CHAPTER XI: The Birth Of Joseph A Joy In Heaven And In Limbo.
THE birth of the saints is, as St. Ambrose observes, the cause of joy to many. Thus, before John the Baptist came into the world the angel announced to Zachary that many should rejoice at his birth.1 Now, Joseph was, next to Mary, the most eminent among the saints, and was to be born for the profit of all, since he was destined by God to be the Patron of all Christians. How, then, could it be possible that his nativity should pass unnoticed and not be the cause of joy in Heaven?
The Blessed Trinity rejoiced at the birth of him who by his wisdom and prudence, his virginity and his charity, should veil the admirable mystery of the Incarnation from the eyes of the profane until the day fixed for its revelation; him to whom the Eternal Father was wholly to confide His Only-Begotten Son for well-nigh thirty years; to whom this Only-Begotten Son was to make Himself subject,2 regarding him in the place of a father; to whom the Holy Ghost was in full confidence to entrust His Immaculate Spouse; and through whom the Most Holy Trinity would be eternally blessed, as It was afterwards to be in a yet higher degree by the birth of Mary, of whom St. Cyril of Alexandria wrote, "Through her the Trinity was glorified, Heaven exulted, and the angels were made glad".3 Moreover, as a sign of predilection, the Blessed Trinity was pleased immediately to confirm our saint in grace, so that by a special privilege he should never commit even a venial sin, a privilege which was most fitting in him who was to be in the place of a father to the Son of God and the true spouse of His immaculate and holy Mother. Scripture itself tells us that the glory of fathers rests upon their children ;4 and so, too, the honour of a husband is reflected on his wife; wherefore the Blessed Trinity multiplied Its gifts and graces in Joseph, sanctifying him (as we have shown) in his mother's womb. The holy doctor, Alfonso de' Liguori, preaching on the heart of St. Joseph, says, "God having destined Joseph to fill the office of father to the Incarnate Word, it must be held as certain that He conferred upon him all the gifts of wisdom and sanctity befitting such an office". And then he adduces in particular the threefold privilege which Gerson and Suarez attribute to him: that of being sanctified in the womb, confirmed in grace, exempted from the rebellion of concupiscence. "O blessed for ever,'' he exclaims, "be the adorable goodness of God who so nobly exalted Joseph, for our advantage also and that of the whole Church!"
All the angelic hierarchies rejoiced at the birth of Joseph, because they beheld the time arrived when Heaven should be re-opened and the seats which were left vacant by the rebel angels should again be filled. On seeing him raised to an order superior even to the highest angelic choirs, seized with a holy wonder, they sang Glory to God, and joyfully honoured him as the foster-father of their King and the spouse of their glorious Queen. But especially did those heavenly spirits rejoice who were chosen by God to guard him with loving reverence. To every human being, as we know, God appoints at his birth a guardian-angel, who shall faithfully accompany, defend, and protect him in all the necessities and perils of life; and to one who is to hold high offices committed to him by God for the benefit of others, a second angel of a superior order is assigned, that he may he enabled more efficaciously to fulfil the mission with which he has been charged.5 "Oh, how high," exclaims the great doctor, St. Jerome, "is the dignity of souls, which from the moment of their birth have each of them an angel appointed by God as guardian!"6 But if a soul is glorious which has a single tutelary angel given it, how much more glorious must that soul be which is surrounded by many sublime spirits of Paradise! And such we must fain believe was the case with our great saint.
But it may be asked, if Joseph was confirmed in grace and freed from the solicitations of concupiscence, what need had he of angelic guardianship? If he was thus specially protected by God, nay, was himself appointed to be the faithful guardian of Jesus and Mary, if he was placed in an order superior to that of the angels, does it not seem that these spirits should be given to him rather as attendants than as guardians? In reply to this objection we must repeat that if Joseph, as Doctors of the Church affirm, excelled the angels in dignity, he was not their superior in nature, since the angelic nature is undoubtedly higher than the human; and, indeed, in this was manifest the surpassing goodness of the Son of God towards us, that, when He would redeem the world from the bondage of sin, He humbled Himself to assume our human nature and not that of the angels.
