ST STEPHEN I, POPE AND MARTYR - 2 AUGUST

 

ALL SAINTS CELEBRATED IN AUGUST

Saints celebrated on the 2nd of August

Prayer to the Angels and the Saints

Heavenly Father, in praising Your Angels and Saints we praise Your glory, for by honouring them we honour You, their Creator. Their splendour shows us Your greatness, which infinitely surpasses that of all creation.

In Your loving providence, You saw fit to send Your Angels to watch over us. Grant that we may always be under their protection and one day enjoy their company in heaven.

Heavenly Father, You are glorified in Your Saints, for their glory is the crowning of Your gifts. You provide an example for us by their lives on earth, You give us their friendship by our communion with them, You grant us strength and protection through their prayer for the Church, and You spur us on to victory over evil and the prize of eternal glory by this great company of witnesses.

Grant that we who aspire to take part in their joy may be filled with the Spirit that blessed their lives, so that, after sharing their faith on earth, we may also experience their peace in heaven. Amen.

ST STEPHEN I,  POPE AND MARTYR 

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Saint Stephen was Roman by birth. Being promoted to holy orders, he was made archdeacon of that church under the holy popes and martyrs St Cornelius and St Lucius. The latter going to martyrdom recommended him to his clergy for his successor. He was accordingly chosen pope on the 3rd of May, 253, and sat four years, two months, and twenty-one days. 

IRREGULARITIES

Soon after his election, it was made known to him that Basilides, bishop of Merida, and Martialis, bishop of Leon and Astorga, had fallen into the crime of the Libellatici, that is, to save their lives in the persecution had purchased for money libels of safety from the persecutors as if they had sacrificed to idols. For this and other notorious crimes Martialis was deposed in a synod, and Basilides was so intimidated that he voluntarily resigned his see. Sabinus was placed in that of Basilides, and Felix in that of Martialis. 

BAPTISM

The controversy concerning the rebaptisation of heretics gave St Stephen much more trouble. It was the constant doctrine of the Catholic Church, that baptism given in the evangelical words, that is, in the name of the three persons of the Holy Trinity, is valid, though it be conferred by a heretic. The pope, who saw the danger which threatened the Church under the colour of zeal for its purity and unity, and an aversion from heresy, opposed himself as a rampart for the house of God, declaring that no innovation is to be allowed, but that the tradition of the Church, derived from the apostles, is to be inviolably maintained.

St Stephen suffered himself patiently to be traduced as a favourer of heresy in approving heretical baptism, being insensible to all personal injuries. Thus by his zeal he preserved the integrity of faith, and by his toleration and forbearance saved many souls from the danger of shipwreck.

IT IS OUR DUTY TO FOLLOW RELIGION, AND NOT MAKE RELIGION FOLLOW US

The prudent and holy man understood that the rule of piety admits nothing new, but that all things are to be delivered down to our posterity with the same fidelity with which they were received; and that it is our duty to follow religion, and not make religion follow us; for the proper characteristic of a modest and sober Christian is, not to impose his own conceits upon posterity, but to make his own imaginations bend to the wisdom of those that went before him. 

HE IS STYLED A MARTYR IN THE SACRAMENTARY OF ST GREGORY THE GREAT

St Stephen died on August 2, 257, and was buried in the cemetery of Calixtus. He is styled a martyr in the Sacramentary of St Gregory the Great, and in the ancient Martyrologies which bear the name of St Jerome. 

The persecution of Valerian was raised in the year 257, and in it St Stephen could not fail to be sought out as the principal victim. The acts of his martyrdom deserve some regard. They are esteemed genuine by Baronius and Berti. 

These acts relate that the saint was beheaded by the pursuivants whilst he was sitting in his pontifical chair, which was buried with his body, and is still shown as stained with his blood. The relics were translated to Pisa in 1682, and are there venerated in the great church which bears his name. But his head is kept with great respect at Cologne. 

(From Fr Butler's Lives of the Saints)

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