Virgin, maiden or young woman?

In his address at Mass yesterday evening at the Oxford Oratory Fr Jerome spoke about the passage in Isaiah 7:14 which speaks of a young woman who will conceive and give birth to Immanuel, which has of coursetraditionally been identified with the events of Christmas. Critics are keen to point out that the original Hebrew says 'young woman' not 'virgin', and that this is then seized upon to "disprove" the Virgin Birth or Christianity.

As Fr Jerome pointed out to us this fact has been one of which Christians and their critics have been aware since at least the Dialogue of St Justin Martyr with Trypho circa 130, so this is no new discovery. Furthermore the Septuagint, itself seen as inspired, renders the word as 'Virgin', and that two centuries before the birth of Christ. There is nothing exceptional about a young woman conceiving - that is the course of nature; an older woman like St Elizabeth is noteworthy; a vigin - now that is exceptional.