“In accordance with design, Mary the Virgin is found obedient, saying, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word” (Lk 1:38). But Eve was disobedient; for she did not obey when as yet she was a virgin.. Thus it was that the knot of Eve’s disobedience was loosed by the obedience of Mary. For what the virgin Eve had bound fast through unbelief, this did the virgin Mary set free through faith….”
(St Irenaeus of Lyon, ‘Against the Heresies’)