The dogma of the Perpetual Virginity of Mary reveals the truth that the mother of Jesus remained a virgin all of her life and had no other children besides Jesus.
Taught by the earliest of the Church Fathers and one of the oldest dogmas of the Catholic Church, the Fifth Ecumenical Council in Constantinople called Mary “Ever-virgin” in 553 AD.
Referring not to just her anatomy or biology but to her spirituality as well, Mary’s virginity is fundamental to who she is.
Jesus’ virginal conception and Mary’s perpetual virginity also confirm that Jesus is truly God.
Contrary to challenges by non-Catholics, words and phrases used in the Bible do not necessarily indicate that Jesus had siblings or that Mary and Joseph had a conjugal marriage.
Mary was a virgin before, during, and after Jesus’ birth:
The deepening of faith in the virginal motherhood led the Church to confess Mary’s real and perpetual virginity even in the act of giving birth to the Son of God made man. In fact, Christ’s birth “did not diminish his mother’s virginal integrity but sanctified it.” And so the liturgy of the Church celebrates Mary as Aeiparthenos , the “Ever-virgin”.
Catechism of the Catholic Church 499
The virginity of Mary means something:
Mary remained a virgin for all of her life:
This union of the Mother with the Son in the work of salvation is made manifest from the time of Christ’s virginal conception up to his death it is shown first of all when Mary, arising in haste to go to visit Elizabeth, is greeted by her as blessed because of her belief in the promise of salvation and the precursor leaped with joy in the womb of his mother. This union is manifest also at the birth of Our Lord, Who did not diminish his mother’s virginal integrity but sanctified it, when the Mother of God joyfully showed her firstborn Son to the shepherds and Magi. When she presented Him to the Lord in the temple, making the offering of the poor, she heard Simeon foretelling at the same time that her Son would be a sign of contradiction and that a sword would pierce the mother’s soul, that out of many hearts thoughts might be revealed. When the Child Jesus was lost and they had sought Him sorrowing, His parents found Him in the temple, taken up with the things that were His Father’s business; and they did not understand the word of their Son. His Mother indeed kept these things to be pondered over in her heart.
Pope Paul VI, Lumen Gentium, November 21, 1964
Mary’s perpetual virginity highlights the divinity of Jesus:
The spirituality of Mary’s virginal motherhood:
In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary.
Luke 1: 26-27
Mary’s virginity is a sign of her faith:
Belonging totally and eternally to God:
The Truth, Goodness, and Beauty of the Catholic Church
What is true beauty?:
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