Perpetual virginity of Mary

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Virgin of the Rocks by Leonardo da Vinci, Louvre version.
Virgin of the Rocks by Leonardo da Vinci, Louvre version.

The perpetual virginity of Mary, a doctrine of the Roman Catholic[1] Church, and also of the Eastern Orthodox Church and Oriental Orthodoxy, which in their liturgy repeatedly refer to Mary as "ever virgin",[2] affirms Mary's "real and perpetual virginity even in the act of giving birth to the Son of God made Man." Thus, according to this Church dogma, Mary was ever-virgin (Greek ἀειπάρθενος) for the whole of her life, making Jesus her only biological son, whose conception and birth are held to be miraculous.

The doctrine of the perpetual virginity of Mary thus refers not only to her virginal conception of Jesus, often referred to as the virgin birth of Jesus, but to her whole life thereafter.

On this common tradition of the perpetual virginity of Mary the Catholic Church has built a well-established theology regarding the veneration of the Blessed Virgin Mary via the field of Mariology with Pontifical schools such as the Marianum specifically devoted to the study of this topic[3][4][5].

Contents

[edit] History

[edit] Antiquity


A series of articles on
Roman Catholic
Mariology

General articles
Overview of Mariology • Veneration of the Blessed Virgin • History of Mariology • Mariology of the saints • Mariology of the popes • Encyclicals & Apostolic Letters

Devotions
Rosary • Immaculate Heart • 7 Sorrows • Acts of Reparation
Dogmas and Doctrines

Doctrines • Mother of God • Perpetual virginity • Immaculate Conception • Assumption • Mediatrix • Co-Redemptrix

Expressions of devotion
Art • Music • Architecture

Key Marian apparitions
(approved or worthy of belief)
Guadalupe • Lourdes • Pontmain • Fátima • Knock • Banneux • Beauraing • Laus

The second-century work originally known as the Nativity of Mary,[6] but later known as the Protoevangelium of James, pays special attention to Mary’s virginity. In the opinion of Johannes Quasten, “The principal aim of the whole writing is to prove the perpetual and inviolate virginity of Mary before, during, and after to birth of Christ.[7] In the text, a test confirms Mary’s virginity before birth, and the absence of labour pains, and a midwife’s examination, demonstrates Mary’s virginity during birth.[8] The work also claims that Jesus' "brothers" and "sisters"[9] are Joseph’s children from a marriage previous to his union with Mary.[10] It asserts that Mary's mother, Anne, gave Mary as a "virgin of the Lord" in service in the Temple, and that Joseph, a widower, was to serve as her guardian (legal protections for women depended on their having a male protector: father, brother, or, failing that, a husband).[11] This may correlate to the Bible's presentation that women devoted to perpetual service at the temple was a centuries-old practice contemporary to Mary's lifetime.[12] [Women were not permitted in certain parts of the temple nor were they permitted participation in most of the rituals. There is also no record of a Jewish practice of having "Virgins of the Lord." It was also considered extremely sinful for a husband and wife to abstain from sex,[citation needed] an idea according to which the Qumran community, who are supposed to have been Essenes, who to a large extent lived celibately, were sinners. Also, there was no sex after marriage, the marriage was not considered legal.[citation needed]] This text does not explicitly assert Mary's perpetual virginity after the birth of Jesus. But another book, "The History of Joseph the Carpenter", presents Jesus as speaking, at the death of Joseph, of Mary as "my mother, virgin undefiled".

Origen, in his Commentary on Matthew (c. 248), expressly states belief in Mary’s perpetual virginity. In the words of Luigi Gambero, “Origen not only has no doubts but seems directly to imply that this is a truth already recognised as an integral part of the deposit of faith.”[13] In this context, Origen interpreted the comments of Ignatius of Antioch (d. c 108) as significant:

On this subject, I have found a fine observation in a letter of the martyr Ignatius, second bishop of Antioch after Peter,[14] who fought with the wild beasts during the persecution in Rome. Mary’s virginity was hidden from the prince of this world, hidden thanks to Joseph and her marriage to him. Her virginity was kept hidden because she was thought to be married. [15]

By the fourth century, the doctrine is well attested.[16] For example, references can be found in the writings of Athanasius,[17] Epiphanius,[18] Hilary,[19] Didymus,[20] Ambrose,[21] Jerome,[22] Siricius,[23] and others.

