Virginitas in partu

August is the month traditionally dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.  In fact, the old feast of the Immaculate Heart is August 22 (which is still celebrated as such, by way of indult, by the Missionaries of Charity as their patronal feast).  As we honor Our Lady's Immaculate Heart in this month of her Assumption, we do well to venerate her spotless virginity, which, as an ancient synod of the Roman Church put it, is to be affirmed ante partum, in partu, and post partum. 

We all know well what it meant for Our Blessed Mother to be ever-virgin before and after Jesus's birth, but few Catholics know that we believe by Catholic faith that Mary was a virgin even in giving birth to Jesus.  Ludwig Ott's explanation of this doctrine of the faith is helpful, as far as it goes.  Ott gives perhaps too much quarter to the 20th-century objections of Von Mitterer, Galot, et al.  However, his treatment is historically sound and reveals the truth of the Marian virginitas in partu. 

For sheer beauty, however, nothing can match the lucid presentation of the Common Doctor.