The virgin birth of Christ - What the Church really teaches

Christ’s birth “did not diminish his mother’s virginal integrity but sanctified it.” (Lumen Gentium [Vatican II], 57)

The Church teaches de fide that Mary was a virgin before, during, and after the birth of Christ our Savior. She conceived as a virgin, she gave birth as a virgin, and she remains a virgin forever. Yet, we ask, What does the Church mean when saying that Mary was a virgin “during birth”? What is the mystery we contemplate in the third joyful mystery of the Rosary? Why do the Popes and Church Fathers (together with the Doctors) insist that Christ’s birth was “miraculous”?

While we will briefly consider a few points from Scripture, our primary goal in this little article will be to describe just what exactly it is that the Church means when she professes that Jesus was born of the Virgin Mary.

The Purification of the Virgin Most Pure

The Feast of the Presentation of the Lord, Luke 2:22-40

When the days were completed for [her] purification according to the law of Moses, Mary and Joseph took Jesus up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord.

The Feast of the Presentation of the Lord has been called the Feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary – and although the Marian nature of this feast has been completely lost in the reformed calendar, at least the date has remained: As the new mother went to the Temple forty days after having given birth, so too the Blessed Virgin Mother of God came to fulfill the Law through her Purification.

But why did Mary come to the Temple to be purified? Was she not already most pure? Had her Son defiled her in his most wondrous Birth? No, certainly he did not – in being born of the Virgin, Christ did no harm to her virginal integrity but rather consecrated it. Simply speaking, Mary had no need of purification, but she humbled herself (after the example of her Son) to follow the precepts of the Law which was soon to pass away.

The heart of St. Thomas Aquinas

There are only three hearts, as far as I know, which are regularly depicted in the Catholic artistic tradition – the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, the Immaculate Heart of Mary, and the heart of St. Thomas Aquinas. Now let me be clear, I am not claiming that the sunburst so often depicted on St. Thomas’ breast is literally his heart – neither, of course, are the images of Christ’s or Mary’s Hearts depictions of physical organs – but it is quite striking that the sunburst is over the Common Doctor’s heart (and not, for example, upon his brow).

I do not in any sense intend to equate St. Thomas’ sunburst with the Hearts of Jesus and Mary, but it will be good for us to consider the simple fact: No other saint’s heart is regularly depicted in Christian art. There are, certainly, many saints whose hearts might have been given this focus – consider St. Philip Neri, whose heart was physically enlarged with Love; or St. Charles Borromeo, whose heart is preserved incorrupt; or perhaps even St. Edmund Campion, whose heart was torn from his body. However, there is no other saint whom the Christian artistic tradition regularly depicts with a special focus on their heart.

What is it about St. Thomas Aquinas that gained him the image of the sunburst, and why is it placed over his heart?

Christ, Bridegroom and King: The Feasts of St. Cecilia and Bl. Miguel Pro

The Second Coming

At the end of the liturgical year, the Church gives us to meditate upon the second coming of Christ. As we consider the Final Judgment, Christ is presented to us under two figures: Bridegroom and King. The saints of November 22^nd and 23^rd, St. Cecilia and Bl. Miguel Pro, are particularly known for their devotion to Christ under these two titles – Cecilia’s Spouse is the King of Fr. Miguel. It will be helpful to consider what each of these titles reveal to us about Christ and the Day of Judgment.

The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come!”

In the book of Revelation, Christ is presented as the Bridegroom and the Church is his spotless Bride. The relation of the bride to her bridegroom recalls the whole-hearted devotion which we are meant to have to Christ. It is for this reason (namely, allegorical testimony), that St. Paul tells us that, while the one who marries does a good thing, the one who remains celibate does better (cf. 1 Cor 7:38). The vocation to consecrated virginity is greater than that to married life, not because the individual is necessarily more holy, but because the virgin is a clearer sign of the Kingdom which is to come – where they will neither marry nor be given in marriage. Moreover, it is happier to remain celibate, “An unmarried woman or a virgin is anxious about the things of the Lord, so that she may be holy in both body and spirit. A married woman, on the other hand, is anxious about the things of the world, how she may please her husband. I am telling you this for your own benefit, not to impose a restraint upon you, but for the sake of propriety and adherence to the Lord without distraction” (1 Cor 7:34-35).

Virginitas in partu

August is the month traditionally dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.  In fact, the old feast of the Immaculate Heart is August 22 (which is still celebrated as such, by way of indult, by the Missionaries of Charity as their patronal feast).  As we honor Our Lady's Immaculate Heart in this month of her Assumption, we do well to venerate her spotless virginity, which, as an ancient synod of the Roman Church put it, is to be affirmed ante partum, in partu, and post partum. 

We all know well what it meant for Our Blessed Mother to be ever-virgin before and after Jesus's birth, but few Catholics know that we believe by Catholic faith that Mary was a virgin even in giving birth to Jesus.  Ludwig Ott's explanation of this doctrine of the faith is helpful, as far as it goes.  Ott gives perhaps too much quarter to the 20th-century objections of Von Mitterer, Galot, et al.  However, his treatment is historically sound and reveals the truth of the Marian virginitas in partu. 

For sheer beauty, however, nothing can match the lucid presentation of the Common Doctor.