According to Catholicism, why did the Blessed Mother stay a virgin during her pregnancy with Jesus?

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An answer from catholic church teaching to satisfy your curiosity regarding

Why was Jesus born of a Virgin instead of just being conceived of a Virgin?

Short answer: she was conforming her will to God's. This short answer is supported by the following points that the Catechism of the Catholic Church does a decent job of explaining.

  • It is worth noting that she was fulfilling the prophesy in Isaiah Chapter 7, but that may not directly bear on your question:

    13 And he said, Hear ye now, O house of David; Is it a small thing for you to weary men, but will ye weary my God also? 14 Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.

I. CONCEIVED BY THE POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

CCC 484 The Annunciation to Mary inaugurates "the fullness of time", the time of the fulfilment of God's promises and preparations. Mary was invited to conceive him in whom the "whole fullness of deity" would dwell "bodily". The divine response to her question, "How can this be, since I know not man?", was given by the power of the Spirit: "The Holy Spirit will come upon you." { ~ As told in Luke, Chapter 1 ~ }

No carnal act was necessary for conception. Since she had not had (per scripture) carnal acts before conception, there's little reason to believe that she'd change her habits and begin to have carnal acts afterwards, particularly when she understands that she's about to become filled with the Holy Spirit1. From Luke 1:38

38 And Mary said, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; may it be done to me according to your word.”

I've seen some translations render that as "according to thy will."

What is God's will in this case?

Remembering that Catholic belief is Trinitarian, the Holy Spirit's acts align with God's will by default.

485 The mission of the Holy Spirit is always conjoined and ordered to that of the Son. The Holy Spirit, "the Lord, the giver of Life", is sent to sanctify the womb of the Virgin Mary and divinely fecundate it, causing her to conceive the eternal Son of the Father in a humanity drawn from her own.

So far, after conception and before birth, no sin touches the vessel that bears Christ up to the point of birth. Since Mary is aware that something very special is going on, and she has assented to God's will in this, it is unreasonable to conclude that she would start having sex once all of the above took place and she had conceived by the Holy Spirit. (That answers why the Blessed Mother refrained from sex even after the incarnation).

CCC 507 At once virgin and mother, Mary is the symbol and the most perfect realization of the Church: "the Church indeed. . . by receiving the word of God in faith becomes herself a mother. By preaching and Baptism she {the Church} brings forth sons, who are conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of God, to a new and immortal life.

The above is supported by theological teaching and scripture as follows:
Lumen Gentium 63; 1 Corinthians 7:34-35; St. Augustine, De Virginante. 3: PL 40, 398; Lumen Gentium 64; St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica III q. 28 a. 2; Luke Chapter 1.

Given her commitment to God's will in this, remaining virgin is both a matter of consistency, and a way that Mary fulfills her role as the model of faith and adherence to will of God that the Church is to follow.

1 Matthew 1: 24-25 shows Mary still being a virgin at the time of birth, and with the marriage not being consummated until afterwards.

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Virgin during her pregnancy

She was a virgin during her pregnancy because prior to the Annunciation she took a vow of virginity:

Augustine says (De Sanct. Virg. iv):

Mary answered the announcing angel: "How shall this be done, because I know not* man?" [Lk. 1:34] She would not have said this unless she had already vowed her virginity to God.

*The Greek uses the present tense "ου γινώσκω" ("I do not know") and not the past "I have not known (up to this time)". The present tense shows that she has preserved her virginity and that she also intends to preserve it in the future; it indicates her permanent state of "not knowing man" (i.e., of not having sexual intercourse). See Mariology vol. 2, p. 236, by Carol B. Juniper, O.F.M.

Virgin during Jesus's birth

She was a virgin during Jesus's birth because

  1. this was in keeping with a property of Him whose Birth is in question, for He is the Word of God. For the word is not only conceived in the mind without corruption, but also proceeds from the mind without corruption. Wherefore in order to show that body to be the body of the very Word of God, it was fitting that it should be born of a virgin incorrupt. Whence in the sermon of the Council of Ephesus (quoted above) we read:

    Whosoever brings forth mere flesh, ceases to be a virgin. But since she gave birth to the Word made flesh, God safeguarded her virginity so as to manifest His Word, by which Word He thus manifested Himself: for neither does our word, when brought forth, corrupt the mind; nor does God, the substantial Word, deigning to be born, destroy virginity.

  2. this is fitting as regards the effect of Christ's Incarnation: since He came for this purpose, that He might take away our corruption. Wherefore it is unfitting that in His Birth He should corrupt His Mother's virginity. Thus Augustine says in a sermon on the Nativity of Our Lord: "It was not right that He who came to heal corruption, should by His advent violate integrity."

  3. it was fitting that He Who commanded us to honor our father and mother should not in His Birth lessen the honor due to His Mother.

—St. Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologica III q. 28 a. 2 ("Whether Christ's Mother was a virgin in His birth?") c.

It is worth noting that the Council of Ephesus was in 431, so this represents an agreed belief of the early Church.

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