However, Tertullian (155-220), while holding that Mary conceived Jesus as a virgin, denied that her virginity was preserved in his birth, thus emphasizing the reality of her son's body,[24] and the unorthodox monk Jovinian (who died in about 405), who denied that virginity as such was a higher state than marriage, and that abstinence as such was better than thankful eating, also denied the perpetual virginity of Mary and was condemned by synods at Rome and Milan.[25] These views were shared by his contemporary Helvidius, but were not repeated in the following centuries.

[edit] Islam

The Qur'an declares that Jesus was the result of a virgin conception, but describes Mary and her son not as divine, but as "honoured servants" (21.26). The most detailed account of the annunciation and birth of Jesus is provided in Sura 3 and 19 [26] of The Qur'an wherein it is written that God sent an angel to announce that she could shortly expect to bear a son, despite being a virgin.

However, the Qur'an does not say that she would remain a virgin thereafter and thus does not teach the perpetual virginity of Mary. In fact, it speak of her suffering "the pains of childbirth" (verse 23) and thus seems actually to deny her virginity in partu (in giving birth).

[edit] Protestantism

From the fifth century on no opposition whatever to the doctrine was expressed in either East or West. Even the leaders of the Protestant Reformation believed in the perpetual virginity of Mary.

Martin Luther declared that the doctrine was not of vital importance, but "we should simply hold that (Mary) remained a virgin after the birth of Christ because Scripture does not state or indicate that she later lost her virginity".[27] He taught that "Christ, our Saviour, was the real and natural fruit of Mary's virginal womb . . . This was without the cooperation of a man, and she remained a virgin after that"; and that " Christ . . . was the only Son of Mary, and the Virgin Mary bore no children besides Him . . . I am inclined to agree with those who declare that 'brothers' really mean 'cousins' here, for Holy Writ and the Jews always call cousins brothers".[28] In fact Luther held throughout his career that, "in childbirth and after childbirth, as she was a virgin before childbirth, so she remained".[29]

Huldrych Zwingli 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." A sermon on the eternal virginity of Mary, September 17, 1522 (Eine predigt von der ewig reinen magd Maria), Huldreich Zwingli, Sämtliche Werke (Complete Works), herausgegeben von (edited by), Dr. Emil Elgi, and Dr. Georg Finsler, Berlin, Verlag von (Published by) C. A. Schwetschke und Sohn, 1905, Vol. (Band) 1, (vol. LXXXVIII in the Corpus Reformatorum), p. 424 (see pp.385-428 for complete text and notes in German). Cf. [2]</ref>

John Calvin rejected arguments, based on the mention in Scripture of brothers of Jesus, that Mary had other children.[30]

John Wesley wrote: "I believe that He was made man, joining the human nature with the divine in one person; being conceived by the singular operation of the Holy Ghost, and born of the blessed Virgin Mary, who, as well after as before she brought Him forth, continued a pure and unspotted virgin."[31]

Diarmaid MacCulloch, a historian of the Reformation, wrote that the reason why the magisterial reformers upheld Mary’s perpetual virginity, and why they had a "genuinely deep reverence and affection" toward Mary, was that she was "the guarantee of the Incarnation of Christ", a teaching that was being denied by the same radicals that were denying Mary’s perpetual virginity.[32] However, the absence of clear Biblical statements expressing the doctrine, in combination with the principle of sola scriptura, kept references to the doctrine out of the Reformation creeds and, together with the tendency to associate veneration of Mary with idolatry[33] and the rejection of clerical celibacy[34] led to the eventual denial of this doctrine amongst Protestants, who consider that the "brothers" (ἀδελφοί) οf Jesus mentioned in the New Testament were children of Mary (and thus his half brothers), rather than of Joseph by another marriage (and thus his stepbrothers) or his cousins.

[edit] Biblical passages and their historical interpretations

The Annunciation, by Caravaggio. "How can this be, for I know not man?"
The Annunciation, by Caravaggio. "How can this be, for I know not man?"

There is no explicit mention of Mary's perpetual virginity, for or against, in the New Testament (though her virginity before and in regards to Jesus' conception is well attested).[35]

At the Annunciation (Luke 1:34) Mary, told by an angel that she will conceive, responds: "How will this be, since I am a virgin?" Gregory of Nyssa understood this in support of the view that Mary had taken a lifelong vow of virginity, even in marriage:

For if Joseph had taken her to be his wife, for the purpose of having children, why would she have wondered at the announcement of maternity, since she herself would have accepted becoming a mother according to the law of nature?[36] This view is generally followed by Orthodox and Roman Catholic scholars.

