" that exists. That is through nature, race, by kindred and affection. The Book of Deuteronomy clearly defines the meaning of brethren through race, Andrew and Peter are brothers by nature which the Gospels tell us. Abraham and Lot were called brothers, but Lot was actually the nephew of Abraham. And brothers through affection are all those that are the Children of God.

Another important factor to remember is that Jesus gave care of Mary to St. John, not one of his "brothers."

Jn:19:26:

26 When Jesus therefore had seen his mother and the disciple standing whom he loved, he saith to his mother: Woman, behold thy son.
27 After that, he saith to the disciple: Behold thy mother. And from that hour, the disciple took her to his own. ( DRV )

If Mary had any other children, her son Jesus Christ would have entrusted them with her care, not the disciple. And since Mary had no other children it would make sense for Jesus to give his mother into the care of his beloved disciple

Jewish Tradition for the Care of Widows

"When brothers live together and one of them dies without a son, the widow of the deceased shall not marry anyone outside the family; but her husband's brother shall go to her and perform the duty of a brother-in-law by marrying her.
The first-born son she bears shall continue the line of the deceased brother, that his name may not be blotted out from
Israel. (Deuteronomy 25:5-6)

In the old Testament it is seen that if a woman's husband dies she is not to marry outside of the family but instead the husband's brother is to make her his wife. Families were responsible for taking care of one another and did so as God commanded.

In James 1:27

27 Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and
to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

God commands us to care for the orphaned and for the widowed as so the people of the Bible did, by caring for those family members that were orphaned or widowed.

1 Timothy 5:3-13

3 Honor widows who are widows indeed;
4 but if any widow has children or grandchildren, let them first learn to practice piety in regard to their own family, and
to make some return to their parents; for this is acceptable in the sight of God.
5 Now she who is a widow indeed, and who has been left alone has fixed her hope on God, and continues in entreaties and prayers night and day.
6 But she who gives herself to wanton pleasure is dead even while she lives.
7 Prescribe these things as well, so that they may be above reproach.
8 But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith, and is
worse than an unbeliever.

As you see it is even found in Scripture that family is entitled to take care of their own. And if one does not provide for
his/her family he/she is considered worse than an unbeliever.

Even the 4th Commandment gives us instructions to take care of our own families.

Catechism of the Catholic Church

2218 The fourth commandment reminds grown children of their responsibilities toward their parents. As much as they can, they must give them material and moral support in old age and in times of illness, loneliness, or distress. Jesus recalls this duty of gratitude.[23] For the Lord honored the father above the children, and he confirmed the right of the mother over her sons. Whoever honors his father atones for sins, and whoever glorifies his mother is like one who lays up treasure. Whoever honors his father will be gladdened by his own children, and when he prays he will be heard. Whoever glorifies his father will have long life, and whoever obeys the Lord will refresh his mother.[24] O son, help your father in his old age, and do not grieve him as long as he lives; even if he is lacking in understanding, show forbearance; in all your strength do not despise him.... Whoever forsakes his father is like a blasphemer, and whoever angers his mother is cursed by the Lord.[25]

Footnotes:
23 Cf. Mk 7:10-12.
24 Sir 3:2-6.
25 Sir 3:12-13,16.

Jesus spoke on the tradition of caring for ones family in the Gospel of Mark

Mark 7:9-10

9 And he said to them: Well do you make void the commandment of God, that you may keep your own tradition.
10 For Moses said: Honour thy father and thy mother. And He that shall curse father or mother, dying let him die.
11 But you say: If a man shall say to his father or mother, Corban (which is a gift) whatsoever is from me shall profit
thee.
12 And further you suffer him not to do any thing for his father or mother,
13 Making void the word of God by your own tradition, which you have given forth. And many other such like things you do.

Jesus spoke to them in regards to their giving up much of their wealth so that they could avoid taking care of their elder fathers and mothers. He spoke highly against this because it was not done in honor of God but rather to benefit the person themselves.

So as you see that it was the Jewish tradition in the Bible to give the care of ones elder parents or widowed mother into the care of the children, more specifically the eldest son.

In regard to the following verse in the Bible, the meaning of until, unto, or till is often misconstrued.

"Mt:1:25:
25 And he knew her not till she brought forth her first born son: and he called his name Jesus. (DRV)"

Examples of "until, unto, or till" used in the Bible

Gn:8:7:
7 Which went forth and did not return, till the waters were dried up upon the earth. (DRV)

In fact the raven never returned, even after the waters dried up.

