Saint Stephen

As the Church in Jerusalem grew, the Greek-speaking believers complained that their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution of food. The Apostles asked the community to choose “seven men of good reputation, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom” to serve at table, and laid their hands on them. The first named was Stephen, “a man full of faith, and of the Holy Ghost” (Acts 6). The Church sees in the Seven the first deacons.

Stephen, “full of grace and fortitude, did great wonders and signs among the people.” Some members of the synagogues disputed with him and could not answer his wisdom, so they brought false witnesses and charged him before the Sanhedrin with speaking against the Temple and the Law. His face, says Luke, looked like the face of an angel.

In a long speech he retold the history of Israel, and he ended by accusing his judges of resisting the Holy Spirit as their fathers had done. Then he looked up and said, “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God.” They rushed at him, dragged him out of the city and stoned him. The witnesses laid their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul. Stephen, kneeling, cried, “Lord, lay not this sin to their charge,” and died (Acts 7).

Saint Augustine remarked that if Stephen had not prayed, the Church would not have had Paul. The Church keeps his feast on 26 December, the day after Christmas, as the first to follow Christ to death.