Virginity of Mary
January 2, 2004
Q: Ron: I have a woman in my prayer group that lives with some non-Catholics. They have convinced her that Jesus had brothers, citing Mark 6, 2, & 3. Can you give me solid ground on this? I would like to overwhelming convincing these Protestants that they cannot interpret the Bible line by line by themselves, and confusing a poor immigrant Catholic. Is there somewhere a decree by the Church or Pope that Mary was a Virgin always, before and after and to death? Thanks, Jim.
A: "The Church has consistently taught the perpetual virginity of Mary: she was a virgin before, through and after the conception and birth of Christ. The objection that Jesus had brothers and sisters (Mk. 3:31-35) and that Mary must therefore have had children after giving birth to Him has never been credited in the Church. The persons referred to in the Scriptures were close relations, possibly cousins. Jesus Christ is the only Son of Mary."1 "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.'"2 "Against this doctrine the objection is sometimes raised that the Bible mentions brothers and sisters of Jesus. The Church has always understood these passages as not referring to other children of the Virgin Mary. In fact James and Joseph, 'brothers of Jesus,' are the sons of another Mary, a disciple of Christ, whom St. Matthew significantly calls 'the other Mary.' They are close relations of Jesus according to an Old Testament expression."3 I do not like to use the KJV version of the bible for quotations, but since you are responding to Protestants on this matter I will quote from it in this instance. "And many women who followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering to Him, were there looking on from afar, among whom were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James and Joses (Joseph), (my emphasis) and the mother of Zebedee's sons."4 "Jesus is Mary's only son, but her spiritual motherhood extends to all men whom indeed He came to save."5 "Mary remained a virgin in conceiving her Son, a virgin in giving birth to Him, a virgin in carrying Him, a virgin in nursing Him at her breast, always a virgin (my emphasis)."6 Lastly, the New Testament refers to Jesus as "The Son of Mary", not as one of her children or one of her sons. The way scripture uses "Son of Mary" implies that Jesus was one and alone without siblings.
1 Our Sunday Visitor's Catholic Encyclopedia, (1998), Rev. Ft. Peter Stavinskas, Ph.D., S.T.D., - Editor, Our Sunday Visitor, Huntington, IN., P. 993
2 Catechism of the Catholic Church, (1994), Apostolate for Family Consecration, Bloomingdale, OH., Paragraph 499, P. 126
3 Catechism of the Catholic Church, (1994), Apostolate for Family Consecration, Bloomingdale, OH., Paragraph 500, P. 126
4 New Testament " Psalms Proverbs, (1985), The New King James Bible, Thomas Nelson, Inc., Mt.27:55-56, P. 59
5 Catechism of the Catholic Church, (1994), Apostolate for Family Consecration, Bloomingdale, OH., Paragraph 501, P. 127
6 Catechism of the Catholic Church, (1994), Apostolate for Family Consecration, Bloomingdale, OH., Paragraph 510, P. 128
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