Now, let us see if it was needful that Joseph should have the guardianship of angels, and in what sense it was needful. The Angelic Doctor, St. Thomas, speaking of man in his state of innocence, says that, although, through his possession of original justice, all within him was well regulated, nevertheless, as he was exposed to dangers from without, he needed the guardianship of angels. And the same great doctor says, speaking of the Blessed Virgin, that, as she was not in statu comprehensorum, but was still in via,7 she required while on earth to have angelic guardians. From all which we may infer that Joseph, albeit innocent and confirmed in grace, needed the same loving tutelage. For if it behooved the Blessed Virgin to have this guardianship, who was Mother of God and herself the Queen of Angels, how much more must Joseph, who was far inferior, have required it, both on account of perils from without, and also because he was in the state of viator; for it is precisely to such as are in the way that God appoints the angels as guardians; 8 with this difference, however, that, whereas to other men the angels are given as veritable guides, directors, and tutors, as superiors for the government of inferiors, who have actual need of being assisted and ruled in all things, to Mary and to Joseph they were assigned as guards of honour, who, clearing the way before them and removing every external peril, should bring them high massages from Heaven, and form their glorious retinue. A learned doctor, Tostatus Abulensis, thus sums up the purposes for which guardian-angels were assigned to Joseph from his birth.
1. For his solace and comfort in life.
2. To guide him externally, and warn him of impending dangers.
3. To remove every impediment which men or devils should cast in his way.
4. For the fuller enlightenment of his mind.
5. For the increase of his merit.
6. To communicate to him the will of God.
7. To pay him honour as the spouse of Mary and the reputed father of Jesus.
And that not one angel alone but many were assigned to Joseph may be inferred from the fact that, when Divine Goodness elects any individual for a sublime position involving most important offices, It never fails to furnish him with the necessary means of fulfilling his obligations, among which, in addition to interior gifts and graces, must be reckoned the consolations and external advantages which the guardianship of angels affords. St. Bernardine of Siena, quoting the opinion of St. John Chrysostom, St. George of Nicomedia, and St. Bonaventura, affirms that to the Blessed Virgin, already so specially protected by God Himself, many legions of angels were assigned as guardians. How, then, could it be that to Joseph, the spouse of Mary, to him who was honoured by God not, indeed, as highly as was Mary, but, next to her, above all others, only one angel should be given, considering, moreover, the various exalted offices for which he was chosen, for each of which we may believe he had a special angel appointed to assist him? Some would have to serve as a guard to his person, others to pay due honour to his dignity, as the reputed father of Jesus and the spouse of Mary. Whence a pious writer, P. Patrignani, says that " St. Joseph was the most highly favoured of men, being assisted and honoured by angels. He received from them consolation in sufferings, light in perplexities, service and aid in toils and labours ". Then, turning to the saint, he exclaims, " I marvel not, O most glorious St. Joseph, that thou wast so favoured by the angels, since thou wast so like to them in thy own angelic purity. Neither do I marvel that they should be, so to say, ambitious of serving thee, seeing that they regarded thee as superior in dignity to themselves." 9 And these very angels, belonging even to the highest among the angelic hierarchies, who afterwards consoled him, accompanied him, and strengthened him in the numerous painful vicissitudes of his life, these same glorious spirits does Joseph now employ to succour so many who mourn, so many afflicted families, and, in fine, the whole Church Catholic placed under his protection; saying to them, in the language of the prophet Isaias, " Go, ye swift angels, to a nation rent and torn in pieces . . . to a nation expecting and trodden under foot ".10 These angels, not only joyfully fulfil his behests, but vie with each other in forestalling his holy desires; and no wonder, since, seeing that Jesus, their King, the King of angels and of men, made Himself subject and obedient to Joseph, they know not how better to honour so great a saint than by paying him the highest reverence and homage, the humblest and most entire subjection. Here, then, we perceive the reason why at his happy birth they surrounded him with such festal joy.
The joy they felt must have had its echo among the tristful inhabitants of Limbo, to whom angels, doubtless, reported the blessed tidings that the hour of their deliverance was approaching. The birth of Joseph was the first signal of the coming of Christ. Joseph was the morning star announcing the aurora which precedes the day. The rays of this star must have filled that gloomy abode with light. And, oh, with what exceeding complacency the holy Fathers, turning their eyes to Bethlehem, must have contemplated the infant Joseph, seeing how in him all their patriarchal and prophetic dignity was about to bear its promised fruit! How they must have blessed the birth of this child, whose appearance in the world brought with it the assurance that soon their bonds would be broken, their prison opened, their banishment ended, and that they would behold their long-desired Redeemer! The very thought must have caused them unutterable joy.
