Virgin birth

“ Further, nothing should have taken place in the mystery of Christ, which would make His body to seem unreal. Now it seems to pertain not to a true but to an unreal body, to be able to go through a closed passage; since two bodies cannot be in one place at the same time. It was therefore unfitting that Christ's body should come forth from His Mother's closed womb: and consequently that she should remain a virgin in giving birth to Him. ”

“ Whether she was a virgin in His Birth?
(3) Whether she remained a virgin after His Birth?
(4) Whether she took a vow of virginity?
Art. 1 - Whether the Mother of God was a virgin in conceiving Christ? Objection 1: It would seem that the Mother of God was not a virgin in conceiving Christ. For no child having father and mother is conceived by a virgin mother. But Christ is said to have had not only a mother, but also a father, according to Lk. ”

“ The holy mother goes up to the temple to exhibit to the law a new and strange wonder, even that child long expected, who opened the virgin’s womb, and yet did not burst the barriers of virginity; that child, superior to the law, who yet fulfilled the law ”

“ Young women of mature years should be made familiar with the physiological conditions which attend conception and maternity, and they need to know that from the [Pg 172] moment of conception life exists in the embryo, and that from the moment the spermatozoön enters and assimilates with the ovum a separate individual life is really begun, and that she is, at that very moment, the mother of this life within her as truly as when, in the later months, she feels the quickening within her, or after its birth experiences the joy of a mother who clasps her newborn infant in her arms. ”

“ In civilized life a period of weeks, months, even years, may elapse between the establishment of sexual relations and the occurrence of conception. Under primitive conditions the loss of the virginal condition practically involves the pregnant condition, so that under primitive conditions very little allowance is made for the state, so common among civilized peoples, of the woman who is no longer a virgin, yet not about to become a mother. ”

“ By a supernatural power, because they say that the mother requires not only to supply the matter, which is the menstrual blood, but also the semen, which, being mingled with that of the male, has an active power in generation. And since in the Blessed Virgin there was no resolution of semen, by reason of her inviolate virginity, they say that the Holy Ghost supernaturally bestowed on her an active power in the conception of Christ's body, which power other mothers have by reason of the semen resolved. ”

“ Further, every natural form has its determinate matter, outside which it cannot be. But the matter of human form appears to be the semen of male and female. If therefore Christ's body was not conceived of the semen of male and female, it would not have been truly a human body; which cannot be asserted. It seems therefore that He was not conceived of a virgin mother. ”

“ There is one branch of the prenatal subject which has reference to determining the sex before birth, in which some persons, because of a predominance of either male or female children in their families, may naturally and properly have special interest. The desire of some parents for male children in preference to female children is both wrong and unworthy of that proper Christian regard in which woman should rightfully be held. ”

“ In a wider sense of the term, we say that a woman is sterile, when, notwithstanding prolonged and repeated sexual intercourse, in circumstances favourable to procreation, she has failed to give birth to a living and viable infant. ”

“ For seeing, according to my vow, I have never known any man, how can I bear a child without the addition of a man's seed.
17 To this the angel replied and said, Think not, Mary, that you shall conceive in the ordinary way.
18 For, without lying with a man, while a Virgin, you shall conceive; while a Virgin, you shall bring forth; and while a Virgin shall give suck. ”

“ Whatever ideas on the subject of abortion the human mind may have forced itself to entertain, let the slightest proof concerning the existence of fœtal life be alleged, and maternal instinct at once makes itself known: the parent, as after its birth, would often even perish to preserve her child. ”

“ A WRONG TO THE MOTHER AND CHILD.—Sometimes the mother is diseased; the outlet from the womb, as a result of laceration by a previous child-birth, is frequently enlarged, thus allowing conception to take place very readily, and hence she has children in rapid succession. Besides the wrong to the mother in having children in such rapid succession, it is a great injustice to the babe in the womb and the one at the breast that they should follow each other so quickly that one is conceived while the other is nursing. ”

“ But as, though these members are destined to discharge such functions, it is not therefore necessary that they from the beginning discharge them (since we see many women who do not become pregnant, as those that are barren, even though they have wombs) , so pregnancy is not the immediate and necessary consequence of having a womb; but those even who are not barren abstain from sexual intercourse, some being virgins from the first, and others from a certain time. And we see men also keeping themselves virgins, some from the first, and some from a certain time ”

“ And when we consider those phases and forms of Birth Control which are concerned with Pre-Natal Culture—the culture of the child before its birth—can one, even though he be intensely prejudiced against Birth Control, assert that there is to be found here anything which in any way whatsoever can be considered as relating to the theory or practice of abortion? ”

“ Many married couples who are desirous of preventing too-frequent conception, or conception following too soon after the birth of the youngest child, practice the method of refraining from the marital sexual relations during certain periods in which conception is most likely to occur. This custom is said to be favored by those acting under the advice of their religious instructors, and who regard all methods of birth-control other than continence as sinful. ”

“ When, however, we observe the admirable sanctity of the pregnant females of the woodland creatures, and when we consider the extraordinary ignorance and disregard of woman's needs which mark so many of our modern customs, we cannot but think that the safe side of this debatable question must be in the complete continence of the woman for at least six months before the birth of the child. ”

“ By rendering easily possible a selection in parentage and the choice of the right time and circumstances for conception it is, again, the chief key to the eugenic improvement of the race. There are many other benefits, as is now generally becoming clear, which will be derived from the rightly applied practice of birth-control. To many of us it is not the least of these that birth-control effects finally the complete liberation of the spiritual object of marriage. ”

