"On this point especially, my adversary works up a sweat, laboring to no purpose, striving to make the term "to know" (cognoscere) refer to sexual relations rather than to knowledge, as if anyone had ever denied this fact and as if any intelligent person could ever have imagined any assertions as stupid as those he... Continue Reading →

One of the old disputes in Christianity is what did the evangelist Matthew mean by the following verse: Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: After His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit. Matthew 1: 18 St. Jerome provides the follwoing explanation... Continue Reading →

"Regarding the words of the Gospel: "Before they came together, she was found to be with child by the power of the Holy Spirit" (Mt 1: 18), [Helvidius] observes: "No one, when speaking about someone who is not going to eat lunch, says, 'Before he ate lunch.' "I don't know whether to laugh or cry.... Continue Reading →

"For her part, Mary did not fail to live up to her station as the Mother of Christ. When the apostles fled, she stood before the Cross and gazed tenderly on the wounds of her Son, because she was waiting, not for her Son's death, but for the salvation of the world. Did she, the... Continue Reading →

"Her Son hung upon the Cross; his Mother offered herself to his persecutors. If she had been there for no other reason than to be slain before her Son's Cross, then she would deserve praise for her maternal affection, because of which she did not want to outlive her Son. But if she wanted to... Continue Reading →

"His mother stood before the Cross, and, while the men fled, she remained undaunted. Consider whether the Mother of Jesus, who did not lose her courage, could ever lose her virginal purity. With eyes full of pity, she looked upon her Son's wounds, by which, as she knew, would come the redemption of the world.... Continue Reading →

"This is the model of virginity; in truth, such was Mary, whose life alone is sufficient to instruct everyone. So, if we find the author pleasing, let us approve the author's work, so that whoever desires her same prize may imitate her example. How many different virtues shine out in a single Virgin! Modest hiddenness,... Continue Reading →

“ What to say about the fact that, when she goes up to Jerusalem for the yearly solemnity of Passover, She is always accompanied by Joseph? In the virgin, every virtue must alvays be accompanied by modesty. Modesty and virginity must be inseparable, becae by hout modesty there is no virginity. Therefore, even when going... Continue Reading →

“ Mary, who had been troubled by the sight of the angel, now remains calm before the succession of such miracles as the pregnancy of the barren woman, motherhood in a virgin, speech from a mute, the adoration of the Magi, the expectation of Simeon, and the witness of the stars. And, the Gospel says,"She... Continue Reading →

"The divine Scripture tells us how loving she [Virgin Mary] was with her family.When she knew that God had chosen her, her humility became evengreater, and she hurried into the hills, to see her cousin Elizabeth; not, however, to assure herself of the facts, since she had already believed the announcement: "Blessed are you" -Elizabeth... Continue Reading →