1 St. Luke i. 14.
2 St. Luke ii. 51.
3 Hom. vi. in Nestor.
4 Prov. xvii. G.
5 A remarkable instance of this is recorded in the Life of M. Olier, the venerable founder of the Seminary of St. Sulpice, who himself relates the singular circumstance under which he was given an angel of his office in addition to his own angel-guardian.—Chap. iii. pp. 43, 44.
6 Comment, in Mattheum, cap. xviii.
7 Summa, p. i. q. cxiii. a. 4; p. iii. q. xxx. a. 2. By in statu comprehensorum is meant the state of those who have attained to their end, the beatific vision of God in Heaven ; by in via, the state of those who are still traversing the way of this life.
8 Psalm xe. 11.
9 R Divoto di S. Giuseppe, Novena, Gior. via.
10 Chap, xviii. 2.
CHAPTER XII: The Birth Of Joseph A Joy On Earth.
WHEN Heaven smiles, there must be responsive joy on earth, at least in some chosen hearts; and among these foremost must have been Joseph's fortunate parents. He was their first-born son, and as such, according to the custom of the Jews, a subject of much rejoicing. But although a veil is cast over his infancy and early years, and no reliable tradition has reached us on the subject, we can scarcely imagine that no wonderful signs preceded it, such as have announced the birth of saints much inferior to him both in office and in sanctity. If so many prodigies ushered in the birth of John the Baptist, who was a great prophet and the precursor of Christ, is it conceivable that no divine intimation preceded that of Joseph, the reputed father of Jesus, whom he brought up, and by whom he was so tenderly loved? But since nothing of the kind is recorded the matter must be left to the pious conjectures of his devoted clients.
One surmise, however, may be hazarded. On the eighth day the babe must have been circumcised, according to the command given to Abraham and confirmed by the law of Moses. On that occasion a name was always conferred on the child, and it was the father's place to pronounce what it should . be; for we find that when the Baptist received that rite reference was made to Zachary as to how he would have him called, and he wrote "His name is John”.1 Jesus Himself received His Name on the eighth day, the day of His circumcision. The name of Joseph must, therefore, have been given to our saint on the day of his circumcision; and by whom was it given? Assuredly by Jacob, his father, in virtue of his paternal authority. But whence did the father derive this name? Who suggested it to him? Did he receive it from Heaven? We can hardly imagine that it was bestowed on this elect babe, as we might say, by chance, for in that case Joseph would have been inferior in this inspect to many saints both of the Old and New Testament, who by a special favour received their names from God: as Abraham, Jacob, the Baptist, St. Peter, and others.
Now, since it is the common opinion of the Doctors of the Church that no gift or prerogative bestowed on the other saints, Mary always excepted, was denied to St. Joseph, it has been held by many writers to be most probable that the name of Joseph was revealed by an angel from God to his father Jacob, as was that of John to Zachary. Three reasons, according to Isolano, ought to persuade us that this name was given to Joseph by God Himself. First, its identity with that of the ancient patriarch Joseph, who on account of the wonderful things narrated of him has always been regarded as the type and figure of our saint. Secondly, the very fact that he was truly the spouse of the Mother of God and the foster-father of Jesus; for, if God gave their names to Abraham, Jacob, and Peter, with how much greater reason would He bestow a name on him who was to be brought into such close relations with His Divine Son! Thirdly, the signification of the name itself, which is interpreted as increase, a name most suitable to him in every way.2
The Angelic Doctor, St. Thomas, says that the names imposed by God on certain individuals are always significant of some gratuitous gift divinely conceded to them.3 Thus the name given by God to Joseph, not only denotes the various gifts bestowed upon him for the fulfilment of the great offices for which he was designed, but points also to the continual increase of these gifts through his co-operation and perfect correspondence with divine grace. If the name of Mary, according to St. Bonaventura, was extracted from the treasures and jewel-caskets of the Lord, from the same treasures and jewel-caskets was drawn the beautiful name of Joseph. It could not have been selected or imposed by men, because it was to be closely and inseparably associated with the Divine Name of Jesus and the holy name of Mary. It was to be frequently pronounced by the august lips of Jesus and to issue sweetly from the pure lips of His Virgin Mother. It was often to be registered in the Gospel, finding its place sometimes before, sometimes between, sometimes after the blessed Names of Jesus and of Mary. The angels were often to repeat it in their messages, and men often to invoke it in their needs. Many, indeed, of God's people have borne this name, but in them it was a simple appellation, void of special significance, but not so in our saint. In him it is full of meaning, a name of great authority, of singular efficacy, of inestimable value. By interpretation it signifies, as has been said, increase; and so the ancient Jacob said, prophesying, "Joseph is a growing son,"4 or, according to the Hebrew, "growing by a well". And what is this life-giving fount near to which Joseph grows and increases? First, it is Jesus the well-spring of eternal life; secondly, it is Mary, who is the fountain conveying all the benedictions of Heaven. Close to these two inexhaustible fountains Joseph grew, he increased in all good; and not for himself alone, but also for us. He not only grew, but flourished and bore fruit.5 Hence this name of Joseph imports for us likewise continual increase, being so efficacious and powerful both with Jesus and with Mary.
