St Stephen

Today is the feast of St Stephen.

The Wikipedia account of his life and cult is detailed and worth looking at. It can be found at Saint Stephen

I have written in previous years about his depiction in art as in St Stephen's Day

Here are some more images from the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries - including a wider view of the Fra’ Angelico of the ordination of St Stephen as one of the first deacons.

    St Stephen by Giotto painted 1320 -1325

                    Museo Horne Florence

                        Image: Wiktionary

The stones hitting his head became a common way of referring to the manner of his martyrdom in such paintings.

Fra Angelico, “Saint Peter Consecrates Saint Stephen, with the Seven Deacons,” circa 1448.

Image: National Catholic Register

Being a familiar figure as a deacon and martyr St Stephen often appears amongst the surviving paintings of saints on the base of late medieval English rood screens. One particularly fine example is at Hempstead in north-east Norfolk. It is discussed and illustrated in a useful study at Hempstead screen: St Stephen

St Stephen from the Hempstead rood screen

Image: Simon Knott on Flickr.

The paintings of the story of St Stephen in the chantry chapel of William Lord Hastings, one of the victims of the violent political events of 1483, in St George’s Chapel Windsor are discussed in The Martyrdom of St Stephen - College of St George

St Stephen Pray for us