Saints spoke on this topic as far back
as the 4th century. T. Athanasius (d. 373) that ‘both [Joseph & Mary]
remained intact, as was proved by many testimonies.’ St. Jerome (d. 420) when
defending the virginity of Mary against the heretic Helvidius said that not
only was Mary a perpetual virgin but so was Joseph, their virginal marriage
producing the virginal Son, Savior of the world. Doctor of the church St. Peter
Damian asserts that it’s the ‘faith of the Church’ that God who willed that his
Son should have a virgin mother should also have a virgin father on Earth to
represent his eternal Virgin Father in Heaven. (The Life and Glories of St.
Joseph by Edward Healy Thomson. Burns & Oats, Ltd. 2nd Ed. 1891.) St.
Thomas Aquinas the Angelic Doctor says, ‘We believe that just as the Mother of
Jesus was a virgin, so was Joseph, because he placed the Virgin in the case of
a virgin, and just as he did this at the close of his earthly life, so he did
so it at the beginning [of his earthly life]. If the Lord was unwilling to
commend his Virgin Mother to the care of anyone except a virgin, how could he
have born the fact that her husband had not been a virgin and remained as such.”
(“Was Joseph Previously Married” by Phillip Bellini; Catholic Culture Website entered
September 4, 2021.) Church Doctor St. Gregory Nazianzen (d. 389), said that the
first virgin is the Holy Trinity: God the Father is a virgin; God the Son is a
virgin, generated by the Father without a mother; God the Spirit is a virgin,
proceeding from both the Father and the Son. Each divine person of the Godhead
is ever-virgin. Jean Charlier de Gerson (d. 1429) said it follows then that the
earthly trinity of Jesus, Mary, and Joseph must also be all-virginal. (The Life
and Glories of St. Joseph by Edward Healy Thompson. Burns & Oats, Ltd.
2nd Ed. 1891.) St Albert the Great said, “Reflect on the vow of virginity of both
these spouses, for it is stated that the angel was sent by God to a virgin
espoused to a man named Joseph . . . this union would not have continued
unless, by mutual consent, they had already made a vow of virginity.” St.
Augustine, praising St. Joseph, said, “Oh, holy Joseph! You received from Mary
through the Holy Spirit, God’s own Son as your Son, by a means of conception as
legitimate as it was sublime. Your virginity and that of Mary, is thereby far
from being married. Instead, and rightly so, it is precisely because of your
perfect virginity that your spouse Mary, the Virgin of virgins, become the
Mother of God! It is due to you, as well as to herself, and therefore, you are
also truly a father.” (https://www.apostolatestjoseph.org/spouse-of-mary.php).
Thompson also asks how could it not be that Joseph, closer to the incarnation and
Hypostatic Union than any other man, would not be a pure virgin if St. John the
Baptist the Herald of Christ and St. John the Beloved Disciple were both
virgins? St. Paul tells us a “virgin” is “concerned about the Lord’s affairs”
and wholly “devoted to the Lord in both body and spirit” and “undivided
devotion to the Lord.” (1 Cor 7:34-35). (John David Lewis, Journey With
Joseph [Macao, China: Claretian Publications, 2021], 212-13 n. 52)