Joseph, sweet name, name sublime and powerful, name which imparts gladness to the just, consolation to the afflicted, solace to those in tribulation, support to the feeble, courage to the timid, constancy to the wavering, confidence to sinners, and to the penitent the assurance of pardon! Name which is a deliverance in perils, a harbour in tempests, food in hunger, relief in destitution, peace in discords, victory in combats, health in sickness, and refuge in persecutions, a joy amidst tears, a shield, a defence, and a salvation in the last agonies! This name defeats every plot of the infernal foe, dissipates every baleful temptation, puts the devils to flight, and makes Hell itself tremble. Blessed is he who often in life invokes it; blessed he who is able to invoke it devoutly at death. He who has this holy name engraven on his brow and on his heart has a sure pledge of his salvation. St. Bonaventura, speaking of those who are devout to Mary, says that he who is stamped with her character, that is, with the love of her and of her virtues, and with the properties of a true devotion to her, will be registered in the Book of Life. And the same may be said of those who have the character, the love, the virtues of Joseph, and a true devotion to him. Blessed, then, is he who reposes under the safe shadow of the name and patronage of Joseph.
1 St. Luke i. 63.
2 Summa de Donis S. Joseph, p. i. c. i.
3 Summa, p. iil. q. xxxvii. a. 2.
4 Gen. xlLs. 22.
5 " Joseph est eritquo Alius fructificationis; id est, fceeundus instar arboris sitae et fruetificantis juxta fontem."—Corn. a Lapide (in Ioc.)
CHAPTER XIII: Joseph's Childhood And Youth.
THE rite of Circumcision being accomplished and the name bestowed, the offering of the first-born in the Temple would next succeed. That Joseph was a firstborn son there can be no doubt. This opinion will hold good whichever of the two views that have been stated concerning his genealogy be the correct one. For if, according to the view with which we do not agree, Jacob married the widow of Heli, who had died without children, Joseph would still be the first-born of this marriage. But we must own to a disinclination to believe that Joseph was the son of a mother who had been the wife of more than one husband. Such a mother scarcely seemed to befit him who was to be the pure spouse of a heavenly virgin and the reputed father of the Son of God Himself. Wherefore, we abide by the opinion that Joseph was the first-born of Jacob and of a young and holy spouse who had never been wedded to any other husband.
That Joseph was a first-born son we desire to establish, because under the ancient law it was esteemed an honour and a privilege to be so; and many advantages were attached to primogeniture. We can, therefore, well understand how when Esau recognised the great loss he had incurred by selling his birthright for such a trifle to his brother, he was filled with consternation and cried aloud for grief.1 Seeing, then, that primogeniture was an important prerogative, and that Joseph was to sum up in himself all the gifts and privileges of the patriarchs, he must needs have possessed the rights and advantages of a first-born son. This being so, Joseph, as we have said, was taken to Jerusalem to be presented in the Temple, and redeemed according to the prescriptions of the Law.
Jerusalem at that period had already begun to decline. After the profanations, the outrages, and the cruelties perpetrated by the monarchs who inherited the conquests of Alexander the Great in Syria, especially by Antiochus Epiphanes, the heroic resistance of the Machabees had obtained a temporary deliverance, but the Holy City had now virtually fallen under the domination of the Romans, who had appointed as procurator of Judea Antipater, the father of Herod. All who were of the race and family of David would court obscurity and concealment through the fear inspired by their jealous rulers. Nevertheless we may be certain that, although avoiding pomp and display, the pious Jacob and his spouse must have carefully fulfilled all the obligations of the law with respect to the infant Joseph, and have also brought him yearly with them to Jerusalem, as soon as his tender age permitted, for the Paschal solemnity. And with what ecstasy, may we well believe, would this favoured child, when kneeling in the Temple, have joined in the exclamation of the Psalmist: "How lovely are Thy tabernacles, 0 Lord of Hosts! my soul longeth and fainteth for the courts of the Lord ";2 and with what difficulty he would have torn himself away from the House of God, where willingly, like the young Samuel, he would have remained to spend his childhood and adolescence in the service and under the instruction of God's priests!
