“But since the lovers of Christ (the faithful) do not allow themselves
to hear that the Mother of God ceased at a given moment to be a
virgin, we consider their testimony to be sufficient.”
Didymus the Blind, The Trinity 3, 4 (inter 381-392 AD)
“It helps us to understand the terms first-born and only-begotten when the
Evangelist tells that Mary remained a virgin ‘until she brought forth her
first-born son;’ for neither did Mary, who is to be honored and praised
above all others, marry anyone, nor did she ever become the Mother of
anyone else, but even after childbirth she remained always and forever an
immaculate virgin.”
St. Jerome, Against Helvidius 17 & 18 (c. 383 AD)
“I now ask to which class you consider the Lord’s brethren in the Gospel
must be assigned. They are brethren by nature, you say. But Scripture does
not say so; it calls them neither sons of Mary, nor of Joseph. Shall we say
they are brethren by race? … The only alternative is to adopt the previous
explanation and understand them to be called brethren in virtue of the bond
of kindred, not of love and sympathy, nor by prerogative of race, nor yet by
nature … It is clear that our Lord’s brethren bore the name in the same way
that Joseph was called his father.”
St. Augustine of Hippo, Holy Virginity 4, 4 (401 AD)
“In being born of a Virgin who chose to remain a Virgin even before she
knew who was to be born of her, Christ wanted to approve virginity rather
than impose it. And He wanted virginity to be of free choice even in that
woman in whom He took upon Himself the form of a slave.”
St. Augustine of Hippo, The Annunciation of the Lord 3, Sermones
Supp. 195 (ante 430 AD)
“It is written (Ezekiel 44:2): ‘This gate shall be shut, it shall not be opened,
and no man shall pass through it. Because the Lord the God of Israel has
entered in by it.’ What does this closed gate in the house of the Lord mean,
except that Mary is to be ever inviolate? What does it mean that ‘no man
shall pass through it,’ but that Joseph shall not know her? And what is
this—‘The Lord alone enters in and goes out by it,’ except that the Holy
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