Catechism
of the Catholic Church
As an authoritative voice of Church Teaching
in this century, the Catechism
addresses the
Faith of the Church in the Virgin Birth.
510 Mary
"remained a virgin in conceiving her Son, a virgin in giving birth
to him, a virgin in carrying him, a virgin in nursing him at
her breast, always
a virgin" (St. Augustine, Serm. 186, 1: PL 38, 999):
with her whole being
she is "the handmaid of the Lord" (Lk 1:38).
499 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. In fact, Christ's birth
"did not
diminish his
mother's virginal integrity but sanctified it." And so the
liturgy of the Church celebrates Mary as Aeiparthenos,
the "Ever-virgin".
.
1994