Q. At a Bible study group in our apartment complex, it was shared with those attending that Jesus had five siblings. What Bible passage does that come from and, if it’s true, why do we call Our Lady “Virgin Mary”? (Some in the group said that Mary was a virgin at the time of Jesus’ birth but had five additional children with her spouse Joseph.) (Albany, N.Y.)

A. The perpetual virginity of Mary – before, during and after the birth of Christ – has been consistently taught by the Church from the early Christian era. We reflect that belief at Mass when we say, in the Confiteor, “blessed Mary ever-virgin.”

What, then, are we to make of such passages as Mark 6:3, where Christ’s neighbors in Nazareth ask, “Is he not the carpenter, the son of Mary and the brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? And are not his sisters here with us?”

Traditionally, Catholic biblical scholars have pointed to the fact that the Greek word “adelphos” used in this Marcan passage could mean not just “blood brother” but also such relations as step-brother, nephew or cousin. But there are still other interpretations consistent with the perpetual virginity of Mary.

The second-century protoevangelium of James, for example, described these “adelphi” as children of Joseph by a previous marriage. Likewise, Orthodox churches today speculate that Joseph was a widower who had other children before he married Mary, and some Catholic commentators agree.

(They point to the fact that Joseph is often portrayed in art as an older man and that Joseph had clearly died before the public ministry of Christ, or else his role in that ministry would have been treated in the Gospel accounts.)

That Jesus had no “blood brothers” gains support from the fact that Jesus, on the cross, entrusted his mother to the beloved apostle John; Jewish law dictated that the responsibility of caring for a widowed mother would have passed to the next oldest son, had one existed.

How many books are there in the Bible?

Q. I have always found your column in the Catholic Star Herald to be interesting, educational and enlightening, but I was confused by a recent reference. In answering a question about Catholics reading the Scriptures, you referred to the 73 books in the Bible: 46 in the Old Testament and 27 in the New Testament.

Admittedly, I am a very old-school Catholic, but in all my years of Catholic education we never had more than 72 books (45 in the Old Testament and 27 in the New Testament.) Was another book discovered, unearthed or otherwise approved when I wasn’t paying attention? (Camden, N.J.)

A. Like you, I learned that the Bible contained 72 books and was surprised to see the more recent use of the number 73. The difference lies in whether Jeremiah and Lamentations are considered as one book or two.

Although the author of Lamentations is not named internally, strong tradition (including the Greek Septuagint and the Latin Vulgate) has ascribed its origin to Jeremiah. Both books deal with the turmoil leading up to and following the fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of the Temple in 586 B.C.

Some scholars see a notable consistency between the two books, not only in their common subject matter but in a similar tone and vocabulary. Others, though, point to the poetic style of Lamentations as sharply different from Jeremiah’s combination of history, biography and prophecy.

The New American Bible, which is the version most commonly used by Catholics, presents the two as separate books and thus counts a total of 73 books.

Questions may be sent to Father Kenneth Doyle at a[email protected] and 40 Hopewell St., Albany, N.Y. 12208.