page_title: Perpetual virginity of Mary
section_title: Doctrine
hierarchical_section_title: Perpetual virginity of Mary / Doctrine
caption_attribution_description: Image of the Virgin Mary, mother of Jesus, in the Catacomb of Priscilla in Rome. It depicts her nursing the Infant Jesus. This is earliest known image of Mary and the Infant Jesus independent of the Magi episode. The figure at the left appears to be the prophet Balaam pointing to a star (outside the frame). The star is from Numbers 24:17.
context_page_description: The perpetual virginity of Mary is the doctrine that Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ, was a virgin ante partum, in partu, et post partum - before, during and after the birth of Christ. It is one of the four Marian dogmas of the Catholic Church, and is held also by the Orthodox churches and by some Lutherans and Anglicans.
  Mary's pre-birth virginity is attested in the New Testament, but there is no biblical basis for her perpetual virginity. It arose at the end of the 2nd century in ascetic circles who believed that sex and marriage were symptoms of original sin, and was affirmed as orthodoxy during the 4th century debates between supporters of virginity on the one hand and Christian marriage on the other.
  The 4th century controversies centred on the question of whether scripture did or did not indicate that Mary had other children, for the Pauline epistles, the four gospels, and the Acts of the Apostles, all mention the brothers of Jesus; the scriptural evidence is not absolutely conclusive.
context_section_description: The perpetual virginity of Mary is one of the four Marian dogmas of the Catholic Church, meaning that it is held to be a truth divinely revealed, the denial of which is heresy. (The other three are her role as Theotokos (meaning mother of God), her Immaculate Conception, and her bodily assumption into heaven).  It declares her virginity before, during and after the birth of Jesus, or in the definition formulated by Pope Martin I at the Lateran Synod in 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.
  Both Catholic and Orthodox Christianity recognise Mary as Aeiparthenos, meaning "ever-virgin". Thomas Aquinas said that reason could not prove this, but that it must be accepted because it was "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. The 2nd century Protoevangelium of James has a similar message, describing how the hand of the midwife who attempted to test the holy mother's integrity by inserting her finger into Mary's vagina burst into flames and withered. 
  The church teaches that her virginity before the birth is revealed by scripture and affirmed in the Apostles' Creed which states that Jesus was "conceived of the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary"; Pope Martin's definition of her virginity at the moment of birth means that this caused no physical injury to her virginal seal, which is both symbol and part of her perfect virginity of body and soul; while the final aspect affirms that Mary continued as a virgin to the end of her Earthly life, having no physical relations with her husband nor bearing any further children. Symbolically, the perpetual virginity of Mary signifies a new creation and a fresh  start in salvation history. It has been stated and argued repeatedly by the Church, most recently by the Second Vatican Council:
  This 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)
caption: Image of Mary depicting her nursing the Infant Jesus. 3rd century, Catacomb of Priscilla, Rome.
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