Whether Christ Was Born Without His Mother Suffering?
Objection 1: It would seem that Christ was not born without His
Mother suffering. For just as man's death was a result of the sin of
our first parents, according to Gen. 2:17: "In what day soever ye
shall eat, ye shall [Vulg.: 'thou shalt eat of it, thou shalt] die";
so were the pains of childbirth, according to Gen. 3:16: "In sorrow
shalt thou bring forth children." But Christ was willing to undergo
death. Therefore for the same reason it seems that His birth should
have been with pain.
Obj. 2: Further, the end is proportionate to the beginning. But
Christ ended His life in pain, according to Isa. 53:4: "Surely . . .
He hath carried our sorrows." Therefore it seems that His nativity
was not without the pains of childbirth.
Obj. 3: Further, in the book on the birth of our Saviour
[*Protevangelium Jacobi xix, xx] it is related that midwives were
present at Christ's birth; and they would be wanted by reason of the
mother's suffering pain. Therefore it seems that the Blessed Virgin
suffered pain in giving birth to her Child.
_On the contrary,_ Augustine says (Serm. de Nativ.
[*Supposititious]), addressing himself to the Virgin-Mother: "In
conceiving thou wast all pure, in giving birth thou wast without
pain."
_I answer that,_ The pains of childbirth are caused by the infant
opening the passage from the womb. Now it has been said above (Q. 28,
A. 2, Replies to objections), that Christ came forth from the closed
womb of His Mother, and, consequently, without opening the passage.
Consequently there was no pain in that birth, as neither was there
any corruption; on the contrary, there was much joy therein for that
God-Man "was born into the world," according to Isa. 35:1, 2: "Like
the lily, it shall bud forth and blossom, and shall rejoice with joy
and praise."
Reply Obj. 1: The pains of childbirth in the woman follow from
the mingling of the sexes. Wherefore (Gen. 3:16) after the words, "in
sorrow shalt thou bring forth children," the following are added: "and
thou shalt be under thy husband's power." But, as Augustine says
(Serm. de Assumpt. B. Virg., [*Supposititious]), from this sentence we
must exclude the Virgin-Mother of God; who, "because she conceived
Christ without the defilement of sin, and without the stain of sexual
mingling, therefore did she bring Him forth without pain, without
violation of her virginal integrity, without detriment to the purity
of her maidenhood." Christ, indeed, suffered death, but through His
own spontaneous desire, in order to atone for us, not as a necessary
result of that sentence, for He was not a debtor unto death.
Reply Obj. 2: As "by His death" Christ "destroyed our death"
[*Preface of the Mass in Paschal-time], so by His pains He freed us
from our pains; and so He wished to die a painful death. But the
mother's pains in childbirth did not concern Christ, who came to atone
for our sins. And therefore there was no need for His Mother to suffer
in giving birth.
Reply Obj. 3: We are told (Luke 2:7) that the Blessed Virgin
herself "wrapped up in swaddling clothes" the Child whom she had
brought forth, "and laid Him in a manger." Consequently the narrative
of this book, which is apocryphal, is untrue. Wherefore Jerome says
(Adv. Helvid. iv): "No midwife was there, no officious women
interfered. She was both mother and midwife. 'With swaddling clothes,'
says he, 'she wrapped up the child, and laid Him in a manger.'" These
words prove the falseness of the apocryphal ravings.
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