How could Mary remain "ever virgin"?

[ltravis]

I just wanted to chime in about the question of when Mary became pregnant. I don’t know how binding to the faith Church ritual is, but we celebrate Christmas exactly nine months after the annunication. That would suggest she became pregnant immediately after the angel left her. However, as I alluded, perhaps this is just a way for the Church to nicely package the two feasts within the liturgical year.

LT

 

[FromTheCrossroa]

Huh? Marriage as a particular bond between a man and woman, and conferring a certain status recognized in the wider culture or society, is as old as humanity. Therefore sex outside of marriage is as old as humanity.

Of course it is! The original question was what betrothal meant back then. Betrothal was the pre-cursor to our engagement. The original “consummation = marriage” was never overlooked by the custom. It evolved as the idea of marriage became more ceremonious, more about legal status and less about the simplistic beauty found in the first marriage between Adam and Eve. This has gotten blown WAY off topic and misunderstood. So nevermind…

 

[Texas_Roofer]

Huh? Marriage as a particular bond between a man and woman, and conferring a certain status recognized in the wider culture or society, is as old as humanity. Therefore sex outside of marriage is as old as humanity.

As for Catholic marriage, by the mid 9th century, the Greek church was insisting Christian marriages were not valid unless performed and blessed by a priest. This was not the case in the West, however by the 12th century, in various parts of Europe there was an established wedding ceremony, with local variations, performed entirely by the clergy. 400 years later, after Trent, a standardized wedding rite came into use in order to combat abuses.*

Here’s a painting done 100 years before Trent showing a priest officiating at a marriage:…

I mostly agree. Men and woman have been together in that way but “marriage” has had many different meaning in different societies and times, so have relations and being married has been defined by some as marriage.

You are correct though in fornication can only exist if you allow by the definition of marriage.