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Jeanette,
Genesis 3:16 says,
| 16 I will greatly multiply your pain in childbearing; in pain you shall bring forth children. . . . |
Note that it says that he will multiply her pain in childbirth, not introduce it. There was already presumably to be some pain in childbirth. Additionally, we have Revelation 12:1–5, which portrays (in one facet) Mary:
1 And a great sign appeared in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars; 2 she was with child and she cried out in her pangs of birth, in anguish for delivery. 3-4 . . . . And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to bear a child, that he might devour her child when she brought it forth; 5 she brought forth a male child, one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron".
Revelation 12:1–5 |
However, there are some early testimonies (I believe the first-century Martyrdom and Ascension of Isaiah, but I'm not 100% sure) that portray a miraculous birth for Jesus, where basically Mary is sitting there one moment and the next moment Jesus is in her arms and she's no longer pregnant. But another early witness, the Protoevangelium of James, contradicts this and says that Mary had birth pangs.
There is also a dogmatic Tradition that Mary remained a virgin in the birth of Jesus (in partu virginity), meaning her hymen was not violated by the birth, which does demand some sort of a miraculous birth.
". . . she [Mary] brought him forth without the loss of virginity, even as she conceived him without its loss … [Jesus Christ was] born from the Virgin's womb because it was a miraculous birth . . ."
(DS 291, 294) (Komonchak, Joseph A., Mary Collins, and Dermot A. Lane, The New Dictionary of Theology (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2000), p. 1079) |
"Generally speaking, the Fathers of the Western Church taught this aspect of Mary's virginity in terms of a preservation of her bodily integrity and her exemption from experiencing the ordinary pangs of childbirth. The Eastern Fathers emphasized Mary's experience of joy and freedom from pain in giving birth to Christ."
(Komonchak, Joseph A., Mary Collins, and Dermot A. Lane, The New Dictionary of Theology (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2000), p. 1079) |
According to Cornelius à Lapide, who, admittedly, is not authoritative from a teaching standpoint merely a scholarly one:
"Thirdly, the Blessed Virgin, as she conceived without concupiscence, so also brought forth without pain, or any of the concomitants of ordinary childbirth. So say the Fathers everywhere."
(Cornelius à Lapide, The Great Commentary of Cornelius À Lapide: S. Luke's Gospel, trans. by Thomas W. Mossman, Fourth Edition (Edinburgh: John Grant, 1908), IV, 83) |
But fundamentally, while there seems to be a generally consensus that she did not have birth pains, and while we must dogmatically believe that she remained intact as a virgin during Jesus's birth, there is no strict (dogmatic or infallible) Church teaching on whether Mary did or did not have any birth pangs.
Finally, I recently found a relevant Scripture verse to this from Isaiah:
7 Before she was in labor she gave birth; before her pain came upon her she was delivered of a son.
Isaiah 66:7 |
You said:
Also, did Mary get old?
I don't believe we have any reliable information on whether Mary grew old or not. I have never heard it addressed; it is certainly not a teaching of the Church, and any answer would be speculative or based on legendary sources.
Eric
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