St Stephen

 

Today is the Feast of St Stephen the Martyr.

St Stephen from The Demidoff Altar by Carlo Crivelli. Painted in 1476 it is now in the National Gallery.

Image: Wikipedia 

Wikipedia recounts the life of St Stephen from the Acts of the Apostles and discusses his veneration in Saint Stephen

Ten years ago I wrote about St Stephen and linked several artists depictions of him and his martyrdom in St Stephen's Day

I would add to the notes about the painting of the diagonal ordination a link to the Catholic Encyclopaedia about the delivery of the instruments, in this case the chalice and paten for the deacon to prepare at Mass, which can be seen at Holy Orders

In my post there is also a reference to the sermon of St Fulgentius of Ruspe. This is quoted in the fourth, fifth and sixth lections at Matins in the Traditional Breviary as follows:

Yesterday we were celebrating the birth in time of our Eternal King; today we celebrate the victory, through suffering, of one of His soldiers. Yesterday our King was pleased to come forth from His royal palace of the Virgin's womb, clothed in a robe of flesh, to visit the world; today His soldier, laying aside the tabernacle of the body, entereth in triumph into the heavenly palaces. The One, preserving unchanged that glory of the Godhead which He had before the world was, girded Himself with the form of a servant, and entered the arena of this world to fight sin; the other taketh off the garments of this corruptible body, and entereth into the heavenly mansions, where he will reign for ever. The One cometh down, veiled in flesh; the other goeth up, clothed in a robe of glory, red with blood.

The One cometh down amid the jubilation of angels; the other goeth up amid the stoning of the Jews. Yesterday the holy angels were singing, Glory to God in the highest; today there is joy among them, for they receive Stephen into their company. Yesterday the Lord came forth from the Virgin's womb; today His soldier is delivered from the prison of the body. Yesterday Christ was for our sakes wrapped in swaddling bands; today He girdeth Stephen with a robe of immortality. Yesterday the new-born Christ lay in a narrow manger; today Stephen entereth victorious into the boundless heavens. The Lord came down alone that He might raise many up; our King humbled Himself that He might set His soldiers in high places.

Why brethren, it behoveth us to consider with what arms Stephen was able, amid all the cruelty of the Jews, to remain more than conqueror, and worthily to attain to so blessed a triumph. Stephen, in that struggle which brought him to the crown whereof his name is a prophecy, had for armour the love of God and man, and by it he remained victorious on all hands. The love of God strengthened him against the cruelty of the Jews; and the love of his neighbour made him pray even for his murderers. Through love he rebuked the wandering, that they might be corrected; through love he prayed for them that stoned him, that they might not be punished. By the might of his love he overcame Saul his cruel persecutor; and earned for a comrade in heaven, the very man who had done him to death upon earth.

Quotation from Divinum Officium

A damaged, but still charming, late medieval English depiction of St Stephen from the rood screen in the rural church at Hempstead in north Norfolk can be seen on Flickr Hempstead screen: St Stephen | St Andrew, Hempstead, Norfolk

Wikipedia has a separate article about an old English carol with a wildly implausible account of the saint’s death at Saint Stephen and Herod

JSTOR has an article about an old English and Irish custom, that of killing wrens ( the feathered variety, not the naval ones) to mark St Stephen’s Day. Much as I favour maintaining and reviving old customs I definitely think this one should be relegated to the past. The article can be read at Wren Folklore and St. Stephen's Day - JSTOR Daily