How does the Church answer these questions about Mary and Joseph?

[jasiub]

I’m a Catholic, but I just have a question about the Virgin Mary.
I know my Catholic faith says she remained a virgin her whole life.But in my Catholic Bible, it states in Matthew 1, verse 25, that they had no relations with each other until they bore a son. My Catholic education also taught me that a Catholic marriage need to be consumated in order to be legitimate. So if Mary and Joseph never had sex, wouldn’t that make it an illegitimate marriage in the eyes of the church?

 

[Fr.Vincent_Serpa]

Hi,

This is the old “until” question. If I said that Mr. Jones was faithful to his wife until he died, I wouldn’t be suggesting that he was unfaithful to her after he died. This is how “until” is being used in that passage. Because Mary and Joseph were celibate until Jesus was born, this does not mean that they had relations after He was born.

As for the matter of consummating a marriage, the marriage is valid from the moment the vows are made. The consummation simply completes the vows. So Mary and Joseph were validly married even though they did not complete their vows by consummating them.

Fr. Vincent Serpa, O.P.