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The saints

St. Stephen

The first deacon, the first martyr, and the first to forgive his killers in Jesus’ own words.

Feast: 26 December · died about 36 · The early Church · Jerusalem

Read the story 1 min read
Painting of St. Stephen as a young deacon with a halo, holding a palm branch and a book, stones on his head.

Carlo Crivelli, 1476. Wikimedia Commons, Public domain.

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Outside the walls of Jerusalem

The apostles needed help feeding widows, so they chose seven men full of faith and the Holy Spirit.1

Stephen was the first one named.2

His preaching got him dragged before the council, and his face looked like the face of an angel.

Patron of deacons2

01St. Stephen

The first martyr

He told the whole story of Israel and said they had resisted the Holy Spirit, and the crowd rushed at him.3

As the stones hit him, he asked the Lord to receive his spirit and not to hold this sin against them.4

02St. Stephen

A young man named Saul

The witnesses laid their cloaks at the feet of a young man named Saul, who would become St. Paul.5

The Church keeps his feast the day after Christmas: the crib and the cross belong together.2

Live it this week

Pray for the person who hurt you, out loud

Stephen prayed for the people throwing rocks at him. Before bed every night this week, pray out loud for one person who has wronged you, by name, and ask God to bless them.

Notes

How we know · 5 sources for this page
  1. Acts 6:5, World English Bible. read the chapter
  2. Franciscan Media, Saint of the Day: “Saint Stephen”. franciscanmedia.org. franciscanmedia.org
  3. Acts 7:51, World English Bible. read the chapter
  4. Acts 7:60 [Douay 7:59], World English Bible. read the chapter
  5. Acts 7:58 [Douay 7:57], World English Bible. read the chapter

The Catholic Encyclopedia (1913) is in the public domain; we quote the New Advent edition. Texts of the Holy See are quoted briefly from vatican.va. Scripture: World English Bible, Catholic edition (public domain); Verse numbers are modern, with Douay-Rheims numbers in brackets where they differ. Photographs: Wikimedia Commons, credited under each image; full list on the photo credits page.

Lines in the narrator’s voice, without a note, are our reflection, not a historical claim. Stone & Incense restates Church teaching in plain words; our wording is not an official Church text. Report an errorCorrections.