In the opinion of the writer Howard Marshall "it is impossible to see how the text can yield this meaning."[37] He quotes the view of a certain Easton that "no writer with a knowledge of Jewish psychology could have thought of a vow of virginity on the part of a betrothed Palestinian maiden", and says that to hold that Mary constitutes a special case "will convince only those who have other reasons for adopting this interpretation of the text". This view ignores the accounts in Philo and Josephus of celibacy among the Essenes, and suggests that the practice of celibacy by the early Christians witnessed in the earliest writings of the New Testament by Saint Paul the Apostle[38] was an unprecedented novelty in the culture from which Christianity sprang.

The doctrine of the perpetual virginity of Mary has been pictured as foreshadowed by Ezekiel 44:2: "The Lord said to me, 'This gate is to remain shut. It must not be opened; no one may enter through it. It is to remain shut because the Lord, the God of Israel, has entered through it.'" Jerome wrote: Only Christ opened the closed doors of the virginal womb, which continued to remain closed, however. This is the closed eastern gate, through which only the high priest may enter and exit and which is nevertheless always closed.[39] Not only Catholic writers but also the magisterial Protestant Reformers quoted the Ezekiel text in connection with the doctrine.[40]

The New Testament mentions Jesus' adelphoi ((ἀδελφοί),[41] which can mean either "brothers" or "kinsfolk".[42] The Protoevangelium of James, as shown above, presented these adelphoi as Joseph's children from a previous marriage, stating that Joseph married Mary after he had become a widower; that would make these adelphoi Jesus’ step-brothers. Victorinus argued that the adelphoi were merely kinsfolk, a view repeated by Jerome.[43] Tertullian interpreted these passages as referring to Jesus’ siblings from both Joseph and Mary, thus excluding the doctrine of Mary's perpetual virginity.[44]

Matthew 1:25, states that Jesus was Mary's "firstborn son" (although Tasker says that there is strong evidence for omitting the word firstborn)[45] and that Joseph "had no marital relations with her until (εως) she had borne a son." Tasker[46] and Hill[47] argue that this passage implies that Mary and Joseph had customary marital relations after the birth of Jesus, with Tasker quoting McNeile as saying that the Greek construction "always implies in the New Testament that the negatived action did, or will, take place after the point of time indicated".[48] Hill comments that "if the notion of Mary's perpetual virginity had been familiar to the evangelist or to the milieu in which he wrote, he would surely have been more explicit".[49] But Matthew 28:20 which says, "I am with you always, [even] unto (εως) the end of the world" does not mean that Jesus would then abandon his disciples. There are several other passages in the Greek text of both the New Testament and the Old where the word "until" does not imply a later change: instances are Deuteronomy 34:6, 2 Samuel 6:23, Psalm 72:7 and 110:1 (as interpreted by Jesus in Matthew 22:42–46), Matthew 11:23 ,Romans 8:22, and 1 Timothy 4:13. They do not mean, for instance, that Jesus will at some point stop sitting at the right hand of the Father. John Hainsworth remarks: "'The use of 'until' in Matthew 1:25, then, is purely to indicate that Christ was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary, not conceived by Joseph and Mary, since they did not 'know' each other 'until' the birth. In this context 'until' is really synonymous with 'before'. If on the contrary it were meant in its full contemporary English sense—that is, if it really meant that Joseph and Mary's chaste relationship changed after the birth—then the stylistics present another big problem: the reader would have to believe that Matthew was actually inviting contemplation of the couple's later sexual activity. This is doubtful to say the least."[50]

One of the "brothers" of Jesus is called "Joses" in Mark 6:3 and "Joseph" in the corresponding Matthew 13:55. Since in Judaism children are rarely named after the father,[51], it is unlikely that Jesus' "brothers" were biological children of Joseph. Besides, the only other mention of Joses in Mark (and indeed the whole New Testament) is in Mark 15:40, which pairs Joses with a James, as in Mark 6:3, and says that their mother, another woman called Mary, was present at the Crucifixion and so was then still alive.

