Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?
All Commentaries on Luke 1:34 Go To Luke 1
George Leo Haydock
AD 1849
How shall this be done? She only asks about the manner.
Because I know not man. This answer, as St. Augustine takes notice, would have been to no purpose, had she not made a vow to God to live always a virgin. (Witham)
Listen to the words of this pure Virgin. The angel tells her she shall conceive; but she insists upon her virginity, holding her purity in higher estimation than the promised dignity. (St. Gregory of Nyssa.)
She did not doubt the truth of what the angel said, (as Calvin impiously maintained) but she wished it might not happen to the prejudice of her vowed virginity. (St. Ambrose, St. Augustine, Ven. Bede, Theophylactus)
