St. Augustine
(401), Holy Virginity, 4:4
"In being born of a Virgin who chose to remain
a Virgin even before she
knew who was to be born of her, Christ wanted to
approve virginity rather
than to impose it. And he wanted virginity to be of
free choice even in that
woman in whom he took upon himself the form of a
slave."
St. Augustine
(411), Sermons 186:1
"It was not the visible sun, but its invisible
Creator who consecrated this
day for us, when the Virgin Mother, fertile of womb and
integral in her
virginity, brought him forth, made visible for us, by
whom, when he was
invisible, she too was created. A Virgin conceiving, a
Virgin bearing, a
Virgin pregnant, a Virgin bringing forth, a Virgin perpetual. Why do you
wonder at this, O man?"