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PART I: THE VIRGINITY IN SCRIPTURE Our insight into Mary's virginal conception of Jesus comes from the Gospels of Matthew and from Luke. The virginal conception is not referred to in Paul, Mark or John. Raymond Brown asserts that the belief in the virginal conception preceded Matthew and Luke:
In Matthew's Gospel (1:18-25) we learn about Jesus' miraculous conception through the revelations made to Joseph. Mary is betrothed to Joseph. There were two stages to marriage among the Jewish people at this time. The first step was the betrothal, which involved consent before witnesses. This contract was so binding that the woman could be referred to as a "wife," as in Matthew 1:20, 24 where Mary is referred to as Joseph's gynê. The bride remained with her family for about a year, after which she was taken to her husband's home. In parts of Judea the man was allowed to be alone with his betrothed before she actually came to his house but this was not allowed in Galilee.2 Although Matthew situates Mary and Joseph in Bethlehem and not in Galilee, Brown observes: "Matthew's story of virginal conception is set in a background of peculiarly Galilean marriage customs."3 Matthew 1:19 relates: "Joseph, her husband, since he was a righteous man, yet unwilling to expose her to shame, decided to divorce her quietly." The general interpretation is that Joseph assumed that something was wrong. The New American Bible attests: "As a devout observer of the Mosaic law, Joseph wished to break his union with someone whom he suspected of gross violation of the law. It is commonly said that the law required him to do so, but the texts usually given in support of that view, e.g. Deuteronomy 22:20-21, do not clearly pertain to Joseph's situation. Unwilling to expose her to shame: the penalty for proven adultery was death by stoning; cf. Deuteronomy 22:21-23."4 The New Jerusalem Bible offers two possibilities: "It is perhaps because Joseph is upright that he does not want to name as his own a child of an unknown father. Another explanation is that he is deterred from proceeding with the marriage by reverence for the mystery of Mary's motherhood and has to be persuaded by means of the angelic message that it is still God's will that he should take her to wife."5 Rene Laurentin endorses the latter explanation: "This account by Matthew contains no hint of any suspicion on Joseph's part...What Joseph knew, according to Matthew 18, is that this child belonged to God alone. Justice required that he not seek to make his own either the holy offspring that was not his or this wife who belonged to God. He therefore withdrew quietly to avoid putting Mary in an awkward situation."6 Laurentin does acknowledge that the interpretation described as "Joseph's suspicion" has been "dominant in exegesis from the time of Justin, Ambrose, Augustine, Chrysostom, onward."7
Matthew 1:22-23 states: "All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had
said
through the prophet: Probably in the third century, although possibly extending into the second century, before Christ, Jews living in Alexandria, Egypt, composed a Greek translation of the Hebrew Scriptures. This was called the Septuagint, meaning "seventy," and is thus referred to as LXX. The name recalls the (unfounded) legend that seventy-two elders did the translation in seventy-two days. Since this version of the Scriptures was used by Greek-speaking Jews, it was the version used by most of the early Christians. Generally the New Testament's references to the Old Testament are to the Septuagint. In the Septuagint, the Hebrew word, 'almâ is rendered by the Greek word parthenos which actually means "virgin." The Septuagint does not necessarily imply that the child will be conceived while the woman is still a virgin. However, Matthew finds a fuller sense to this text in which a virgin bears a child. Matthew asserts that this fulfills what the Lord had spoken through the prophet. This would be an instance of the difference between the literal sense of Isaiah, the original author, and a fuller sense understood by the Church, which was intended by God, if not by the human author. The New Jerusalem Bible grants that Isaiah, at least, intended more than just the birth of a child:
Isaiah 7:14 is not Matthew's source for believing in the virginal conception of Jesus. The authors of the ecumenical work, Mary in the New Testament, comment: "[I]t was unlikely that Matthew first came to the idea of the virginal conception of Jesus by reflecting on Isaiah 7:14, a text, that, as far as we know, no Jew had previously seen as indicative of a virginal conception of the Messiah. However, if there was already an idea that Jesus had been virginally conceived, this may have reminded Matthew of Isaiah 7:14 which the would then have reinterpreted as foretelling this conception."9 Brown in his work, The Virginal Conception & Bodily Resurrection of Jesus, likewise affirms: "[I]t is dubious that Isaiah 7:14 was the origin of Matthew's tradition of a virginal conception; elsewhere, including chapter 2, it is Matthew's custom to add fulfillment or formula citations to existing traditions. And, indeed, there is no proof that Isaiah 7:14 played any major role in shaping the Lucan account of the virginal conception."10 Matthew 1:25 relates: "He had no relations with her until she bore a son, and he named him Jesus." In Luke it will be Mary who calls her son Jesus (Luke 1:32). The word "until" eôs is ambiguous. Matthew's concern is to explain the virginal conception of Jesus. This same expression is used by the LXX to explain David's relationship with his wife Michal, Saul's daughter. "And Michal, the daughter of Saul, had no child eôs the day of her death" (2 Samuel 6:23 ). In Luke 1: 34, Mary's response to the angel's message that she will have a child is: "I do not know a man" epei andra ou ginôskô. "To know" is the Semitic expression for sexual relations. The same word is used in Matt 1:25, "He did not know eginôsken her."