Ps:110:1:
1 The Lord said to my Lord: Sit thou at my right hand: Until I make thy enemies thy footstool. (DRV)

Now if we were to take the meaning of until the same way as we would in the verse from Matthew this verse would be very strange indeed. For God is speaking of Christ saying that He shall make His enemies His footstool, and He is to sit at God's right hand until He ( God ) has done this. Now we all know this is truly not saying that Christ will sit at the right hand of God until He (God) makes Christ's enemies into His footstool. We in fact know that Christ shall always sit at the right hand of God.

Mt 12:46-50

46 ¶ As he was yet speaking to the multitudes, behold his mother and his brethren stood without, seeking to speak to him.
47 And one said unto him: Behold thy mother and thy brethren stand without, seeking thee.
48 But he answering him that told him, said: Who is my mother, and who are my brethren?
49 And stretching forth his hand towards his disciples, he said: Behold my mother and my brethren.
50 For whosoever shall do the will of my Father, that is in heaven, he is my brother, and sister, and mother.(DRV)

First of all the word "brethren" means member or sect. It is different than saying " your brothers." Secondly all are considered Christ's brother, and sister, and mother are who do the will of God.

Also the Greek word for "till" in the verse:

"Mt:1:25:
25 And he knew her not till she brought forth her first born son: and he called his name Jesus. (DRV)"

is heos which in means before or until but it does not denote that something happens after this time.

The same word "heos" is used in the verse from Psalms 110:1. In response to the use of "heos" let us also look at 2Sm 6:23.

2Sm:6:23:
23 Therefore Michol the daughter of Saul had no child, until the day of her death. (DRV)

Now the word "heos" is used here again in this verse. Now, if we are going to use the same arguments that many Protestants use for the "until" argument, then one would have to assume that this means that Michol did not have a child until after her death. Now we clearly can tell that this is not true by simple logic. The use of "heos" in this verse is the same as that in Mt. 1:25, meaning that if "until" in Mt. 1:25 means it happened after the birth of Christ then we would have to say that Michol had her child after she died. And we also can't say that until would mean that Joseph "knew" Mary before the birth of Christ because this would completely be heresy because Mary would not have been a virgin when she bore Christ. Thus the meaning of "until" is not entitled to denote a past or future action of any sort.

The next argument can be summed up into the use of the following verse:

Mt:1:25:
25 And he knew her not till she brought forth her first born son: and he called his name Jesus. (DRV)

The usual non-Catholic argument is that the use of Christ being called first born son hints to the meaning that Mary would bear other children. Now let's use simple logic. If my mother had only one son, he would still be counted as her first born son, would he not? For in fact he is the only son.

Nm:18:15:
15 Whatsoever is firstborn of all flesh, which they offer to the Lord, whether it be of men, or of beasts, shall belong to thee: only for the firstborn of man thou shalt take a price, and every beast that is unclean thou shalt cause to be redeemed, (DRV)

In Numbers 18:15, it states that the firstborn would be given to God even if there would be no other firstborns to come after. The firstborn as it was called, just like saying first born son, would be given unto God. Firstborn is used throughout the Old Testament and is referred to in use as the child who opens the womb.

The Gate

Ez:44:2:
2 And the Lord said to me: This gate shall be shut, it shall not be opened, and no man shall pass through it: because the Lord the God of Israel hath entered in by it, and it shall be shut (DRV)

Ezekiel prophesized that the gate in which the Lord entered the world, Mary, would be closed and no others would follow after Him through that gate.

Christ in the Temple

Luke 2:41-51

41 ¶ And his parents went every year to Jerusalem, at the solemn day of the pasch.
42 And when he was twelve years old, they going up into Jerusalem, according to the custom of the feast,
43 And having fulfilled the days, when they returned, the child Jesus remained in Jerusalem. And his parents knew it not.
44 And thinking that he was in the company, they came a day's journey and sought him among their kinsfolks and acquaintance.
45 And not finding him, they returned into Jerusalem, seeking him.
46 And it came to pass, that, after three days, they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, hearing them and asking them questions.
47 And all that heard him were astonished at his wisdom and his answers.
48 And seeing him, they wondered. And his mother said to him: Son, why hast thou done so to us? Behold thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing.
49 And he said to them: How is it that you sought me? Did you not know that I must be about my father's business?
50 And they understood not the word that he spoke unto them.
51 And he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was subject to them. And his mother kept all these words in her heart.

