Perpetual Virginity of Mary

The perpetual virginity of Mary is one of the four Marian dogmas of the Catholic Church, and states that Mary, the mother of Jesus, was a virgin ante partum, in partu, et post partum--before, during, and after the birth of Christ. In Western Christianity, the Catholic Church, some Lutheran, Reformed, Anglican, and a few other Protestant theologians adhere to the doctrine; Eastern Orthodox churches recognize Mary as Aeiparthenos, meaning "ever-virgin." Modern Protestants have largely rejected the doctrine.

The tradition of the perpetual virginity of Mary first appears in a late 2nd century text called the Gospel of James. It was established as orthodoxy at the Council of Ephesus in 431, the Second Council of Constantinopole of 553 gave her the title "Aeiparthenos," and at the Lateran Synod of 646, Pope Martin I emphasized three-fold character of the perpetual virginity before, during, and after the birth of Christ.

The problem facing theologians who want to maintain Mary's virginity is that the New Testament explicitly affirms her virginity only prior to the conception of Jesus and mentions the brothers (adelphoi) of Jesus. This word only very rarely means other than a physical or spiritual sibling, and they may have been: (a) the sons of Mary, the mother of Jesus, and Joseph (the most natural inference), (b) sons of the Mary named in Mark 15:40 as "mother of James and Joses," whom Jerome identified as a sister of Mary, mother of Christ, or (c) sons of Joseph from a former marriage.

The Second Council of Constantinopole recognized Mary as "ever-virgin." It remains axiomatic for the Eastern Orthodox Church that she remained virginal throughout her earthly life, and Orthodoxy therefore understands the New Testament references to the brothers and sisters of Jesus as signifying his kin, but not biological children of his mother.

The Latin Church, known more commonly today as the Catholic Church, shared the Council of Constantinopole with the theologians of the Greek or Orthodox communion and therefore shares with them the title Aeiparthenos as accorded to Mary. The Catholic Church has gone further than the Orthodox in making the Perpetual Virginity one of the four Marian dogmas, meaning that it is held to be a truth divinely revealed, the denial of which is heresy. It declares her virginity before, during, and after the birth of Jesus, or in the definition formulated by Pope Martin I at the Lateran Council of 649:

The blessed ever virginal and Immaculate Mary conceived, without seed, by the Holy Spirit, and without loss of integrity brought him forth, and after his birth preserved her virginity inviolate.

Thomas Aquinas admitted that reason could not prove this, but argued that it must be accepted because it is "fitting," for as Jesus was the only-begotten son of God, so he should also be the only-begotten son of Mary, as a second and purely human conception would disrespect the sacred state of her holy womb. Symbolically, the perpetual virginity of Mary signifies a new creation and a fresh start in salvation history. It has been stated and argued repeatedly, most recently by the Second Vatican Council:

The union of the mother with the Son in the work of salvation is made manifest from the time of Christ's virginal conception... then also at the birth of Our Lord, who did not diminish his mother's virginal integrity but sanctified it... (Lumen Gentium, No. 57)

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