r salvation is, in a way,
natural, since a Man was born of a woman, and after the due lapse of
time from His conception: but it is also supernatural, because He was
begotten, not of seed, but of the Holy Ghost and the Blessed Virgin,
above the law of conception." Thus, then, on the part of the mother,
this nativity was natural, but on the part of the operation of the
Holy Ghost it was supernatural. Therefore the Blessed Virgin is the
true and natural Mother of Christ.

Reply Obj. 3: As stated above (Q. 31, A. 5, ad 3; Q. 32, A. 4), the
resolution of the woman's semen is not necessary for conception;
neither, therefore, is it required for motherhood.
_______________________

FOURTH ARTICLE [III, Q. 35, Art. 4]

Whether the Blessed Virgin should be called the Mother of God?

Objection 1: It would seem that the Blessed Virgin should not be
called the Mother of God. For in the Divine mysteries we should not
make any assertion that is not taken from Holy Scripture. But we read
nowhere in Holy Scripture that she is the mother or parent of God,
but that she is the "mother of Christ" or of "the Child," as may be
seen from Matt. 1:18. Therefore we should not say that the Blessed
Virgin is the Mother of God.

Obj. 2: Further, Christ is called God in respect of His Divine
Nature. But the Divine Nature did not first originate from the
Virgin. Therefore the Blessed Virgin should not be called the Mother
of God.

Obj. 3: Further, the word "God" is predicated in common of Father,
Son, and Holy Ghost. If, therefore, the Blessed Virgin is Mother of
God it seems to follow that she was the Mother of Father, Son, and
Holy Ghost, which cannot be allowed. Therefore the Blessed Virgin
should not be called Mother of God.

_On the contrary,_ In the chapters of Cyril, approved in the Council
of Ephesus (P. 1, Cap. xxvi), we read: "If anyone confess not that
the Emmanuel is truly God, and that for this reason the Holy Virgin
is the Mother of God, since she begot of her flesh the Word of God
made flesh, let him be anathema."

_I answer that,_ As stated above (Q. 16, A. 1), every word that
signifies a nature in the concrete can stand for any hypostasis of
that nature. Now, since the union of the Incarnation took place in
the hypostasis, as above stated (Q. 2, A. 3), it is manifest that
this word "God" can stand for the hypostasis, having a human and a
Divine nature. Therefore whatever belongs to the Divine and to the
human nature can be