Now at the time of this event Christ was already twelve years old, thus Mary and Joseph have been married for a little over twelve years. There is no sign of any other children belonging to Mary and Joseph at this time, only Christ.

Younger "Brother's" telling Christ what to do

Jn 7:3-4
3 And his brethren said to, him: Pass from hence and go into Judea, that thy disciples also may see thy works which thou dost.
4 For there is no man that doth any thing in secret, and he himself seeketh to be known openly. If thou do these things, manifest thyself to the world.

Never in the Jewish culture would a younger brother give advice such as this to an older brother, to a devout Jew this would be seen as a sign of great disrespect.

Let us not forget that there were other Marys in the Bible
Mk:15:40:

40 And there were also women looking on afar off: among whom was Mary Magdalen and Mary the mother of James the Less and of Joseph and Salome, (DRV)

Mk:15:47:

47 And Mary Magdalen and Mary the mother of Joseph, beheld where he was laid. (DRV)

Mk:16:1:

1 ¶ And when the sabbath was past, Mary Magdalen and Mary the mother of James and Salome bought sweet spices, that coming, they might anoint Jesus. (DRV)

Mt:27:56:

56 Among whom was Mary Magdalen and Mary the mother of James and Joseph and the mother of the sons of Zebedee. (DRV)

"Mary the mother of James and Joseph" is not identified as the Mother of Jesus, and there are many Marys in the Bible so this can not be Mary, the mother of Jesus, since she is always identified that way. As for " Mary the mother of James, Joseph, and Salome" this was not the Mother of Jesus Christ, for it would have said that.


Church Fathers

Origen
"The Book [the Protoevangelium] of James [records] that the brethren of Jesus were sons of Joseph by a former wife, whom he married before Mary. Now those who say so wish to preserve the honor of Mary in virginity to the end, so that body of hers which was appointed to minister to the Word . . . might not know intercourse with a man after the Holy Spirit came into her and the power from on high overshadowed her. And I think it in harmony with reason that Jesus was the firstfruit among men of the purity which consists in [perpetual] chastity, and Mary was among women. For it were not pious to ascribe to any other than to her the firstfruit of virginity" (Commentary on Matthew 2:17 [A.D. 248]).


Hilary of Poitiers
"If they [the brethren of the Lord] had been Mary’s sons and not those taken from Joseph’s former marriage, she would never have been given over in the moment of the passion [crucifixion] to the apostle John as his mother, the Lord saying to each, ‘Woman, behold your son,’ and to John, ‘Behold your mother’ [John 19:26-27), as he bequeathed filial love to a disciple as a consolation to the one desolate" (Commentary on Matthew 1:4 [A.D. 354]).

Athanasius
"Let those, therefore, who deny that the Son is by nature from the Father and proper to his essence deny also that he took true human flesh from the ever-virgin Mary" (Discourses Against the Arians 2:70 [A.D. 360 ] ).

Epiphanius of Salamis
"We believe in one God, the Father almighty, maker of all things, both visible and invisible; and in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God . . . who for us men and for our salvation came down and took flesh, that is, was born perfectly of the holy ever-virgin Mary by the Holy Spirit" (The Man Well-Anchored 120 [A.D. 374]).

"And to holy Mary, [the title] ‘Virgin’ is invariably added, for that holy woman remains undefiled" (Medicine Chest Against All Heresies 78:6 [A.D. 375]).

Jerome
"We believe that God was born of a virgin, because we read it. We do not believe that Mary was married after she brought forth her Son, because we do not read it. . . . You [Helvidius] say that Mary did not remain a virgin. As for myself, I claim that Joseph himself was a virgin, through Mary, so that a virgin Son might be born of a virginal wedlock" (ibid., 21).

Didymus the Blind
"It helps us to understand the terms ‘first-born’ and ‘only-begotten’ when the Evangelist tells that Mary remained a virgin ‘until she brought forth her first-born son’ [Matt. 1:25]; for neither did Mary, who is to be honored and praised above all others, marry anyone else, nor did she ever become the Mother of anyone else, but even after childbirth she remained always and forever an immaculate virgin" (The Trinity 3:4 [A.D. 386]).

