Entry 0319: Reflections on the Feast of Saint Stephen
by Pope Benedict XVI
On seven occasions during his pontificate, Pope Benedict XVI delivered reflections on the Feast of Saint Stephen, on 26 December 2005, 26 December 2006, 26 December 2007, 26
December 2008, 26 December 2009, 26 December 2011, and 26 December 2012. Here are the texts of seven reflections that
the Pope delivered prior to the recitation of the Angelus on these
occasions.
The newness of the proclamation lies in the
depth of the believer’s immersion in the mystery of Christ and in assimilation
of his word and of his presence in the Eucharist so that he himself, the living
Jesus, may speak and act in his messengers. Essentially, evangelizers can bring
Christ to others effectively when they themselves live in Christ, when the
newness of the Gospel is reflected in their own life. Let us pray the Virgin
Mary that in this Year of Faith the Church may see an increasing number of men
and women who, like St Stephen, can bear a convincing and courageous witness to
the Lord Jesus.
BENEDICT
XVI
ANGELUS
Feast
of St Stephen, Monday, 26 December 2005
Dear Brothers
and Sisters,
Yesterday, after
solemnly celebrating Christ’s Birth, today we are commemorating the birth in
Heaven of St Stephen, the first martyr. A special bond links these two feasts
and it is summed up well in the Ambrosian liturgy by this affirmation: “Yesterday,
the Lord was born on earth, that Stephen might be born in Heaven” (At the
breaking of the bread).
Just as Jesus on
the Cross entrusted himself to the Father without reserve and pardoned those
who killed him, at the moment of his death St Stephen prayed: “Lord Jesus,
receive my spirit”; and further: “Lord, do not hold this sin against them” (see
Acts 7: 59-60). Stephen was a genuine disciple of Jesus and imitated him
perfectly. With Stephen began that long series of martyrs who sealed their
faith by offering their lives, proclaiming with their heroic witness that God
became man to open the Kingdom
of Heaven
In the
atmosphere of Christmas joy, the reference to the Martyr St Stephen does not
seem out of place. Indeed, the shadow of the Cross was already extending over
the manger in Bethlehem .
It was foretold
by the poverty of the stable in which the infant wailed, the prophecy of Simeon
concerning the sign that would be opposed and the sword destined to pierce the
heart of the Virgin, and Herod’s persecution that would make necessary the
flight to Egypt .
It should not
come as a surprise that this Child, having grown to adulthood, would one day
ask his disciples to follow him with total trust and faithfulness on the Way of
the Cross.
Already at the
dawn of the Church, many Christians, attracted by his example and sustained by
his love, were to witness to their faith by pouring out their blood. The first
martyrs would be followed by others down the centuries to our day.
How can we not
recognize that professing the Christian faith demands the heroism of the
Martyrs in our time too, in various parts of the world? Moreover, how can we
not say that everywhere, even where there is no persecution, there is a high
price to pay for consistently living the Gospel?
Contemplating
the divine Child in Mary’s arms and looking to the example of St Stephen, let
us ask God for the grace to live our faith consistently, ever ready to answer
those who ask us to account for the hope that is in us (see I Pt 3: 15).
BENEDICT
XVI
ANGELUS
St
Peter’s Square, Feast of St Stephen, Protomartyr
Tuesday,
26 December 2006
Dear Brothers
and Sisters,
The day after
the Solemnity of Christmas, we are celebrating today the Feast of St Stephen,
deacon and the first martyr.
At first glance,
the memory of the “Protomartyr” alongside the birth of the Redeemer can leave
us perplexed due to the striking contrast between the peace and joy of Bethlehem and the drama of Stephen, stoned in Jerusalem in the first
persecutions against the newborn Church.
In reality, the
apparent contradiction is overcome if we consider more in depth the mystery of
Christmas.
The Child Jesus
who lays in the grotto is the only-begotten Son of God who became man. He will
save humanity by dying on the Cross. Now we see him in swaddling clothes in the
manger; after his crucifixion he will be clad anew in bandages and laid in a sepulcher.
It is not by
chance that Christmas iconography sometimes depicts the Divine Newborn
carefully lain in a little sarcophagus in order to indicate that the Redeemer
is born to die, is born to give his life in ransom for all.
