Virgin Mary and the Church by Augustine of Hippo

“Perhaps you will say to me: If she is a virgin, how can she bear children? Or, if she does not bear children, why have we given her our names, in order to be reborn from her womb?
I answer: She is a virgin, and she bears children. Imitate Mary, who gave birth to the Lord. Did not holy Virgin Mary both give birth as a virgin and remain a virgin?
So also the Church: she gives birth, and She is a virgin. And, if you think about it, she gives birth to Christ, because those who are baptized are his members. The apostle says;
“You are the body of Christ and his members” (1 Cor 12:27).
If the
Church, then, gives birth to the members of Christ, then the Church greatly resembles Mary.”

Augustine of Hippo, Sermo Guelferbytanus 1, 8; Miscellanea Agostiniana, 447-448.