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 "brothers" of the Lord were his cousins, not his own brothers.

3d. That virginity is better than the married state.

See also

• Brothers of Jesus

External links

• Jerome (c. 383), "The Perpetual Virginity of Blessed Mary - Against Helvidius", in Philip Schaff; Henry Wace; Kevin Knight (eds.), Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, Vol. 6, Translated by W.H. Fremantle, G. Lewis and W.G. Martley, Buffalo, New York: Christian Literature Publishing Co. (retrieved from New Advent)
• Hunter, David G. (Spring 1993). "Helvidius, Jovinian, and the Virginity of Mary in Late Fourth-Century Rome". Journal of Early Christian Studies. Vol. 1 (number 1). Johns Hopkins University Press: pp. 47-71. doi:10.1353/earl.0.0147. Retrieved 2016-08-30. {{cite journal}}: |number= has extra text (help); |pages= has extra text (help); |volume= has extra text (help)