This is a good site. There is a section on Mary's virginity and what the early Church fathers believed and wrote about!

Catholic Q and A

-- Jake Huether (jake_huether@yahoo.com), November 04, 2002

Answers

what's UP

-- Jake Huether (jake_huether@yahoo.com), November 04, 2002.

This is a good ONE.

In Christ.

-- Jake Huether (jake_huether@yahoo.com), November 04, 2002.

Another good ONE.

In Christ.

-- Jake Huether (jake_huether@yahoo.com), November 04, 2002.

On the EUCHARIST.

In Christ.

-- Jake Huether (jake_huether@yahoo.com), November 04, 2002.

Matthew 1: 23 uses Parthenos = Virgin in Greek. This is taken from Isaiah 7:14 where almah = young woman and not bethulah= virgin is used.See 2 Kings chapter. 16. The sign was a sign for king Ahaz around 725 BC. Who was almah? Most likely one of his favorite wives or the wife of Hezekiah, his son. Mark ch. 6 and John Ch. 7, Mark 7=Mathew 12=Luke 8:19-21 mentions jesus brothers. Luke 1: 7 says Jesus was his firstborn. I am also a firstborn. After me are 4 more. 4 brothers and at least 2 sisters for Jesus are mentioned. lUKE USES RELATIVE for Elizabeth which was probably Mary's aunt or cousin. Hebrew has a word for cousin. Jesus knew and spoke both Aramaic and Hebrew.

-- Elpidio Gonzalez (egonzalez@srla.org), November 04, 2002.

Calling someone the "firstborn" does not mean there was necessarily more children afterwards. It just meant the first SON. And if Jesus had real brothers, they were undoubtedly sons of Joseph from a first marriage, as tradition has it that he was a good deal older than Mary. If Mary had not taken a vow of perpetual virginity, why did she question the angel Gabriel about her impending motherhood? She knew she was betrothed Joseph, so knowing she would marry him, it would seem odd that she would question Gabriel in this manner. It was understood that she had taken a vow of virginity!

-- Christina (introibo2000@yahoo.com), November 04, 2002.

Jmj

Hello, Elpidio.
I see that an anti-Catholic source has given you some bad information. You wrote: "Matthew 1:23 uses Parthenos = Virgin in Greek. This is taken from Isaiah 7:14 where almah = young woman and not bethulah= virgin is used."
You are trying to use this to show that Mary need not have been (or at least remained) a virgin.

Actually, Elpidio, modern scripture scholars have shown that Isaiah's Hebrew word "almah" could mean "virgin." Moreover, you contradicted yourself by showing that the Greek version of St. Matthew has "parthenos" (virgin) in quoting Isaiah. Since scripture is without error, Isaiah's word "almah" must have meant virgin! If "almah" had merely meant "young woman" to Isaiah, then the Greek version of St. Matthew would have contained a word different from "parthenos."

Further confirming this are two more facts:
(1) the Septuagint (pre-Christian Greek translation of the Old Testament), used by dispersed Jews of the Mediterranean (and the New Testament writers), has "parthenos" (virgin) for "almah" in Isaiah 7:14.
(2) one of the most eminent Bible scholars ever, St. Jerome, in preparing his famous Latin Vulgate translation from Greek and Hebrew around 400 A.D., used "virgo" (virgin) for "almah" in Isaiah 7:14.

God bless you.
John

-- J. F. Gecik (jfgecik@hotmail.com), November 06, 2002.