Luke makes it clear that Mary is a virgin. Virginity was not valued by the
Jews. Thus the daughter of Ignace de la Potterie raises the question whether Mary had intended to preserve her virginity despite her marriage to Joseph. He writes: "We do not think that it is a question of a conscious decision to keep one's virginity. That would be putting too much into the text. At this moment in salvation history that would be an anachronism. It is rather a question of orientation, of a profound attraction to a virginal way of life, a secret desire for virginity, proved and existentially experienced by Mary, but which could not yet take the form of a decision, because that was impossible in the milieu in which she lived."11 Pope John Paul II in a Wednesday audience in 1997, draws attention to Mary's question, "How can this be?" Would this be a difficulty if she did not have the intention to remain a virgin? The Pope mentions that celibacy was practiced among the Essenes at Qumran and among a sect related to the Essenes in Egypt called the Therapeutae, although he doubts that Mary was aware of these movements. He believes her grace of celibacy is related to her Immaculate Conception. Although the second chapter of Luke does not bring out Mary's virginity, a little aside in the third chapter does. In the genealogy, Luke 3:23 tells us: "When Jesus began His ministry He was about thirty years of age. He was the son, as was thought, of Joseph." Fitzmyer observes: "As in the Matthean genealogy, Jesus ancestry is traced through Joseph, not through Mary...To Joseph a legal or commonly estimated paternity is thus ascribed; Jesus is regarded as his heir. This is also the reason why Mary and Joseph are described as 'his parents' in 2:41, and Mary is made to refer to Joseph, in speaking to Jesus as 'your father' (2:48). Cf. 4:22; John 1:45; 6:42. "12 Traditionally Mary's virginity has been described as ante partum (before the birth), inpartu (during childbirth without breaking the hymen and/or a birth without pain) and post partum (after the birth of Jesus). A question rises regarding the "brothers and the sisters of the Lord." If they are Mary's children, then Mary's virginity relates only to Jesus' conception and possibly his birth. References to the brothers and at times also the sisters of Jesus are found in various places in the New Testament such as Mark 3:31; 6:3; Matthew 13:55; Luke 8:19-20; John 2:12; 7:5; Acts 12:17; 15:13; 21:18; 1 Corinthians 15:7; Galatians 1:19; 2:9, 12; James 1:1; Jude 1.
There is an indication in the text that clearly raises the possibility that those who are described adelphoi are not Jesus' blood brothers. In Mark 6:3, his brothers are spoken of as James, and Joses, Judas and Simon. Then when Mark identifies the women at the Cross when Jesus died, he states: "Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of the younger James and of Joses, and Salome" (15:40). Is this a coincidence? In Matthew 13:55, His brothers are James, Joseph, Simon and Judas. When Matthew names the women at the cross, he lists: "Among them were Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of the sons of Zebedee."
A thorough study of the issue was made by Joseph Blinzler entitled Die Bruder und Schwestern Jesu (SBS 21; Stuttgart: Katholisches Bibelwerk, 1967). His conclusion was that those described as brothers and sisters were cousins. PART II: THE VIRGINITY IN THE FATHERS The first reference in the Fathers to Mary's Virginity is found in the writings of Ignatius who died between 110-115 AD. One of Ignatius' concerns was to refute the Docetists who denied the reality of Jesus' flesh since in their opinion the matter could not be spiritual, thus Jesus only seemed to have a body. Two of his five references to Mary mention her virginity:
A curious work written in the middle of the second century is the Protoevangelium of James, which is an apocryphal gospel. In this account Anna, the wife of Joachim, mourns her barrenness. After an apparition of two angels to Anna, Joachim offers sacrifices and Anna bears Mary. When Mary is three years old, she is brought to the temple where she dances on the steps of the altar. Mary stays in the temple and is fed by angels. When she is twelve the high-priest determines that she should be married and he asks the widowers to bring their staffs. A dove flies out of Joseph's staff and rests on his head. Joseph protests that he is an old man. In the meanwhile Mary is asked by the high-priest to spin a new purple veil for the temple. As she is drawing water, she experiences the Annunciation and then visits her cousin Elizabeth. Joseph goes away building houses. When he returns he is startled to notice that Mary is pregnant and felt he is responsible for not have watched over her more carefully. When the priest finds out that Mary is pregnant, he conducts a trial. Joseph is made to drink some potion which will reveal his crime. When Joseph remains well, the priest sends them off. Because of the decree calling for the census, the couple go to Bethlehem where Jesus is born in a cave. Joseph seeks a midwife. Another woman Salome certifies that Mary's virginity is intact but her hand is withered until an angel heals her. After the wise men come, Herod seeks to kill the children. Elizabeth looks for a place to hide her son John in the mountains which divide to hide them. When Herod cannot find John, he sends his soldiers to the Temple where they murder Zachariah who is offering sacrifice at the altar.17 One cannot help but notice the difference between the simplicity of the Gospels of the Church and this work which tends to be complicated and concentrate on what seems to be almost magical, e.g. a dove flying out of Joseph's staff. Rene Laurentin says of this work:
