Stephen(1)
Stephen (d. c.35), deacon and protomartyr of the Christian Church. All that we know of his life is in the Acts of the Apostles (6–7). He was one of the seven deacons, probably a Hellenistic Jew, appointed by the apostles to look after the distribution of alms to the faithful (especially the widows) and to help in the ministry of preaching. To judge by his famous discourse, even if it is somewhat ‘retouched’, Stephen was learned in the Scriptures and the history of Judaism, besides being eloquent and forceful. The gist of his defence of Christianity was that God does not depend on the Temple, in so far as, like the Mosaic Law, it was a temporary institution and destined to be fulfilled and superseded by Christ, who was the prophet designated by Moses and the Messiah whom the Jewish race had so long awaited. He finally attacked his hearers for resisting the Spirit and for killing the Christ as their fathers had killed the prophets. They then stoned him for blasphemy apparently without a formal trial, while he saw a vision of Christ on God's right hand. The witnesses placed their clothes at the feet of Saul (afterwards Paul), who consented to his death.
At least from the 4th century (or earlier) his feast has been kept in both East and West. But the cult was given further popularity by the discovery of his supposed tomb by the priest Lucian at Kafr Gamala in 415. The translation of the relics, first to Constantinople and then to Rome, with some dismemberment and with the addition of the stones allegedly used at his martyrdom, contributed powerfully to the diffusion of his cult. This, with a short account of local cures, is mentioned by Augustine in the last book of The City of God. From early times he was the patron of deacons, in the later Middle Ages he was invoked against headaches. By this time he was patron of innumerable churches, including several French cathedrals such as Bourges, Sens, and Toulouse. In England forty-six ancient churches are dedicated to him, most of them being built after the Norman Conquest. In art his usual attributes are a book of the Gospels with a stone and sometimes a palm of martyrdom. There are several splendid ancient examples of his representation; perhaps the most attractive one of the early Renaissance is by Jean Fouquet at Berlin. There is a fine cycle by Fra Angelico at the Vatican. Feast: in the West, 26 December: in the East, 27 December; feast of the finding of his relics, formerly on 3 August, was widely celebrated.
Bibliography
Click here for a list of abbreviations used in this bibliography.
- C.M.H., pp. 10–11
- M. Simon, St. Stephen and the Hellenists in the Primitive Church (1958)
- M. H. Scharleman, Stephen: a singular saint (1968)
- F. M. Abel, ‘Étienne (saint)’, Dict. Bibl., suppl. ii (1934), 1132–46
- Bibl. SS., xi 1376–92. Augustine, De Civitate Dei, xxii. 8 (tr. H. Bettenson, 1981). H.S.S.C., 2, 136–47 (includes texts of the translation)