St Stephen was
the first to follow in the footsteps of Christ with his martyrdom. He died,
like the divine Master, pardoning and praying for his killers (see Acts
7: 60).
In the first
four centuries of Christianity, all the saints venerated by the Church were
martyrs. They were a countless body that the liturgy calls “the white-robed
army of martyrs”, martyrum candidatus exercitus. Their death did not
rouse fear and sadness, but spiritual enthusiasm that gave rise to ever new
Christians.
For believers
the day of death, and even more the day of martyrdom, is not the end of all;
rather, it is the “transit” towards immortal life. It is the day of definitive
birth, in Latin, dies natalis. The link that exists then between the “dies
natalis” of Christ and the dies natalis of St Stephen is understood.
If Jesus was not
born on earth, humankind could not be born unto Heaven. Specifically, because Christ
is born, we can be “reborn”!
Mary, who held
the Redeemer in her arms at Bethlehem ,
also suffers an interior martyrdom herself. She shared his passion and had to
take him yet again in her arms when he was taken down from the Cross. To this
Mother, who knew the joy of his birth and the torment of the death of her
divine Son, we entrust all those who are persecuted and suffering in various
ways for their witness and service to the Gospel.
With special
spiritual closeness, I also think of those Catholics who maintain their
fidelity to the See of Peter without ceding to compromises, sometimes at the
price of grave sufferings. The whole Church admires their example and prays
that they have the strength to persevere, knowing that their tribulations are
the font of victory, even if at that moment they can seem a failure. To
everyone, once again, Merry Christmas!
FEAST OF ST STEPHEN,
PROTOMARTYR
BENEDICT
XVI
ANGELUS
St
Peter’s Square, Wednesday, 26 December 2007
Dear Brothers
and Sisters,
On the day after
Christmas the liturgy has us celebrate the “birth into Heaven” of the first
martyr, St Stephen. “Full of faith and of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 6: 5), he
was chosen as deacon in the Community of Jerusalem, together with another six
disciples of Greek origin. Stephen worked numerous miracles with the power that
came to him from God and proclaimed the Gospel in the synagogues with “inspired
wisdom”. He was stoned to death outside the city gates and died like Jesus,
praying for forgiveness for those who killed him (see Acts 7: 59-60). The
deep bond which links Christ to his first martyr Stephen is divine
Charity: the very Love which impelled the Son of God to empty himself and
make himself obedient unto death on a Cross (see Phil 2: 6-8) later
spurred the Apostles and martyrs to give their lives for the Gospel.
It is always
necessary to notice this distinctive feature of Christian martyrdom: it
is exclusively an act of love for God and for man, including persecutors. At
holy Mass today, we therefore pray to the Lord that he who “died praying for
those who killed him, [may] help us to imitate his goodness and to love our
enemies” (see Opening Prayer). How many sons and daughters of the Church down
the centuries have followed his example, from the first persecution in Jerusalem to the
persecutions of the Roman emperors, to the multitudes of martyrs in our day!
Indeed, even today we receive news from various parts of the world of
missionaries, priests, Bishops, men and women religious and lay faithful who
are persecuted, imprisoned, tortured, deprived of freedom or prevented from
exercising it because they are disciples of Christ and apostles of the Gospel;
at times, they even suffer and die for being in communion with the universal
Church or for their fidelity to the Pope. Recalling the experience of the
Vietnamese Martyr, Paul Le-Bao-Tinh (d. 1857) in my Encyclical Letter Spe
Salvi (see no. 37), I noted that suffering is transformed into joy through
the power of hope that comes from faith. The Christian martyr, like Christ and
through union with him, “accepts it in his heart, and he transforms it into an
action of love. What on the outside is simply brutal violence - the Crucifixion
- from within becomes an act of total self-giving love.... Violence is
transformed into love, and death into life” (World Youth Day 2005, Homily, Mass
on Marienfeld Esplanade, Cologne, 21 August 2005; L’Osservatore Romano English
edition, 24 August, p. 11). The Christian martyr brings about the
victory of love over hatred and death.
Let us pray for
those who suffer for being faithful to Christ and to his Church. May Mary Most
Holy, Queen of Martyrs, help us to be credible Gospel witnesses, responding to
our enemies with the disarming power of truth and charity.
