How can the Church be a virgin?

St. Augustine says, “Do you want to know how the church could be a virgin? Listen to Paul the apostle, listen to the zealous friend of the Bridegroom when he says: ‘But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ’ (2 Cor. 11:3). As though the serpent, namely Satan, has defiled Eve’s purity and destroyed the virginity of her heart. So it is that we should not accept the devil’s deception and fall into evil desires and lose the virginity of our hearts.”

He again says, “If you would ask: ‘if the church is Virgin, how could she beget children?’ I will respond that she is a virgin but also begets children. She is likened to Mary who gave birth to Christ. Did Saint Mary not give birth to a child while remaining a virgin? So it is that the church begets children while remaining a virgin. She gives birth to Christ for whoever is baptized becomes His members.”¹⁰⁸⁹

“The church is like Mary; her perfection was never defiled, and her fertility was never corrupted. What Mary was made worthy of in the flesh, the church received it spiritually. The only exception to that is that Mary gave birth to one son (Jesus Christ) but the church gave birth to many children for them to be gathered together in the one body in the one (Christ).”¹⁰⁹⁰