With Clement of Alexandria (150-215) we find an explication of Mary's virginity which seems to show the influence of the Protoevangelium or similar sources:
Tertullian (155/160-240/250) was born in Carthage. He affirms Mary's virginal conception of Jesus:
Tertullian, while affirming Mary's virginal conception of Jesus, did not hold that Mary was virginal in childbirth. He also considered the "brothers and sisters" to be blood brothers and sisters. Origen (185-254) was born in Alexandria. He believed in Mary's perpetual virginity, stating: "There is no child of Mary except Jesus, according to the opinion of those who think correctly about her. "23 The same teaching is found in his Commentary on Matthew. "Those who speak thus mean to safeguard Mary's dignity in the virginity she conserved until the end, so that body chosen to serve the Word... did not know any relations with a man, after the point that the Holy Spirit came down upon her and the power of the Most High overshadowed her. "24 Athanasius (295-373), bishop of Alexandria, makes the argument for Mary's perpetual virginity from the Gospel of John:
In St. Ambrose (339/340-397), bishop of Milan, we see explicit reference to Mary's virginity in childbirth: "Since Christ was born from the womb of the Virgin, nevertheless he preserved the enclosure of her sexual chastity and the untouched seal of her virginity."26 And, "Behold the miracle of Our Lord's Mother. She conceived, a Virgin; she brought forth, a Virgin. A Virgin was she when she conceived, a Virgin when pregnant, a Virgin after childbirth: as it is says in Ezekiel: And the gate was shut, and it was not opened for the Lord passed through it." 27 St. Hilary (315-367), Bishop of Poitiers, who was a defender of the Creed of Nicea against the Arians, argues regarding Mary's perpetual virginity on the basis of John's Gospel:
Epiphanius of Salamis (d.403) taught the perpetual virginity of Mary: "Is not the very name [virgin] sufficient witness? Is it not enough to convince you, you quarrelsome fellow? Was there ever anyone who dared pronounce the name of holy Mary without immediately adding the title 'Virgin.'"29 Epiphanius considered Joseph to be old and Jesus' "brothers" to be Joseph's children of a previous marriage. Jerome (347-419/420), who was born in Stridon in Dalmatia, present Croatia, and died in Bethlehem, we find very explicit teachings on the perpetual virginity of Mary in his work against Helvidius:
Jerome responds to Helvidius' appeal to Tertullian: "Feeling himself to be a smatterer, he then produces Tertullian as a witness...Of Tertullian I say no more than that he did not belong to the Church. "31 Jerome disregarded the apocryphal gospels: "No midwife assisted at his birth; no woman's officiousness intervened. With her own hands she wrapped Him in swaddling clothes, herself both mother and midwife, 'and laid Him,' we are told, 'in a manger, because there was no room in the inn'; a statement which on one hand, refutes the ravings of the apocryphal accounts... "32 St. Jerome makes it clear that his emphasis on Mary's virginity is not a rejection of marriage:
St. Augustine, (354-430) teaches Mary's virginal conception and birth: "The angel makes the announcement, the virgin hears, believes, and conceives; faith in the mind, Christ in the womb. The virgin conceived; you're astonished; the virgin gave birth; you're more astonished still; after giving birth she remained a virgin."34 He also maintains the perpetual virginity of Mary: "As in the womb of the Virgin Mary no one was conceived before Him, and no one after Him, so in the sepulcher there was no one buried before Him, and no one after Him."35 PART III: THE VIRGINITY IN THE CHURCH'S TEACHING
Letter of Pope Siricius to Anysius, Bishop of Thessalonica: "Your holiness is rightly repelled by the idea that any other birth should have taken place from the womb whence Christ was born according to the flesh. Jesus would not have chosen to be born of a virgin if he had to regard her as being so little continent as to desecrate the place of birth of the Lord's body, that temple of the eternal King, by human intercourse"36 Paul IV in the Constitution Cum Quorundam (1555): "[The opinion is condemned that Jesus Christ] was not conceived according to the flesh by the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary, ever Virgin...or that the same most blessed Virgin Mary is not the true mother of God and did not retain her virginity intact before the birth, in the birth, and after the birth in perpetuity." PART VI: THE THEOLOGICAL SIGNIFICANCE OF MARY'S VIRGINITY The theological significance of Mary's virginity would seem to lie in her total self- giving to God and in her total fruitfulness as a result of that self-giving. Cardinal Ratzinger has made some comments on the denial of the virginity of Mary:
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'Behold, the virgin shall be with child and bear a son, and they shall name
him Emmanuel'" referring to Isaiah 7:14. The Hebrew of Isaiah 7:14 uses 'almâ which means a young maiden of marriageable age. In its context, during
the Syro-Ephraimite war of 734, Isaiah is foretelling that God will give King
Ahaz a sign
which will be the birth of a son from a young woman. 
Jephthah goes to the mountains to bewail her virginity because 'She had never known
a man' (Judges 11:39). Similarly, Judges 12:12 speaks of four hundred virgins 'who
never slept with a man' as though they were unfulfilled.