Virgin Mary

There is no evidence outside the gospels for the existence of Mary, mother of Jesus. Even Paul does not mention her in any of his epistles. If Jesus really did exist, he must have had a mother, and Mary was a common name in Judea of the first century BCE. Other than that, it is a matter of faith alone.

Many Catholic shrines are associated with alleged apparitions of the virgin Mary. Bernadette Soubirous, a 14-year-old peasant girl, told her mother that she had seen a 'lady' in the cave of Massabielle, about a mile from Lourdes, while she was gathering firewood with her sister and a friend. Similar appearances of the lady were reported on seventeen further occasions that year, and many Christians believe the sightings to have been of the virgin Mary.

The truth of the apparitions of Lourdes is not an article of faith for Catholics. For more information, please visit: http://christianity.answers.com/catholicism/visions-of-the-virgin-mary

Great question!

Perhaps one of the best ways to begin answering is to locate the question as it pertains to the four central dogmas the Catholic Church proposes regarding Mary. These are:

• Her Immaculate Conception; i.e "...in the first instance of her conception, by a singular privilege and grace granted by God, in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the human race, [she] was preserved exempt from all stain of original sin." (Pope Pius IX, Ineffabilis Deus, 8 Dec., 1854)
• Her giving Virgin Birth; i.e. she was a virgin before, during and after she gave birth to Jesus. (cf. Mt 1:18, Lk 1:26-38, esp. v. 34)
• Her Perpetual Virginity; i.e. she was a virgin all her life, particularly after the birth of Jesus; e.g. "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...let him be anathema." (Constantinople II, Anathema Against the Three Chapters, no. 2, 553 A.D.)
• Her Assumption into Heaven; i.e. "...the Immaculate Virgin, preserved free from all stain of original sin, was taken up body and soul into heavenly glory, when her earthly life was over, and exalted by the Lord as Queen over all things." (Pope Pius XII, Munificentissimus Deus, 1 Nov. 1950)

Was Mary A Virgin?

So to answer the first part of the question, the answer is yes. Mary was a virgin before, during and always after the birth of Jesus. This was taught not only at Constantinople II, but also by Church Fathers such as

· St. Irenaeus (III, 21; see Eusebius, Church History V.8),

· Origen (Adv. Cels., I, 35),

· Tertullian (Adv. Marcion., III, 13; Adv. Judæos, IX),

· St. Justin (Dialogue with Trypho 84),

· St. John Chrysostom (Hom. v in Matth., n. 3; in Isa., VII, n. 5);

· St. Epiphanius (Hær., xxviii, n. 7),

· Eusebius (Demonstrat. ev., VIII, i),

· Rufinus (Lib. fid., 43),

· St. Basil (in Isa., vii, 14; Hom. in S. Generat. Christi, n. 4, if St. Basil be the author of these two passages),

· St. Jerome and Theodoretus (in Isa., vii, 14),

· St. Isidore (Adv. Judæos, I, x, n. 3),

· St. Ildefonsus (De perpetua virginit. s. Mariæ, iii).

Indeed, St. Jerome even dedicated his entire work called Against Helveticus to defending the perpetual virginity of Mary.

Did Mary Have No Children?

Here, strictly speaking, the answer is no. Mary had one child, and one child only, who is Jesus. The fact that Mary had no children after Jesus is a simple conclusion that follows from the dogma of the Perpetual Virginity of Mary.

Other evidence of Mary's Perpetual Virginity follows from a consideration of Jesus' words from the Cross: '"Woman, behold your son." Then he said to his disciple, "Behold, your mother." And from that hour the disciple took her into his home.' (Jn 19:26-27)

According to Jewish custom at the time, if Jesus did have other siblings, then the care of Mary would have been entrusted to the next sibling, rather than to a non-family member. Because it would be highly irregular to entrust the care of one's mother to a person outside the family, such as to the disciple John, this suggests, from a cultural perspective, that Jesus had no other siblings.

I'm [cmvaughan] a little short on time, so I'll pick up the rest of this answer under the following headings next time I'm back. :)

Common Objections to Perpetual Virginity - "Brethren of the Lord"

Catholic Responses

Common Objections to Perpetual Virginity - "No Relations...Until She Bore A Son"

Catholic Responses

That is lost in history. The Catholic Encyclopedia of 1912 mentions that the Feast of the Assumption on 15 August was one of the principal feasts in Rome as of A.D. 700 and that it has always been a "Double of the First Class" (the old ranking of feasts - this was the highest possible rank) and always a Holy Day of Obligation.