c. AD 1
Scripture
Mary Luke 1:34
“And Mary said to the angel, "How can this be, since I have no husband?"”
Short answer
The Church teaches that Mary remained a virgin all her life. In the usage of Scripture, "until" does not say what happened afterwards, "firstborn" names the child who opens the womb whether or not others follow, and "brothers" is used for close relatives. St. Jerome answered these same three points in 383. The Gospel of Matthew itself names another Mary as the mother of James and Joseph.
Drafted from primary sources. Every quotation is checked against the page it links to.
15 quotations in date order
The Apostolic AgeAD 1 to 100
c. AD 30
Scripture
The people of Nazareth Matthew 13:55-56
“Is not this the carpenter's son? Is not his mother called Mary? And are not his brethren James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? And are not all his sisters with us?”
c. AD 30
Scripture
St. Matthew Matthew 27:55-56
“There were also many women there, looking on from afar, who had followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering to him; among whom were … Mary the mother of James and Joseph…”
The Early Church100 to 325
c. 230
Church Father
Origen Commentary on the Gospel of John 1.6
“For if Mary, as those declare who with sound mind extol her, had no other son but Jesus, and yet Jesus says to His mother, Woman, behold your son, … and not Behold you have this son also, then He virtually said to her, Lo, this is Jesus, whom you bore.”
c. 248
Church Father
Origen Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew 10.17
“But some say, basing it on a tradition in the Gospel according to Peter, as it is entitled, or The Book of James, that the brethren of Jesus were sons of Joseph by a former wife, whom he married before Mary. Now those who say so wish to preserve the honour of Mary in virginity to the end, … And I think it in harmony with reason that Jesus was the first-fruit among men of the purity which consists in chastity, and Mary among women; for it were not pious to ascribe to any other than to her the first-fruit of virginity.”
The Age of the Councils325 to 800
c. 358
Church Father
St. Athanasius Discourse 2 Against the Arians, 70
“Therefore let those who deny that the Son is from the Father by nature and proper to His Essence, deny also that He took true human flesh of Mary Ever-Virgin…”
383
Church Father
St. Jerome The Perpetual Virginity of Blessed Mary, Against Helvidius, 6
“…the words knew and till in the language of Holy Scripture are capable of a double meaning. … And the Saviour in the Gospel tells the Apostles, … Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Will the Lord then after the end of the world has come forsake His disciples…”
383
Church Father
St. Jerome The Perpetual Virginity of Blessed Mary, Against Helvidius, 12
“Our position is this: Every only begotten son is a first-born son, but not every first-born is an only begotten. By first-born we understand not only one who is succeeded by others, but one who has had no predecessor.”
383
Church Father
St. Jerome The Perpetual Virginity of Blessed Mary, Against Helvidius, 17
“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. Just as Lot was called Abraham's brother, and Jacob Laban's…”
c. 401
Church Father
St. Augustine of Hippo Of Holy Virginity, 4
“This is shown by the words which Mary spoke in answer to the Angel announcing to her her conception; How, says she, shall this be, seeing I know not a man? Which assuredly she would not say, unless she had before vowed herself unto God as a virgin.”
553
Council
Second Council of Constantinople Anathemas against the Three Chapters, second anathema
“If anyone will not confess that the Word of God has two nativities, that which is before all ages from the Father, outside time and without a body, and secondly that nativity of these latter days when the Word of God came down from the heavens and was made flesh of holy and glorious Mary, mother of God and ever-virgin, and was born from her: let him be anathema.”
c. 743
Church Father
St. John Damascene Exposition of the Orthodox Faith 4.14
“The ever-virgin One thus remains even after the birth still virgin, having never at any time up till death consorted with a man. For although it is written, And knew her not till she had brought forth her first-born Son … yet note that he who is first-begotten is first-born even if he is only-begotten. For the word first-born means that he was born first but does not at all suggest the birth of others. And the word till signifies the limit of the appointed time but does not exclude the time thereafter.”
The Middle Ages800 to 1500
c. 1273
Doctor of the Church
St. Thomas Aquinas Summa Theologiae III, q. 28, a. 3, body and Reply to Objection 5
“Without any hesitation we must abhor the error of Helvidius, who dared to assert that Christ's Mother, after His Birth, was carnally known by Joseph, and bore other children. … We must therefore simply assert that the Mother of God, as she was a virgin in conceiving Him and a virgin in giving Him birth, did she remain a virgin ever afterwards. … Wherefore the brethren of the Lord are so called, not by birth, as being born of the same mother; but by relationship, as being blood-relations of His.”
The Modern Era1800 to today
1964
Council
Second Vatican Council Lumen Gentium 52, 57
“Joined to Christ the Head and in the unity of fellowship with all His saints, the faithful must in the first place reverence the memory "of the glorious ever Virgin Mary, Mother of our God and Lord Jesus Christ". … This union is manifest also at the birth of Our Lord, who did not diminish His mother's virginal integrity but sanctified it…”
1992
Magisterium
Catechism of the Catholic Church CCC 499-500
“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. … Against this doctrine the objection is sometimes raised that the Bible mentions brothers and sisters of Jesus. 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". They are close relations of Jesus, according to an Old Testament expression.”