Biblical Evidence

• The bible does not indicate Mary had other children after Jesus.

  • When Matthew 13:55 (as well as Mark 6:3, John 7:3-5, Acts 1:14, 1 Corinthians 9:5, and Galations 1:19) speak of the "brothers" of Christ, the greek word used is 'adelphos'.
  • The Old Testament that Jesus and the New Testament authors used was the Septuagint (greek translation). We know this because of quirks in the translation that carried over in New Testament quotations of the Old Testament. One example: In Matthew 21:16, Jesus quotes Psalm 8:2 with the words "ordained praise". The Septuagint translation of Psalm 8:2 says "ordained praise", while the Masoretic text (Hebrew Old Testament) says "ordained strength".
  • In the Septuagint, the greek word 'adelphos' is used as relative (Gen 14:14, Gen 29:15), as well as close friends (2 Samuel 1:26, 1 Kings 9:13), as well as allies (Amos 1:9). As this was the Old Testament Jesus frequently used, it's reasonable to assume he'd use words in the same way.

• The bible DOES indicate Jesus had an aunt, and thus cousins

  • Jerome in 383 AD identifies the brothers of Christ as his cousins. The biblical case goes like this:
    • John 19:25 tells us that Mary mother of Jesus had a sister named Mary of Clopas (who was Jesus' aunt)
    • Mark 15:40 (and Matthew 27:55-56) tells us that Mary of Clopas was mother of James the less and Joseph.
    • Jude 1 speaks of "Jude, the brother of James". This is likely the Jude who is son of Mary of Clopas, brother of James.
    • Matthew 13:55 identifies James and Joseph and Simon and Judas as 'adelphos' of Christ. We see James and Joseph are his cousins through Mary of Clopas, so it follows that Simon and Judas are likely also children of Mary of Clopas.
  • This wiki lays out the full biblical case, supplementing it with historical records

• In places where one would expect Scripture to mention the brothers of Christ, they are missing.

  • In Luke 2:41-51, when Jesus went to the temple at the age of 12, there is no mention of other children in his family.
  • In John 19:26-27, while on the cross Jesus gave Mary into John's care. If Mary had other sons, it seems strange and out of character that Jesus would have gone out of his way to disregard family ties and commit a grave dishonor to his brothers by entrusting his mother to another man.
  • In Mark 6:3, even when Jesus is referred to as the son of Mary, Jesus' brothers are never referred to that way (here or elsewhere).

Thus, the bible allows for the doctrine.

The bible doesn't have much to explicitly promote the doctrine, other than this prophecy in Ezekiel that Ambrose of Milan speaks of, saying "Who is this gate, if not Mary?"

Ezekiel 44:2 "This gate is to remain closed; it is not to be opened for anyone to enter by it. Since the Lord, the God of Israel has entered by it, it shall remain closed".

Historical Evidence - the church has always believed it

Catholics do not hold to the idea that the Bible is the sole authority. The fact that the church has always held this belief, up to (and through) the Reformation is an important proof as well.

• ~100 AD: Ignatius of Antioch
• ~150 AD: Polycarp (disciple of John the Apostle)
• ~160 AD: Justin Martyr

• ~200 AD: Irenaeus

  In the year AD 383, Jerome writes that Ignatius, Polycarp, Justin Martyr, and Irenaeus all “held these same views” of Mary’s perpetual virginity and “wrote volumes replete with wisdom” (in his The Perpetual Virginity of Blessed Mary: Against Helvidius, section 19)

• 248 AD: Origen

  "Mary, as those declare who with sound mind extol her, had no other son but Jesus" [Origen's Commentary on the Gospel of John (Book I), Section 6]

• 354 AD: Hilary of Poitiers

  "If they [the brethren of the Lord] had been Mary's sons and not those taken from Joseph's former marriage, she would never have been given over in the moment of the passion [crucifixion] to the apostle John as his mother, the Lord saying to each, 'Woman, behold your son,' and to John, 'Behold your mother' [John 19:26-27], as he bequeathed filial love to a disciple as a consolation to the one desolate" [Hilary's Commentary on Matthew 1:4]

• 360 AD: Athanasius

  Identifies Mary as "Mary Ever-Virgin" in his Discourse 2 Against the Arians, Section 70

