Jesus’ True Family (MT 12:46; Mk 3:32; Lk 8:19)

There is much discussion among certain circles as to whether Mary (and Joseph) had other natural children besides Jesus.  Some would argue that the passages cited above would suggest yes. “The crowd sitting around Jesus told him, ‘Your mother and your brothers and sisters are outside asking for you.” (Mk 3:32).

It is important to note here that the Church from the very beginning never doubted that Mary was a virgin before the birth of Jesus and remained so afterward.  Cardinal Gibbons  (1834-1921) in his work titled The Faith of Our Fathers would write:

“The Church teaches us that she was always a Virgin, a Virgin before her espousals, during her married life, and after her spouse’s death… That she remained a Virgin till after the birth of Jesus is expressly stated in the Gospel.  It is not less certain that she continued in the same state during the remainder of her days; for in the Apostles’ and the Nicene Creed, she is called a Virgin, and that epithet cannot be restricted to the time of our Savior’s birth.  It must be referred to her whole life, inasmuch as both creeds were compiled long after she had passed away.”

St. Jerome (331/40-420) is a famous Latin doctor of the Church and Scripture scholar and is well known for his translations of the Scriptures into Latin.  St. Jerome was also well known for his defense of the perpetual virginity of Blessed Mary in a work with the same title [St. Jerome: Introduction to His Biography; The Perpetual Virginity of Blessed Mary; Letter to Magnus].  His defense was against a pamphlet written by one Helvidius.

You say that Mary did not continue a virgin:  I claim still more, that Joseph himself on account of Mary was a virgin, so that from a virgin wedlock a virgin son was born.  For if as a holy man he does not come under the imputation of fornication, and it is nowhere written that he had another wife, but was the guardian of Mary whom he was supposed to have to wife rather than her husband, the conclusion is that he who was thought worthy to be called father of the Lord, remained a virgin. (The Heart of Catholicism: Theodore E. James, Ph.D.)

Why then does the passage speak of Jesus’ brothers and sisters?  Again, we must put the passage into the context of the time and the Hebrew culture to understand that any relative is called brother or sister.  We see in John 19:25 that there is a mention of a certain Mary, sister of Mary the mother of Jesus.  If they were truly natural sisters from the same mother, they would not bear the same name, especially since your name in the Hebrew culture was very personal and full of meaning.  This Mary was the mother of James and Joset (Mk 15:47; Mt 27:56) who are called brothers of Jesus (Mk 6:3).  If the Gospel (Evangelist) really meant brothers, sons of Mary, on mentioning them together with her, it should have said, “Your mother and the sons of your mother are here.”  This would be the only way of expressing it at that time with a clear meaning of whom you are talking about.

Papias was bishop of the Church in Heirapolis in Phygia in central Asia Minor.  Little is known of him except for The Fragments of Papias, which are important for their demonstration of the historical continuity of the Good News of Christianity.  He is a second-century witness to the existence and authenticity of the Gospels of Mark and Matthew, and the letters of John and Peter.  It is thought that he was also a disciple of John and he writes

“(1.) Mary, the mother of the Lord; (2.) Mary the wife of Cleophas or Alpheus, who was the mother of James the bishop and apostle, and of Simon and Thaddeus, and of one Joseph; (3.) Mary Salome, wife of Zebedee, mother of John the evangelist and James; (4.) Mary Magdalene.  These four are found in the Gospel.  James and Judas and Joseph were sons of an aunt (2) of the Lord’s.  James also and John were sons of another aunt (3) of the Lord’s.  Mary (2), mother of James the less and Joseph, wife of Alpheus, was the sister of Mary, the mother of the Lord, whom John names of Cleophas, either from her father or from the family of the clan, of for some other reason.  Mary Salone (3) is called Salome either from her husband or her village.  Some affirm that she is the same as Mary of Cleophas, because she had two husbands. (Fragments of Papias from Ante-Nicene Fathers, Translations of the Writings of the Fathers Down to A.D. 325, The Reverend Alexander Roberts, D.D. and James Donaldson, LL.D., editors, 1887)

We should also consider that it was extremely important for married couples in the Hebrew culture to have children, especially to have a first born son.  There would have been no stigma in the first century A.D. and the centuries to follow in having children.  No one would have questioned it if Mary, the mother of Jesus, in fact had other children, if that were the case.  Also, there was only one Church for the first 1054 years and so there would have been no reason for the Church to state that Mary was a perpetual virgin other than the fact that it was true, since there wasn’t any other Church to defend the doctrine against.  All of this adding up to the truth of the doctrine of The perpetual virginity of  Blessed Mary.

James, Theodore E., Ph.D., editor, The Heart of Catholicism: Essential Writings of the Church from St. Paul to John Paul II, Our Sunday Visitor Publishing Division, Huntington, Indiana.