IV. MARY of Cleophas. Saint Jerome1 says, she bore the Name of Cleophas, either Matth. xxvii. 56. Mark xv. 40, 41. Luke xxiv. 10. John xix. 25.because of her Father, or because of her Family, or for some other Reason not known2. Others believe with greater Probability, that she was Wife of Cleophas, and Mother of Saint James the Lesser, and of Saint Simon, Brethren of our Lord. These latter Authors take Mary, Mother of James, and Mary, Wife of Cleophas, to be the same Person. Saint John gives her the Name of Mary, Wife of Cleophas, and the other Evangelists the Name of Mary, Mother of James. Cleophas and Alpheus are the same Person, as James Son of Mary, Wife of Cleophas, is the same as James Son of Alpheus3. In the Hebrew Tongue Alpheus and Cleophas differ only in the Manner in which the Greeks have written and pronounced these two Names. Cleophas may be derived from the Hebrew Cheleph, which signifies to change; as much as to say, inconstant, or given to change: Or from the City of Cheleph or Heleph, mentioned in Joshua xix. 31. and which was a frontier Town of Naphtali in Galilee. Cleophas or Alpheus, may be originally of this City.
Matth. xiii. 55. and xxvii. 56. Mark vi. 3. John xix. 25. Luke xxiii. 56. Luke xxiv. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Matth. xxviii. 9.But to return to Mary Wife of Cleophas, we know but very few of the Particulars of her Life. ‘Tis thought she was the Sister of the holy Virgin, and that she was the Mother of James the Less, of Joses, of Simeon, and of Judas, which in the Gospel are named the Brethren of Jesus Christ, that is, his Cousin-Germans. She believed early on Jesus Christ, and kept him Company in his Journeys, to minister to him. She was present at the last Passover, and at the Death of our Saviour she followed him to Calvary, and during his Passion she was with the Virgin at the Foot of his Cross. She was also present at his Burial, and on the Friday before had prepared the Perfumes to embalm him. But going to his Tomb on Sunday very early in the Morning, with some other Women, they there learned from the Mouth of an Angel that he was risen, of which they carried the News to the Apostles. By the Way Jesus appeared to them, and they embraced his Feet, worshipping him. The Year of the Death of Mary the Wife of Cleophas is not known, but the Greeks keep the eighth of April in Memory of the holy Women, that brought Perfumes to embalm the Body of Christ4, and pretend to have their Bodies at Constantinople in a Church of the holy Virgin, built by Justin II. The Roman Martyrology marks the Festival of St. Mary the Wife of Cleophas the ninth of April, and it puts the Translation of her Body into the City of Veroli near Rome, on the twenty fifth of May. Others pretend she is in a little City of Provence called The three Marys, on the Banks of the Rhone and of the Sea.
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