Mary of Cleophas
Mary of Cleophas
This title occurs only in John, xix, 25. A comparison of the lists of those who stood at the foot of the cross would seem to identify her with Mary, the mother of James the Less and Joseph (Mark 15:40; cf. Matthew 27:56). Some have indeed tried to identify her with the Salome of Mark, xv, 40, but St. John’s reticence concerning himself and his relatives seems conclusive against this (cf. John 21:2). In the narratives of the Resurrection she is named “Mary of James”; (Mark 16:1; Luke 24:10) and “the other Mary” (Matthew 27:61; 28:1). The title of “Mary of James” is obscure. If it stood alone, we should feel inclined to render it “wife of (or sister of) James”, but the recurrence of the expression ” Mary the mother of James and Joseph” compels us to render it in the same way when we only read ” Mary of James”. Her relationship to the Blessed Virgin is obscure. James is termed “of Alpheus”, i.e. presumably “son of Alpheus”. St. Jerome would identify this Alpheus with Cleophas who, according to Hegesippus, was brother to St. Joseph (Hist. eccl., III, xi). In this case Mary of Cleophas, or Alpheus, would be the sister-in-law of the Blessed Virgin, and the term “sister”, adelphe, in John, xix, 25, would cover this. But there are grave difficulties in the way of this identification of Alpheus and Cleophas. In the first place, St. Luke, who speaks of Cleophas (xxiv, 18), also speaks of Alpheus (6:15; Acts 1:13). We may question whether he would have been guilty of such a confused use of names, had they both referred to the same person. Again, while Alphas is the equivalent of the Aramaic, it is not easy to see how the Greek form of this became Cleophas, or more correctly Clopas. More probably it is a shortened form of Cleopatros.
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HUGH POPE Transcribed by Joseph P. Thomas Dedicated to Mary Thomas
The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume IXCopyright © 1910 by Robert Appleton CompanyOnline Edition Copyright © 2003 by K. KnightNihil Obstat, October 1, 1910. Remy Lafort, CensorImprimatur. +John M. Farley, Archbishop of New York
Fuente: Catholic Encyclopedia
Mary of Cleophas
Mary of Cleophas or (See CLOPAS; ALPHAEUS; JAMES.) In Joh 19:25, “there stood by Jesus’ cross His mother, and His mother’s sister Mary of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene.” In Mar 15:40, “Mary Magdalene, and Mary of James the Little and of Joses, and Salome.” In Mat 27:56, “Mary Magdalene, and Mary of James and Joses, and the mother of Zebedee’s children” (i.e. Salome). Thus “Mary of Cleophas” is the same as “Mary of James the Little and of Joses,” and was sister of the Virgin Mary. The names of the two sisters being alike may be explained by the fact that many manuscripts distinguish the Virgin Mary as Mariam, Mary of Cleophas and the other Mary’s as Maria (as we distinguish Mary and Maria); it was a favorite name for mother’s to give to children, from the famous Miriam, Moses’ sister.
Mary was probably the Virgin’s older sister or half-sister; she married Cleophas and by him had four sons, James (the apostle), Joses (“Joseph” Vaticanus manuscript, “John” Sinaiticus manuscript), Jude (the apostle), and Simon, and three daughters. She is first named at the cross, again in the evening of the same day “sitting over against the sepulchre” with Mary Magdalene (Mat 27:61), having previously “beheld where He was laid” (Mar 15:47). She, with the women which came with Jesus from Galilee, “prepared spices and ointments” on the sabbath eve (Luk 23:55-56), and when the sabbath was past “came to see the sepulchre” (Mat 28:1) and “to anoint Him” with the “sweet spices they had bought” (Mar 16:1), and then “saw the vision of angels which said He was alive” (Luk 24:23).
Cleopus being mentioned only to designate Mary and James implies he was dead when Jesus’ ministry began. Joseph too was dead, for he is never mentioned after Luke 2. The widowed sisters then joined in the one house at Nazareth, and their children came to be regarded as “brethren” (Mat 12:47; Mat 13:55-56), there and at Capernaum (Joh 2:12). Her retiring disposition may be the cause of the non-mention of” Mary of Cleophas” until the crucifixion. Her sons were certainly older than Jesus, else they would not have dared to interfere with Him by force (Mar 3:21). John, by our Lord’s direction, took His Virgin mother at the crucifixion to his own home in Jerusalem. Further residence with nephews who had so misunderstood her divine Son would have been less congenial to the bereaved virgin mother than residence with the beloved disciple.