Blessed Virgin Mary

Blessed Virgin Mary: A traditional title used by Roman Catholics, Anglo-Catholics and others to decribe the mother of Jesus Christ. It refers to one of the tenets of mainstream christian belief, that Jesus Christ was conceived not by a sexual act between Mary and her husband, Saint Joseph, but through the actions of God. According to this belief, Mary remained a virgin, not withstanding her impregnation by God. Many faiths believed that Mary remained a virgin, hence prayers to 'Blessed Mary, ever virgin', and that those named in the gospels as Jesus's 'brothers and sisters' were not the children of Mary, but, according to some, merely his disciples, according to others, children of Joseph by an earlier marriage.