The Perpetual Virginity of Mary and Jesus cousins.

[Frank22]

It is obvious that all faithful Catholics must believe in the perpetual virginity of the Blessed Mother, but must we necessarily also hold to the view proposed by St. Jerome that Christ’s “brethren” were in fact his cousins, or is it permissible to hold to the beliefs of the Greek Fathers, whose tradition identified these brethren as the sons of Joseph from a previous marriage? I tend to favor the latter view, and would like to know if I am transgressing any dogma of the infallible magisterium in doing so.

 

[Devon_Caffran]

The following links should assist you in better understanding Mary’s perpetual virginity. If you have any further questions or concerns that are not answered by these links, please [contact Catholic Answers (http://www.catholic.com/contact/contact-us) directly.

**Recommended Reading:
**

• Doesn’t Scripture imply that Mary had children other than Jesus?
• Did Jesus have brothers?
• Perpetual Virginity: Why is this important?
• Mary: Ever Virgin
• Why should any doctrine not explicitly referred to in the Bible, be listened to?
• How do you respond to “Everything you need to know is in the Bible”?
• How can we know a doctrine is true if it’s not in the Bible?
• How do we know that the Protoevangelium of James is credible?
• Does Church Tradition exist only to interpret Scripture?
• Non-Canonical Writings…
• Oral Traditions not found in the Bible