by-grace-of-god:

“From the beginning of the Church, Mary’s name has almost always appeared with a modifier: ‘virgin.’ Mary’s identity is incomplete without the word ‘virgin.’ She is ‘the Virgin Mary.’ Virginity is not merely a characteristic of her personality, or a description of her biological state. Virginity is so much a part of her that it has become like a name. When literature or songs refer to ‘the Virgin’ or ‘the Blessed Virgin,’ it can mean only one person: Mary. ‘Virgin’ is, once and always, who she is.” – Scott Hahn, Hail, Holy Queen