By Jenna Marie Cooper
OSV News
Q: Something that’s always been kind of interesting to me is how much Protestants object to Mary’s perpetual virginity. Why don’t Protestants just let that one be and not get worked up about it? (Texas)
A: First of all, I think we need to make sure we’re not painting with too broad of a brush. “Protestants” is a big category, and different Protestant denominations profess a wide variety of specific beliefs on different points of Christian doctrine. For example, certain traditional Anglicans or Episcopalians might retain a belief in Mary’s perpetual virginity, even to the point of giving some of their parishes names like “the Church of St. Mary the Virgin.”
But getting to the real substance of your question, one thought is that many Protestant denominations have a very heavy emphasis on “sola scriptura,” or the belief that we should look to the Bible alone for knowledge of faith and morals. This is in contrast with the Catholic belief in both the Bible and the teachings outside of Scripture, which have been handed down via sacred tradition (as described in 2 Thessalonians 2:15).
In Luke 1:34, at the Annunciation when the angel Gabriel tells Mary that she will conceive the Savior, Mary asks: “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” As many scholars and saints over the centuries have observed, this question would not make sense if Mary had intended on having marital relations with Joseph at some point. In fact, the Catechism of the Catholic Church (497) explains, “The gospel accounts understand the virginal conception of Jesus as a divine work that surpasses all human understanding and possibility: ‘That which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit,’ said the angel to Joseph about Mary his fiancée. The Church sees here the fulfillment of the divine promise given through the prophet Isaiah: ‘Behold, a virgin shall conceive and bear a son.’”
Some might point to the references to the “brothers of Jesus” (e.g., Mk 6:3) as Scriptural evidence that Mary had given birth to additional children. But this can be refuted by considering the broader context. As St. Jerome (who is most well-known as the first Latin translator of the Bible) notes, the original scriptural word for “brothers” could also refer to cousins or other close relatives. The Catechism of the Catholic Church (500) specifies, “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.’”
The church has constantly taught the belief in Mary’s perpetual virginity from her very foundation, as highlighted in the Catechism of the Catholic Church (499), “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.’”
Jenna Marie Cooper, who holds a licentiate in canon law, is a consecrated virgin and a canonist whose column appears weekly at OSV News. Send your questions to [email protected].