• 373 AD: Ephrem

  "Because there are those who dare to say that Mary cohabited with Joseph after she bore the Redeemer, we reply, 'How would it have been possible for her who was the home of the indwelling of the Spirit, whom the divine power overshadowed, that she be joined by a mortal being, and gave birth filled with birthpangs, in the image of the primeval curse?'" [Ephrem's Commentary on Tatian's Diatessaron]

• ~375 AD: Basil of Caesarea

  "...the lovers of Christ do not allow themselves to hear that the Mother of God ceased at a given moment to be a virgin..." [Basil’s Homily: On the holy generation of Christ 5; PG 31, 1468 B]

• 375 AD: Epiphanius

  "For I have heard from someone that certain persons are venturing to say that [Mary] had marital relations after the Savior’s birth. And I am not surprised. The ignorance of persons who do not know the sacred scriptures well and have not consulted histories, always turn them to one thing after another, and distracts anyone who wants to track down something about the truth out of his own head.” [The Panarion of Epiphanius of Salamis: De fide. Books II and III, page 620, 7.1]

• 383 AD: Jerome

  In his The Perpetual Virginity of Blessed Mary: Against Helvidius he gives a long, full biblical defense of Mary's perpetual virginity, noted in earlier sections in this answer.

• 386 AD: Didymus the Blind

  "Mary... remained always and forever an immaculate virgin" [Didymus's The Trinity 3:4]

• 388 AD: Ambrose of Milan

  Ezekiel 44:2 "This gate is to remain closed; it is not to be opened for anyone to enter by it. Since the Lord, the God of Israel has entered by it, it shall remain closed". In De Institutione Virginum 8.52, Ambrose says of this prophecy: "Who is this gate, if not Mary?"

• 401 AD: Augustine

  "A Virgin conceiving, a Virgin bearing, a Virgin pregnant, a Virgin bringing forth, a Virgin perpetual. Why do you wonder at this, O man?" [Augustine, Sermons 186:1]

• 426 AD: Leporius

  Identifies Mary as "ever-virgin Mary" in Document of Amendment 3

• 430 AD: Cyril of Alexandria

  "the Word himself... kept his Mother a virgin even after her childbearing" [Against Those Who Do Not Wish to Confess That the Holy Virgin is the Mother of God 4]

• ~440 AD: Peter Chrysologus

  "A Virgin conceived, a Virgin bore, and a Virgin she remains." [Sermon 117 "The First Adam, and the Last Adam, Born of a Virgin"]

• 553 AD: Second Council of Constantinople

  "Mary, Mother of God and always a virgin" [The Capitula of the Council, #2]

• 649 AD: Lateran Council

  "and after His birth preserved her virginity inviolate" [Oct, 649, DS 503]

• 749 AD: John Damascene

  "Thus the Ever-Virgin remains after birth a Virgin still, never having consorted with man" [The Source of Knowledge, 3, 4, 14]

• ~1270 AD: Thomas Aquinas

  "Without any hesitation we must abhor the error of Helvidius, who dared to assert that Christ's Mother, after His Birth, was carnally known by Joseph, and bore other children." [Summa Theologiae, Third Part, Question 28, Article 3]

• 1522 AD: Zwingli, father of the reformation

  "I believe with all my heart according to the word of holy gospel that this pure virgin bore for us the Son of God and that she remained, in the birth and after it, a pure and unsullied virgin, for eternity." [sermon entitled "Mary, ever virgin, mother of God"]

• 1539 AD: Martin Luther, father of the reformation

  “Christ... was the only Son of Mary, and the Virgin Mary bore no children besides Him" [Sermons on John, chaps. 1-4]

• 1562 AD: John Calvin, father of the reformation

  "Helvidius displayed excessive ignorance in concluding that Mary must have had many sons, because Christ's 'brothers' are sometimes mentioned." [Commentary on Mark, Chapter 6, Verse 3]

• 1749 AD: John Wesley, founder of Methodism

  "I believe that He [Jesus] was made man, joining the human nature with the divine in one person; being conceived by the singular operation of the Holy Ghost, and born of the blessed Virgin Mary, who, as well after as before she brought Him forth, continued a pure and unspotted virgin." [Wesley, Letter to a Roman Catholic]