The idea
Belief in the miraculous birth goes back to one of the earliest writings after the New Testament, Irenaeus' summary of the apostolic faith, and both he and Gregory of Nyssa quote Isaiah 66:7 for it (CCC 499 on virginity in giving birth). Pitre knows 'of no one who has expressed this belief more beautifully' than John Damascene: Mary 'suffered those pains, which she escaped at the birth, in the hour of the passion, enduring from motherly sympathy the rending of the bowels… her thoughts pierced her as a sword' — and 'the joy of the resurrection transforms the pain.' This does not make Mary superhuman: the anguish of watching the one she knew to be the Son of God slowly asphyxiate is 'quite literally inconceivable.' As Jesus is the 'man of sorrows,' Mary is the Mother of Sorrows, Mater Dolorosa, able to identify with every mother who suffers for her children; John Paul II reads the Woman's pangs of the Mother of Jesus at the cross.
Key verses
- Isaiah 66:7 — the verse the Fathers quoted.
- Luke 2:35 — the sword through her soul — Damascene's text.
- Isaiah 53:3 — 'a man of sorrows' — and a mother of sorrows.
The connection
| Old Testament root | New Testament fulfilment | |
|---|---|---|
| Isaiah's painless birth | → | Mary: no pangs at Bethlehem, the pangs of the passion at Calvary |
The Fathers held the two halves together from the start: the birth without pain was a sign of the new creation, and the pain she was spared she bore in full at the cross.
Sources
- Irenaeus of Lyons — Proof of the Apostolic Preaching 54 (pp 131–132) · read
- Gregory of Nyssa — On the Song of Songs 13 (p 132) · read
- John Damascene — On the Orthodox Faith 4.14 (pp 132–133) · read
- John Paul II — Theotókos (p 134) · read
- Catechism of the Catholic Church — CCC 499 (p 131) · read
- Oecumenius — Commentary on the Apocalypse 12.1 (p 132) · read