Josephe Blinzler, in his study Die Bruder und Schwestern Jesu concluded that the "brothers" and "sisters" of Jesus were cousins of his. For Simon and Jude, their relationship with Jesus came from their father Cleophas/Clopas, a brother of Joseph and thus a descendant of David. Their mother's name is unknown. The mother of James and Joses was a Mary, distinct from Jesus’ mother; she (or her husband) was related in some unspecifiable way to Jesus' family. There are indications that the father of James (and Joses) was of sacerdotal or Levitical origin and was a brother of Mary. The silence of the Gospels about Joseph after Luke 2 indicates that the putative father of Jesus died soon, after which Mary and her son joined the family of her (their?) closest relative. The children of this family (these families?), grew up with Jesus and were called his brothers and sisters, since in Aramaic there was no other term for them. The early Church kept this term even in Greek in honour in this way these relatives who had meanwhile become eminent members of the Church, and as a way of distinguishing them from the many others in the early Church that had the same names.[52]

[edit] Spiritual significance

Many Catholic and Orthodox hymns and prayers mention Mary's perpetual virginity.

In some modern spiritual writings, Mary's virginity is cited as a counter-example to current sexual mores. In spiritual writings more generally, her virginity is cited as an expression of holiness, devotion and loving self-denial. In some of St. Augustine's writings, he gives her virginity as an example of the mystery of God. Other spiritual writings have mentioned Mary's great humility, which is connected with the sparse mention of her in Scripture and with her willingness to be virginal in order to carry out a part of God's plan. Some writers give Mary as an example of spiritual integrity, of which her virginal integrity is a sign. Over the centuries, it has been a tradition for some of the faithful to consecrate themselves to God, partly by remaining virgins, which is called the "charism of virginity" (or "gift of virginity").