“ The fact, therefore, is now scientifically established that the embryo from the first moment of conception or fecundation is a human being, having a human immortal soul.
II. Now we come to the direct study of abortion. Abortion, or miscarriage, strictly means the expulsion of the fœtus before it is viable, i.e., before it is sufficiently developed to continue its life outside of the maternal womb. The period of arrival at viability is usually after the twenty-eighth week of gestation. ”

“ If a woman did not want the trouble of bringing up a child, desired to appear young, was afraid her husband might think the birth before its time, or wished to spite her husband, she would find some one to procure abortion either by the juice of certain plants taken in drink or by twisting and squeezing the fœtus. ”

“ When all other deterrents fail, it is lawful, according to the teaching of the Church, for married people to limit intercourse to the mid-menstrual period, when, although conception may occur, it is less likely to occur than at other times. ”

“ Once pregnancy is abolished there is no natural check on the sexual passions of husband or wife, for they have learnt how sexual desire may be gratified without the pain, publicity, and responsibility of having children. ”

“ I’m a physician, practicing obstetrician and gynecologist, and I think I’ve had a passing experience in matters of abortion. Now, when I was a medical student, in 1949, we had no such science as fetology. We were taught that the unborn child—the fetus—was something in the uterus, but it was really an article of faith as to whether or not it was a human being, and whether or not that human being had any unique, personal qualities. ”

“ The must holy virgin mother, therefore, escaped entirely the manner of women even before she brought forth: doubtless, in order that the Holy Spirit, betrothing her unto Himself, and sanctifying her, she might conceive without intercourse with man. ”

“ Conception Soon After a Preceding Pregnancy.—Conception sometimes follows birth (or abortion) with astonishing rapidity, and some women seem for a period of their lives either always pregnant or with infants at their breasts. This prolificity is often alluded to, and is not confined to the lower classes, as often stated, but is common even among the nobility. Illustrative of this, we have examples in some of the reigning families in Europe to-day. A peculiar instance is given by Sparkman in which a woman conceived just forty hours after abortion. ”

“ One who raises an orphan in his home is as if he gave birth to him.
27. One who teaches his friend's son Torah is as if he gave birth to him.
28. Forty days (of the beginning of a pregnancy, which is) before the creation of the fetus, one should pray that his wife will give birth to a son.
29. One who thinks about promiscuity, his wife also comes to have such thoughts. And when his wife has promiscuous thoughts, the husks (evil forces) come to her (have relations with her) in a dream, and through this her children die. ”

“ But as the object of the present work is to illustrate abortion, and not the complete life-circle of the fœtus, I shall stop the number of my propositions at the fifth iiimonth of its intro-uterine existence. After that period, the various phenomena of fœtal gestation are so uniform, that they afford less matter of interest to the philosopher.
13. Conception, or that result which follows sexual congress, in virtue of which one, or more individuals, of the same species is called into being, takes place in the ovarium of women. ”

“ Even when it does not really exist, there are many ways by which a virginity—which perhaps has been sold over and over again by expert and clever procuresses—can be simulated. A little time before going to the nuptial bed, the girl inserts into her vagina a few drops of pigeon’s blood; or in some cases she selects for her wedding day the last day of menstruation. ”

“ Mysteries made clear.—When we keep in mind the primal purpose of marriage, the function of menstruation, the period of normal child bearing, it will not be difficult for us to understand why there should come a change in middle-aged woman, when menstruation, ovulation and child bearing should cease. Understanding that normal passion in woman is nature’s call for maternity, the reason for her repelling the approaches of her husband, during the change of life, and why sexual desire largely ceases with this change, will be clear to us. ”

“ Much the same obtains to-day. To a certain extent we seek to preserve the virginity of our daughters; but is there any limit to the precautions with which a jealous husband will fence about his wife? In short, virginity concerns alone her who loses it; is any man's for the taking. Chastity is another person's property.
This slight survey of virginity would be incomplete without a reference to the operation of infibulation [18] —the artificial adhesion of the labia majora by means of a ring or stitches with a view to the prevention of sexual intercourse. ”

“ The MIND of Church. The Church sacredly guards for all her children the privilege of entering the religious state, even after promise of marriage: "Be zealous for the better gifts. And I shew unto you yet a more excellent way."
2. It is of faith that virginity is preferable to matrimony: "If any one saith that the marriage state is to be preferred before the state of virginity, let him be anathema."—COUNCIL OF TRENT.
The religious state is a more usual and a safer way of preserving virginity than a life in the outer world. ”

“ As is the case with mother so with the father, the initial sacrifice in the division of a portion of his body is too small to be considered, but in his case as in the case of the mother, the sacrifice for the coming progeny is only initiated with the act of procreation and continues through a period of fifteen, twenty or even thirty years—sometimes progressively increasing to the last. ”

“ Most women were in a virtual state of perpetual pregnancy. Both Catholics and Protestants thought that God wanted them to multiply and cover the earth. Catholics thought that the only goal of sex was procreation. Men were considered ready for marriage only when they could support a family, which was usually at about age 30. ”

“ For families having many daughters, it was looked upon as a disgrace and a misfortune not to have one in the holy state of virginity. Fathers and mothers that were without daughters asked them of God only with a view to consecrate them to him. In those days one would imagine that the young girls of every class in society considered virginity as their normal state, so common and, as it were, inborn among them, was the tendency to prefer virginity to marriage. ”