As time wore on, we may easily suppose that, when the parents of Joseph came up with their son to keep the feasts at Jerusalem, it would be to the house of Joachim they would repair, who at that period must have been already married to Anne, the sister, as we have already stated there is good reason to believe, of Jacob, and therefore the aunt of Joseph. According to the testimony of St. John Damascene, and of a still living tradition, the house of St. Joachim and St. Anne was near the Probatic Pool.3 Here they dwelt for many years, until civil disturbances, probably, compelled their removal to Nazareth, where they had a small patrimony. Antipater had been succeeded in the post of procurator of Judea by Antigonus, the son of Aristobulus, but Herod his son, artful and ambitious, by ingratiating himself with the Romans, had himself named Tetrarch by the Senate, and two years later obtained the title of King of Judea, though some time elapsed before he was able to assume his authority. This Herod was (as we have said) the son of Antipater, an Ascalonite by nation, and an idolater. Although Judea had for some time been dependent on Rome and ruled, in fact, by her representatives, nevertheless the sceptre had not as yet departed from her. No stranger had been set up as king of the chosen people. Now, this was to be the sign of the approaching advent of the Messias, a thought which, under this new calamity, must have afforded consolation to those souls who were looking for the redemption of Israel; and they could not have been few in number, since the near accomplishment of the prophetic term of weeks, announced in vision to Daniel4 as to elapse before the coming of Christ, furnished an additional token that the great Deliverer was at hand. And, indeed, we find that this expectation had reached the ears of the Gentiles and prevailed throughout the East, where it was generally known that the Hebrew people were looking for a King who would restore the glories of their nation.
Great consternation seized on the Jews at the news of the elevation of this foreign and idolatrous usurper to the throne of David. Had they not reason to dread the profanation of their temple, as in the days of Antiochus Epiphanes, the cessation of their sacrifices, the destruction of their altars, the dispersion of their priests, besides all the miseries which the conflict of this new ruler with Antigonus was certain to involve? Prayer was their only resource ; and we may be sure that among the most fervent suppliants were Jacob and his young son, Joseph; nay, may we not piously believe that when, contrary to expectation, Herod subsequently, not only did not destroy the Temple, but largely reconstructed and adorned it, it was to the intercession of this holy child, who of all the dwellers upon earth at that time was dearest and most pleasing to God, that this happy result was mainly due? Two years after Herod's exaltation to the kingship of Judea he, with the assistance of the Romans, whose friendship he had bought, marched against Jerusalem, which during five months had to endure all the horrors of a siege; added to which, when its capture was effected, there ensued a fearful slaughter of the inhabitants by the Roman soldiery, enraged at the resistance they had encountered, and by the partisans of Herod within the walls.
Amidst all these dangers and calamities, Providence threw the shield of Its protection over the family of Joseph. But the early life of this great saint is so completely hidden in God that we must be contented to know that so it was, deprived as we are of details which would have possessed so high an interest for us. All we know for certain is that Joseph had to pass all his childhood and youth under the tyrannical rule of a proud, cruel, and jealous king; and hence always in peril, anxiety, and fear of fresh sufferings. History, so often unjust, has accorded to Herod the appellation of Great, simply because he was fortunate in his vices and in the success which his arrogance, his adroit cunning, and his cruelty won for him. Such an epithet ought to be reserved for those who have excelled in noble and signal virtues, whereas Herod was great only in his follies and in his crimes. The massacre of so many innocent babes in Bethlehem after our Lord's nativity would alone suffice to blacken his memory and render it for ever infamous. But besides this, he was continually staining his hands in blood; priests and laymen alike, princes and high officers in his army, he would order to be executed, sometimes thirty at a time. He murdered his wife, Mariamne, and Alexandra, his sister-in-law, nay, even his own sons Alexander, Aristobulus, and Antipater, the last of whom he condemned to death only five days before he himself expired. To conciliate the people, however, he gave liberally when the country was desolated by plague and famine; he embellished Jerusalem, and enlarged the Temple; but this did not prevent the Jews from hating him as a tyrant, so that he had to fortify his regal abode and make to himself a citadel of the tower Antonia, which he built and named after his patron, Marcus Antonius. He was frequently accused at Borne both to Antonius and to Augustus, but he knew how to defend himself so dextrously that he returned triumphant to Jerusalem, where he put to death all whom he suspected of having been his accusers.