Pope Siricius I
"You had good reason to be horrified at the thought that another birth might issue from the same virginal womb from which Christ was born according to the flesh. For the Lord Jesus would never have chosen to be born of a virgin if he had ever judged that she would be so incontinent as to contaminate with the seed of human intercourse the birthplace of the Lord’s body, that court of the eternal king" (Letter to Bishop Anysius [A.D. 392]).

Augustine
"In being born of a Virgin who chose to remain a Virgin even before she knew who was to be born of her, Christ wanted to approve virginity rather than to impose it. And he wanted virginity to be of free choice even in that woman in whom he took upon himself the form of a slave" (Holy Virginity 4:4 [A.D. 401]).

"It was not the visible sun, but its invisible Creator who consecrated this day for us, when the Virgin Mother, fertile of womb and integral in her virginity, brought him forth, made visible for us, by whom, when he was invisible, she too was created. A Virgin conceiving, a Virgin bearing, a Virgin pregnant, a Virgin bringing forth, a Virgin perpetual. Why do you wonder at this, O man?" (Sermons 186:1 [A.D. 411]).

"Heretics called Antidicomarites are those who contradict the perpetual virginity of Mary and affirm that after Christ was born she was joined as one with her husband" (Heresies 56 [A.D. 428]).

Leporius
"We confess, therefore, that our Lord and God, Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, born of the Father before the ages, and in times most recent, made man of the Holy Spirit and the ever-virgin Mary" (Document of Amendment 3 [A.D. 426]).

Pope Leo I
"His [Christ’s] origin is different, but his [human] nature is the same. Human usage and custom were lacking, but by divine power a Virgin conceived, a Virgin bore, and Virgin she remained" (Sermons 22:2 [A.D. 450 ] ).

Council of Constantinople II
"If anyone will not confess that 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, let him be anathema" (Anathemas Against the "Three Chapters" 2 [A.D. 553]).

Even many Protestant Reformers upheld Mary's Virginity after the birth of Christ

Martin Luther (1483-1546), On the Divine Motherhood of Mary, wrote:

In this work whereby she was made the Mother of God, so many and such great good things were given her that no one can grasp them. ... Not only was Mary the mother of him who is born [in Bethlehem], but of him who, before the world, was eternally born of the Father, from a Mother in time and at the same time man and God. (Weimer's The Works of Luther, English translation by Pelikan, Concordia, St. Louis, v. 7, p. 572.)

Luther wrote on the Virginity of Mary:

It is an article of faith that Mary is Mother of the Lord and still a virgin. ... Christ, we believe, came forth from a womb left perfectly intact. (Weimer's The Works of Luther, English translation by Pelikan, Concordia, St. Louis, v. 11, pp. 319-320; v. 6. p. 510.)

The French reformer John Calvin (1509-1564) also held that Mary was the Mother of God.

It cannot be denied that God in choosing and destining Mary to be the Mother of his Son, granted her the highest honor. ... Elizabeth called Mary Mother of the Lord, because the unity of the person in the two natures of Christ was such that she could have said that the mortal man engendered in the womb of Mary as at the same time the eternal God. (Calvini Opera, Corpus Reformatorum, Braunschweig-Berlin, 1863-1900, v. 45, p. 348, 35.)

Calvin also up held the perpetual virginity of Mary, as did the Swiss reformer, Ulrich Zwingli (1484-1531), who wrote:

I firmly believe that Mary, according to the words of the gospel as a pure Virgin brought forth for us the Son of God and in childbirth and after childbirth forever remained a pure, intact Virgin. (Zwingli Opera, Corpus Reformatorum, Berlin, 1905, v. 1, p. 424.)

Zwingli also professed

I esteem immensely the Mother of God, the ever chaste, immaculate Virgin Mary ...; Christ ... was born of a most undefiled Virgin. (Stakemeier, E. in De Mariologia et Oecumenismo, Balic, K., ed., Rome, 1962, p. 456.)
The more the honor and love for Christ grows among men, the more esteem and honor for Mary grows, for she brought forth for us so great, but so compassionate a Lord and Redeemer. (Zwingli Opera, Corpus Reformatorum, Berlin, 1905, v. 1, pp. 427-428.)

God Bless and Mary Protect,
Jennie Catherine

[i7nvd]

That's awesome. Good work!!

[point5]

nice there was much in there I will add to my arsenol

[phatcatholic]

jennie makes me happy

[StColette]

lol glad I make you happy Nick

and thanks i7nvd & point5, and I'm glad it was of some help

[phatcatholic]

i added ur tract to the list

[StColette]

Merci beaucoup