>>16703027>She is not perpetually a virginShe is
>Mary had several children with Joseph after giving birth to Jesus.In some passages of the Holy Scriptures the words appear: “brothers of Jesus”, and this has generated the interpretation that the Blessed Virgin Mary had other children. For those who have only the Bible, it seems evident that Our Lady had other children besides the Son of God, therefore, Jesus Christ had brothers and sisters (cf. Mt 13, 55-56).
However, we have Sacred Tradition, Sacred Scripture and the Magisterium of the Church, which are the necessary foundations for understanding the truths of the Catholic faith. From these foundations, let us see if it is true that the Virgin Mary had other children besides the Incarnate Word of God. In the 4th century, Saint Jerome was already fighting those who used the passage from Matthew and others to maintain that Our Lady had other children: “Isn't this the carpenter's son? Isn't Mary your mother? Aren't your brothers James, Joseph, Simon and Judas?” (Mt 13, 55).
Regarding this passage, Jerome teaches that the children of his maternal aunt, Mary of Cleopas, wife of Alphaeus and mother of Saint James and Joseph are called brothers of Jesus. The Tradition of the Church – from the Apostles to the Holy Fathers – and later the Holy Doctors of the Church, affirm that the Virgin Mary had no other children, and that she remained a Virgin before, during and after the birth of the Son of God. The Magisterium of the Church, in accordance with the Tradition of the Church and with the Sacred Scriptures, affirmed as a dogma of faith the perpetual virginity of Our Lady, even in the time of the Holy Fathers. The perpetual virginity of Mary Most Holy was proclaimed in 649, at the Lateran Council: If anyone, according to the Holy Fathers, does not confess that the holy and ever Virgin and Immaculate Mary is truly and truly Mother of God, since she conceived in recent times without semen, of the Holy Spirit, God the Word himself (…), and who gave birth without corruption, her virginity remaining indissoluble even after childbirth, be
anathema.In the Bible, there are several passages in which the "brothers of Jesus" are mentioned. Among these, we will take the following passage from the Gospel according to Saint Matthew: “Is not this the carpenter's son? Isn't Mary your mother? Aren't your brothers James, Joseph, Simon and Judas?” (Mt 13, 55). Continuing our study, we see that among the apostles there are two with the name of James: “These are the names of the twelve apostles: the first, Simon, called Peter; then Andrew, his brother. James the son of Zebedee and John his brother. Philip and Bartholomew. Thomas and Matthew the publican. James, son of Alphaeus, and Thaddeus. Simon the Canaanite, and Judas Iscariot, the traitor” (Mt 10:2-4).
Matthew also lets us know that among the women who followed Jesus was the mother of one of these and of Joseph: “Among them were Mary Magdalene and Mary, the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of the sons of Zebedee” (Mt. 27, 56). As we know that James, son of Zebedee, is John's blood brother, so James, son of Alphaeus, is Joseph's brother. So far, the controversy remains, because we don't know that Mary is the one who is the mother of James and of Joseph. However, there is a passage that clarifies the matter.
Based on the texts above, we see that Alphaeus, who was also called Cleopas, was the father of James and Joseph, the same who are called “brothers of Jesus”. Their mother's name was Maria, a very common name in those days. The difficulty in knowing who this Mary is is overcome in a passage from the Gospel according to Saint John, in which this Mary is next to the Virgin Mary, Mother of Jesus Christ, at the time of the crucifixion: “Next to the cross of Jesus stood her mother, his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Cleopas, and Mary Magdalene” (Jn 19:25).
Thus, we see that Mary, mother of James and Joseph, was Our Lady's sister, and that these supposed brothers of Jesus are, in fact, her cousins. For unbelievers, perhaps this explanation has not convinced them, and they ask about the other two brothers: Simon and Judas. But we won't waste time in further explanations, because, for those who do not have Catholic faith, our arguments will probably not be useful.After analyzing the question of Jesus' “brothers” from the point of view of Divine Revelation and the Church's Magisterium, we saw that for us Catholics there is nothing to discuss. We believe that the Virgin Mary was the Mother of Jesus Christ and remained a virgin. Consequently, she could not be the mother of the supposed brothers of the Lord.