Under this impious and sanguinary king, then, Joseph had to pass his youth. As a descendant of the royal family of David, he had reason (as we have said) to live in continual apprehension. Jealousy and the fierce thirst of rule stimulated Herod to rid himself of any one who he could so much as suppose might entertain the thought of depriving him of his usurped dominion. But that Divine Providence which had destined Joseph to co-operate in the great mystery of the Incarnation of the Son of God preserved and brought him safe through all the dangers which beset him. His meekness, humility, contempt for all the empty honours of the world, his peaceful temper, his submission to all the requirements of law, and the hidden and obscure life which he led, must have contributed to turn away all suspicion from this scion of the house of David. Accordingly, we do not hear of Herod's persecuting the family of Jacob, as he did all the partisans of Aristobulus and Hyrcanus. Jacob had one other son besides Joseph, the same, according to the historian Eusebius and others, who is frequently mentioned in the Gospel as Cleophas, or Alpheus, and whose sons are called the brethren of our Lord,5 that is, His cousins. So, too, Mary, the wife of Cleophas, who is also called in the first three Gospels the mother of James and Joseph, is styled by St. John the sister of the Mother of Jesus;6 not that she was her sister in the literal sense of the term, but her sister-in-law and, indeed (as it is believed), otherwise nearly related to her.
An ancient Oriental tradition, which Isolano has inserted in his work on the Gifts of St. Joseph, records how our saint, when he must have been about twelve years of age, went to Jerusalem, as other youths were wont to do, there to learn science and wisdom from the Priests of the Lord, who were its sole teachers in those times. But however this may be, to render this science and wisdom truly perfect, God reserved for Joseph far more sublime instructors, the Incarnate Word Himself, and her whom the Church invokes under the title of Sedes Sapientiae, Seat of Wisdom, the Immaculate Virgin. In the school of Jesus and in the society of Mary for some thirty years Joseph must have become eminently perfect in the science of the saints. This consideration may serve to rectify a mistaken notion to be found even among some devout persons who, while esteeming Joseph to have been a very great saint, nevertheless imagine that he was simple and unlettered and endowed with but a slender amount of knowledge. No; Joseph had an exalted intellect, his judgment was profound, his wisdom surpassed that of the wisest among men. "God," says St. Bernard, "had found in Joseph, as in another David, a man after His own heart, to whom He could securely commit His heart's closest and most sacred secret; to whom He could manifest the secret and hidden things of His wisdom,7 and communicate that great mystery which none of the princes of this world knew."8 How, indeed, could it be otherwise? For, if of the ancient Joseph, who was but the figure of our Joseph, it was said that no one could be found like to him or wiser than he,9 what must be said of our saint, who was not merely endowed with wisdom to interpret dreams, but was privileged to learn the secrets of Heaven, and to be admitted to the knowledge of the sublimest truths, revealed to him by angels, nay, taught him by the Son of God Himself and by the august Queen of ail the Doctors of the Church?
1 Gen. xxvii. 34.
2 Psalm lxxxiii. 1.
3 Here was erected in the 6th century a church in honour of St. Anne, which remains to this day.
4 Chap. ix. 21, 25.
5 St. Matthew xiii. 55.
6 St. Matthew xxvii. 56; St. Mark xv. 40, 47; xvi. 1 ; St. Luke xxiv. 10; St. John xix. 25. Mary, the wife of Cleophas, or Alpheus, had five sons and two daughters. The sons were Simon Zelotes, James the Less, and Jude, or Thaddeus, all three Apostles, Joseph surnamed the Just (Acts i. 23), and Simeon, a disciple of Jesus. The two daughters were Mary Salome (St. Mark xv. 40; xvi. 1), wife of Zebedee and mother of James the Greater and John the Evangelist (St. Matt. xx. 20; xxvii. 56), and another Mary who is supposed to have been the mother of John surnamed Mark (Acts xii. 12).
7 Psalm 1. 8.
8 Super Missus est. Hom. ii.
9 Gen. xli. 39.
