Adversus Helvidium
The Perpetual Virginity of Blessed Mary is an apologetic work of St. Jerome. It is an answer to Helvidius.
Helvidius was the author of a work written about the year 383 against the belief in the perpetual virginity of Mary (the mother of Jesus).
St. Jerome maintains against Helvidius three propositions:
- 1st. That Joseph was only putatively, not really, the husband of Mary.
- 2d. That the "brethren" of the Lord were his cousins, not his own brethren.
- 3d. That virginity is better than the married state.