Helvidius (sometimes Helvetius) was the author of a work written prior to 383 against the belief in the perpetual virginity of Mary.
Helvidius maintained that the biblical mention of "sisters" and "brothers" of the Lord constitutes solid evidence that Mary had normal marital relations with Joseph and additional children after the miraculous conception and birth of Jesus.
[2] Jerome, in reply, wrote a treatise known under the title The Perpetual Virginity of Blessed Mary,[3] where he vigorously takes the other side, and argues that the "sisters" and "brothers" spoken of were either step-brothers, children of Joseph by a former marriage (cf.
[5] All the works of Helvidius are lost; we know some things about his tract against the belief in the perpetual virginity of Mary only through Jerome's treatise written in response to it.
[6] Helvidius considered the state of being married as an honor and argued against the high glorification of celibacy, which Jerome attacked.