FEAST OF ST STEPHEN,
PROTOMARTYR
BENEDICT
XVI
ANGELUS
St
Peter’s Square, Friday, 26 December 2008
Dear Brothers
and Sisters,
Today’s Feast of
St Stephen, the Church’s first martyr, is set in the spiritual light of the
Nativity of Christ. Stephen, a young man “full of faith and of the Holy Spirit”,
as he is described in the Acts of the Apostles (6: 5), together with another
six men, was ordained a deacon in the first community of Jerusalem and, because
of his passionate and courageous preaching, was arrested and stoned. There is
one detail in the account of his martyrdom that should be emphasized during
this Pauline Year and it is the remark: “the witnesses laid down their garments
at the feet of a young man named Saul” (Acts 7: 58). Here, with his Hebrew name
of Saul, St Paul
appears for the first time in the guise of a zealous persecutor of the Church (see
Phil 3: 6), which he then perceived as a duty and as something to boast. It
could be said a posteriori that precisely Stephen’s witness was decisive
for his conversion. Let us see how.
Shortly after
Stephen’s martyrdom, Saul, still driven by zeal against the Christians, went to
Damascus to
arrest those he would find there. And while he was approaching the city the
blinding flash occurred, that unique experience in which the Risen Jesus
appeared to him, spoke to him and changed his life (see Acts 9: 1-9). When
Saul, having fallen to the ground, heard himself called by name by a mysterious
voice and asked: “Who are you, O Lord?”, he heard the answer: “I am Jesus, whom
you are persecuting” (Acts 9: 5). Saul had been persecuting the Church and had
also taken part in the stoning of Stephen; he had seen Stephen die, pelted by
stones, and above all he had seen the way in which Stephen died: in all
things like Christ, that is, praying and forgiving those who killed him (see
Acts 7: 59-60). On the road to Damascus Saul realized that in persecuting the
Church he was persecuting Jesus who had died and was truly risen; Jesus, alive
in his Church and alive in Stephen who he had indeed seen dying but who now
certainly lived together with his Risen Lord. We could almost say that in
Christ’s voice he recognized Stephen’s, and also that through Stephen’s
intercession divine grace touched his heart. This is how Paul’s life changed
radically. From that moment, Jesus became his righteousness, his
sanctification, his redemption (see 1 Cor 1: 30), his all. And one day he too
was to follow Jesus in Stephen’s very footsteps, shedding his own blood in
witness to the Gospel, here, in Rome .
Dear brothers
and sisters, in St Stephen we see materializing the first fruits of salvation
that the Nativity of Christ brought to humanity: the victory of life over death,
of love over hate, of the light of truth over the darkness of falsehood. Let us
praise God, for this victory still enables many Christians today to respond to
evil not with evil but with the power of truth and love. May the Virgin Mary,
Queen of Martyrs, obtain for all believers that they may follow courageously
this same path.
FEAST OF ST STEPHEN,
PROTOMARTYR
BENEDICT
XVI
ANGELUS
St
Peter’s Square, Saturday, 26 December 2009
Dear Brothers
and Sisters,
Today, our minds
still filled with wonder and bathed in the light that shines from the Grotto of
Bethlehem where with Mary, Joseph and the shepherds we adored our Savior, we
are commemorating the Deacon St Stephen, the first Christian martyr. His
example helps us to penetrate more deeply into the mystery of Christmas and
testifies to the great marvel of the Birth of that Child in whom is expressed
the grace of God which brought salvation to all mankind (see Tit 2: 11).
The One stirring in the manger is in fact the Son of God made man who asks us
to witness courageously to his Gospel as did St Stephen, who, full of the Holy
Spirit, did not hesitate to lay down his life for love of his Lord. He, like
his Master, died forgiving his persecutors and thus makes us realize that the
entry into the world of the Son of God gives rise to a new civilization, the
civilization of love that does not yield to evil and violence and pulls down
the barriers between men and women, making them brothers and sisters in the
great family of God’s children.
