But the pure virgin Mary had
devoted her virginity to God, and was filled with the Holy Spirit, and
protected against every temptation. No evil lust ever came to her mind, nor did
she ever lie with a man; she was therefore a virgin even though she had a child.
(Aelfric, “The Nativity of the Lord,” in The Old English Catholic Homilies:
The Second Series [trans. Roy M. Liuzza; Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library
93; Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2026], 15)
