The Fathers of the Church unanimously affirm the doctrine, and numerous ecumenical councils upheld their teaching. Like the Immaculate Conception and Assumption, sacred Scripture does not explicitly affirm the doctrine, meaning that it would have been passed down from the apostles in sacred Tradition. A miraculous birth, though, is no more impossible than a miraculous conception. It sounds a bit fantastical, something of a pious legend. The doctrine is unfamiliar to many Catholics, and can be met with an initial surprise or even skepticism. Mary, preserved from all stain of original sin, would not have suffered the consequences that all women experience in giving birth. Here, the doctrines of the virgin birth and of the Immaculate Conception inform one another. As part of the punishment for original sin, God said to Eve, “I will greatly multiply your pain in childbearing in pain you shall bring forth children” (Genesis 3:16). Part of this connection is deductive: The absence of the physical effects of childbirth would preclude their accompanying pains. While physical intactness forms the essence of Mary’s virginity in birth, the painless nature of the birth is inextricably linked to the doctrine. With that understanding, we can return to the films mentioned above. What we hold to be divinely revealed is that, however the birth of Jesus actually took place, Mary’s body remained intact. Various Fathers of the Church used poetic metaphors to describe the event, such as light passing through glass. Similar to the Resurrection, we don’t know exactly how it happened, only that it did. The doctrine is obviously a delicate one, and prurient speculation on the mechanics of Jesus’s birth has no place in this discussion. That is, the physical seal of her virginity remained intact, unbroken by sexual intercourse or consequent childbirth. Rather, it is first and foremost a doctrine about her body, specifically her physical integrity. The doctrine of Mary’s perpetual virginity does not primarily concern the absence of any sexual relations throughout her life. There would be no need for that middle word during the before would suffice. If virginity means a lack of sexual activity, how can we speak of someone remaining a virgin in the very act of giving birth? It is not enough to claim merely that Mary, who was a virgin, gave birth. It’s that middle word, during, that might seem odd. We’ve already looked at the before and after, the meaning of which is fairly straightforward. Mary’s abstinence from sexual activity is but a consequence of the more important aspect of the doctrine, one that we can only appreciate when we look at the full scope of Mary’s virginal status.Ĭatholics believe, and the Church has long taught, that Mary remained a virgin before, during and after the birth of Jesus. All of that is true, but it’s not the whole truth. Jesus was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit, and Mary and Joseph remained continent throughout their married life. We frequently refer to the “ever-Virgin Mary,” but what exactly does that title mean? To the extent that Catholics reflect upon it all, they largely assume it means that Mary never had sexual relations. The perpetual virginity of Mary is one of the least known and most misunderstood Catholic doctrines. To understand why, we need some background on what it means to affirm Mary’s virginity. The scene of Mary’s labor pains in each of these is brief and tasteful, and also entirely wrong. The Chosen here follows the pattern of other popular adaptations, including Franco Zeffirelli’s celebrated 1977 series Jesus of Nazareth and the lesser-known 2006 film The Nativity Story. In the course of re-enacting the events of the Nativity, the episode shows Mary in labor pains as she gives birth to Jesus. They correctly assumed that, having spent four years writing a doctoral dissertation on the birth of Jesus, I had an interest in how the episode portrays that moment. I had not seen The Chosen, the wildly popular series on the life of Christ, until some friends told me about the recent Christmas episode.
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