The
Catholic Church has believed,
from
Post-Apostolic times (after 100 AD),
that
Mary of Nazareth, the Mother of Jesus,
was a
Virgin before, during and after
she
gave birth to Jesus
Belief statements using the words “ever” or “perpetual”
mean “before,
during, and after” the birth of Jesus.
This belief was defined first in the Lateran Council in
649, under Pope
Martin I: “The blessed ever-virginal and immaculate Mary . . .
conceived
without sin, of the Holy Spirit, generated without
injury (to her
virginity), and her virginity continued unimpaired
after the birth.”
This was followed in 1555 when Pope Paul IV
declared: “The most blessed
Virgin Mary . . . always persisted in the integrity
of virginity, namely.
before bringing forth, at bringing forth, and always
after bringing forth . . .”