to impart to her fecundity while preserving inviolate her perpetual
virginity.”³
Ironically, the founders of Protestantism, unlike their modern-day disciples,
strictly defended the same teaching. Martin Luther said:
“It is an article of faith that Mary is Mother of the Lord and still a
virgin … Christ, we believe, came forth from a womb left perfectly
intact.”
4
“I am inclined to agree with those who declare that ‘brothers’ really
mean cousins here, for Holy Writ and the Jews always call cousins
brothers.”
5
Ulrich Zwingli, another major Protestant leader (1484-1531), even more
adamantly stated:
“I firmly believe that Mary, according to the words of the gospel, as
a pure Virgin brought forth for us the Son of God and in childbirth
and after childbirth forever remained a pure, intact Virgin.”
6
Like the Protoevangelium of St. James, a number of distinguished Catholic
commentators, including St. Thomas Aquinas, also hold that the Virgin
Mary had made a formal vow of perpetual virginity before being betrothed
to St. Joseph. The Jews, during the four centuries before Christ, had begun
to develop a concept of consecrated virginity, particularly in the
community of the Essenes. Knowledge of this vow of virginity explains
why Mary was so perplexed after the Angel Gabriel announced to her that
she was about to bear a son.
According to Jewish custom at the time, there were two stages to marriage.
The first stage, betrothal, was when the marriage was effectively made. The
Virgin Mary and St. Joseph had concluded this stage. Sexual relationships
after this point were not considered fornication. However, we know that
3
Catechism of the Council of Trent, 1566, Pt. I, Ch. IV.
4
Weimer, The Works of Luther, Pelikan, Concordia, vol. 11, pp. 319-320.
5
Ibid., vol. 22-23, pp. 214-215.
6
Zwingli Opera,
Corpus Reformatorum, Berlin, 1905, in Evang. Luc., vol. 1, p.
424.
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