At home or following Masses on:
November 2-8: After 8AM Mass
November 9 & 10: After all Masses
All of the information known about St. Stephen comes from the Acts of the Apostles. Stephen is first mentioned in Acts 6, as the Apostles faced the difficulty of attending to the material needs of the Greek widows.
The Apostles decided to select seven righteous men to serve as deacons. These deacons were to devote themselves to distributing food and other assistance to the poor of the Church community. Stephen was among these seven men that the Apostles selected to serve as deacons. The work of the deacons allowed the Apostles to focus more specifically on preaching and spiritual ministry.
Stephen was born a Jew. Apart from this information, nothing more is known about Stephen’s early life.
The Acts of the Apostles says that Stephen was full of faith, and that the Holy Spirit was in him. It also says that he worked many miracles. Stephen’s works attracted the opposition of many, but he was able to win debates against these opposers.
Many of Stephen’s enemies were humiliated that he had bested them in debate, so they obtained false witnesses to testify that Stephen had blasphemed. They brought him to the Sanhedrin with this accusation, but Stephen was not disturbed or worried. Scripture describes his peaceful face as looking like an angel.
Before the Sanhedrin, Stephen gave a long and passionate speech to defend himself and to attempt to convince his listeners of the truth of the Gospel.
His speech discussed many elements of Old Testament and showed that Jesus fulfilled the law of Moses. He ended his speech by declaring that his listeners were “stiff-necked” and resistant to the Holy Spirit. He rebuked them for killing Jesus and for not keeping the law.
When Stephen finished speaking, he saw a vision of Jesus at the right hand of God. His listeners were furious at his rebukes and his description of the vision, which they said was more proof of his blasphemy. They were so furious that they rushed forward and apprehended him, carrying him outside the city to be stoned.
As he was being stoned to death, Stephen’s last words were a prayer that Jesus would receive his spirit and that his killers would be forgiven.