In many icons, Mary's perpetual virginity is signified by three stars that appear on her left, her right, and above her or on her head, which represent her virginity before, during and after giving birth.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Catechism of the Catholic Church §499
  2. ^ Divine Liturgy of St John Chrysostom, Coptic Liturgy of St Basil, Liturgy of St Cyril, Liturgy of St James, Understanding the Orthodox Liturgy, etc.
  3. ^ Mariology Society of America http://mariologicalsocietyofamerica.us
  4. ^ Centers of Marian Study http://www.servidimaria.org/en/attualita/promotori2/promotori2.htm
  5. ^ Publisher’s Notice in the Second Italian Edition (1986), reprinted in English Edition, Gabriel Roschini, O.S.M. (1989). The Virgin Mary in the Writings of Maria Valtorta (English Edition). Kolbe's Publication Inc. ISBN 2-920285-08-4
  6. ^ L. Gambero, Mary and the Fathers of the Church trans. T. Buffer (San Francisco: Ignatius, 1991), p. 35.
  7. ^ Quasten, Patrology 1:120-1.
  8. ^ L. Gambero, Mary and the Fathers of the Church trans. T. Buffer (San Francisco: Ignatius, 1991), p. 40.
  9. ^ Matthew 13:56 and Mark 6:3
  10. ^ Protoevangelium chapters 7-8.
  11. ^ Protoevangelium of James 4, 7, 8-9, 15
  12. ^ e.g. 1Samuel 1:11, 1Samuel 1:22, Luke 2:36-37
  13. ^ L. Gambero, Mary and the Fathers of the Church trans. T. Buffer (San Francisco: Ignatius, 1991), p. 75.
  14. ^ Ignatius of Antioch, Letter to the Ephesians, 19, 1.
  15. ^ Origin, Homilies on Luke, 6, 3-4.
  16. ^ L. Gambero, Mary and the Fathers of the Church trans. T. Buffer (San Francisco: Ignatius, 1991) pp. 97-98; and also for an overview of each source.
  17. ^ Athanasius, Orations against the Arians 2.70
  18. ^ Epiphanius of Salamis, The Man Well-Anchored 120, c.f. Medicine Chest Against All Heresies 78:6
  19. ^ Hilary of Poitiers, Commentary on Matthew §1:4
  20. ^ Didymus the Blind, The Trinity 3:4
  21. ^ Ambrose of Milan, Letters 63:111
  22. ^ Jerome, Against Helvetius, 21
  23. ^ Denziger §91
  24. ^ Jurgens §359, §277
  25. ^ Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church (Oxford University Press 2005 ISBN 978-0-19-280290-3): Jovinian
  26. ^ The Holy Qur'an: Maryam (Mary), Sura 19 (Translation by A. Yusuf Ali)
  27. ^ "Scripture does not quibble or speak about the virginity of Mary after the birth of Christ, a matter about which the hypocrites are greatly concerned, as if it were something of the utmost importance on which our whole salvation depended. Actually, we should be satisfied simply to hold that she remained a virgin after the birth of Christ because Scripture does not state or indicate that she later lost her virginity... But the Scripture stops with this, that she was a virgin before and at the birth of Christ; for up to this point God had need of her virginity in order to give us the promised blessed seed without sin" (That Jesus Christ Was Born a Jew (1523), in Luther’s Works, American Edition, Walther I. Brandt, ed., Philadelphia, Augsburg Fortress; St. Louis, Concordia Publishing House, 1962, ISBN 0-8006-0345-1 pp. 205-206; cf. James Swam (Martin Luther's Theology of Mary).
  28. ^ Luther's Works, eds. Jaroslav Pelikan (vols. 1-30) & Helmut T. Lehmann (vols. 31-55), St. Louis: Concordia Pub. House (vols. 1-30); Philadelphia: Fortress Press (vols. 31-55), 1955, v.22:23 / Sermons on John, chaps. 1-4 (1539), quoted in Martin Luther on Mary's Perpetual Virginity
  29. ^ "Sermon on the Presentation of Christ in the Temple", Luthers Werke 52:688- 99,quoted in Jaroslav Pelikan, Mary through the Ages, 158, and Martin Luther's Theology of Mary
  30. ^ Harmony of Matthew, Mark & Luke, sec. 39 (Geneva, 1562), / From Calvin's Commentaries, tr. William Pringle, Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1949: “Helvidius displayed excessive ignorance in concluding that Mary must have had many sons, because Christ's 'brothers' are sometimes mentioned” (vol. 2, p. 215); “[On Matt 1:25:] The inference he [Helvidius] drew from it was, that Mary remained a virgin no longer than till her first birth, and that afterwards she had other children by her husband . . . No just and well-grounded inference can be drawn from these words . . . as to what took place after the birth of Christ. He is called 'first-born'; but it is for the sole purpose of informing us that he was born of a virgin . . . What took place afterwards the historian does not inform us . . . No man will obstinately keep up the argument, except from an extreme fondness for disputation.“ (vol. I, p. 107)
  31. ^ Letter to a Roman Catholic, July 18, 1749 [1]
  32. ^ D. MacCulloch, The Reformation: a History (Penguin Books, 2003) pp. 613-614; cf. Robert Schihl, The Perpetual Virginity of Mary for an extended list and quotations.
  33. ^ D. MacCulloch, The Reformation: a History (Penguin Books, 2003) pp. 558-63
  34. ^ see John Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion IV,12,27-28
  35. ^ e.g. Matthew 1:23, Luke 1:27
  36. ^ Gregory of Nyssa, On the Holy Generation of Christ, 5.
  37. ^ Howard Marshall, I., The Gospel of Luke (1978), p68. Paternoster Press, Exeter.
  38. ^ 1 Corinthians 7:7, 7:25-38; cf. Matthew 19:12
  39. ^ Jerome, Contra Pelagianos 2, 4.
  40. ^ D. MacCulloch, Reformation: a History (Penguin Books, 2003) p. 614.
  41. ^ Matthew 12:46, Matthew 13:55, Mark 3:31-34, Mark 6:3, Luke 8:19-20, John 2:12, John 7:3, John 7:5, John 7:10, Acts 1:14, and 1Corinthians 9:5
  42. ^ The New Testament Greek Lexicon
  43. ^ Jerome, Against Helvidius: The Perpetual Virginity of Mary 19.
  44. ^ Tertullian, Adversus Marcionem 4, 19, 11.
  45. ^ Tasker, R.V., The Gospel according to Saint Matthew, p36 (1961) Inter Varsity Press, Leicester
  46. ^ ibid
  47. ^ Hill D., The Gospel of Matthew, p80 (1972) Marshall, Morgan and Scott:London
  48. ^ ibid
  49. ^ ibid
  50. ^ The Ever-Virginity of the Mother of God
  51. ^ The Jewish Baby
  52. ^ J. Blinzler, I fratelli e le sorelle di Gesù (Italian translation of Die Bruder und Schwestern Jesu), Paideia, Brescia, 1974, quoted in Giuseppe De Rosa, Gli Anni «Oscuri» di Gesù a Nazaret in La Civiltà Cattolica, 7 June 2008, p. 435

[edit] Bibliography

[edit] External links

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