ALFEO. – The name Ἀλφαῖος is probably the Hebrew or Aramaic Halpai (I Mach. 11, 70; Calphi, gr. Χαλφί), formed like Ἀγγαῖος from Haggai; it designates two persons of the New Testament.
1) Father of the apostle Levi (Mc. 2, 14), or Matteo. The text known as the “Western” text (codd. D, O, 565, Ferrar group, Old Latin, Tatian and Ephrem) identifies him with the following person, substituting Giacomo for Levi. Among modern scholars, only F. Kirmis accepts this identification.
2) Father of the apostle Giacomo “the younger,” according to the four lists of the apostles (Mt. 10, 3; Mc. 3, 18; Lc. 6, 15; Act. 1, 13).
If Maria, mother of Giacomo the younger (Mc. 15, 40; 16, 1), was the “wife” of Cleofa or Κλωσᾶς (Io. 19, 25), A. Cleofa (v.), whether he had a single name with a double Semitic and Greek form (like Jesus–Jason, Simeon–Simon), or whether the single name Halfai was transliterated in two different ways (R. Cornely), or whether he bore two names like Levi–Matteo (M.-J. Lagrange). A. Cleofa would thus be the father of the four “brothers of the Lord” (cf. Mt. 13, 55 and Mc. 6, 3; Mt. 27, 56 and Mc. 15, 40).
But the identification of A. with Cleofa, on the basis of what Egesippus relates, is disputed by many Catholics (e.g. P. Schegg, J. Mader, A. Durand), as well as by the majority of Protestants. Th. Calmes and J. Vosté hold that Maria of Io. 19, 25 was Cleofa’s “sister” and A.’s wife. According to F. Prat, this Maria first married A., by whom she had Giacomo and Giuseppe, and then Cleofa, by whom she had Simone and Giuda.
It may be presumed that A., of whose life we know nothing, had died before the public life of Jesus Christ.