Stephen is also
the Church’s first deacon. In becoming a servant of the poor for love of
Christ, he gradually enters into full harmony with him and follows Christ to
the point of making the supreme gift of himself. The witness borne by Stephen,
like that of the Christian martyrs, shows our contemporaries, who are often
distracted and uncertain, in whom they should place their trust in order to
give meaning to their lives. The martyr, in fact, is one who dies knowing with
certainty that he is loved by God, who puts nothing before love of Christ,
knowing that he has chosen the better part. The martyr is configured fully to
the death of Christ, aware of being a fertile seed of life and of opening up
paths of peace and hope in the world. Today, in presenting the Deacon St
Stephen to us as our model the Church likewise points out to us that welcoming
and loving the poor is one of the privileged ways to live the Gospel and to
witness credibly to human beings to the Kingdom of God
The Feast of St
Stephen reminds us also of the many believers in various parts of the world
who, because of their faith, are subjected to trials and suffering. While we
entrust them to his heavenly protection, let us strive to sustain them with
prayer and never to fall short of our Christian vocation, always placing at the
centre of our life Jesus Christ, whom in these days we contemplate in the
simplicity and humility of the manger. Let us invoke for this the intercession
of Mary, Mother of the Redeemer and Queen of Martyrs, with the prayer of the Angelus.
FEAST
OF ST STEPHEN, PROTOMARTYR
BENEDICT
XVI
ANGELUS
Saint
Peter’s Square, Monday, 26 December 2011
Dear Brothers
and Sisters,
Today, the day
after the solemn liturgy of the Lord’s Birth, we are celebrating the Feast of
St Stephen, a deacon and the Church’s first martyr. The historian Eusebius of
Caesarea describes him as the “perfect martyr” (Die Kirchengeschichte v.
2, 5: GCS II, I, Lipsia 1903, 430), because in the Acts of the Apostles it is
written that “Stephen, full of grace and power, did great wonders and signs
among the people” (6:8). St Gregory of Nyssa commented: “he was a good man and
full of the Holy Spirit. He was sustained by the goodness of his will to serve
the poor and curbed enemies by the Spirit’s power of the truth” (Sermo in
Sanctum Stephanum II: GNO X, 1, Leiden 1990, 98). A man of prayer and of
evangelization, Stephen, whose name means “crown”, received from God the gift
of martyrdom. Indeed, “full of the Holy Spirit ... he saw the glory of God”
(Acts 7:55) and while he was being stoned he prayed: “Lord Jesus, receive my
spirit” (Acts 7:59). Then, he fell to his knees and prayed for forgiveness for
those who accused him: “Lord, do not hold this sin against them” (Acts 7:60).
This is why the
Eastern Church sings in her hymns: “The stones became steps for you and ladders
for the ascent to heaven... and you joyfully drew close to the festive
gathering of the angels” (MHNAIA t. II, Rome 1889, 694, 695).
After the
generation of the Apostles, martyrs acquired an important place in the esteem
of the Christian community. At the height of their persecution, their hymns of
praise fortified the faithful on their difficult journey and encouraged those
in search of the truth to convert to the Lord. Therefore, by divine
disposition, the Church venerates the relics of martyrs and honors them with
epithets such as: “teachers of life”, “living witnesses”, “breathing trophies”
and “silent exhortations” (Gregory of Nazianzus, Oratio 43, 5: PG 36,
500 C).
Dear friends,
the true imitation of Christ is love, which some Christian writers have called
the “secret martyrdom”. Concerning this St Clement of Alexandria wrote: “those
who perform the commandments of the Lord, in every action ‘testify’, by doing
what he wishes, and consistently naming the Lord’s name; (Stromatum IV,
7,43,4: SC 463, Paris 2001, 130). Today too, as in antiquity, sincere adherence
to the Gospel can require the sacrifice of life and many Christians in various
parts of the world are exposed to persecution and sometimes martyrdom. However,
the Lord reminds us: “he who endures to the end will be saved” (Mt 10:22).
To Mary Most
Holy, Queen of Martyrs, let us address our supplication to preserve the desire
for good in its wholeness, especially the good of those who oppose us. Today
let us entrust the Church’s deacons in particular to divine mercy so that,
illuminated by St Stephen’s example, they may collaborate, in accordance with
their mission, in the task of evangelization (see Post-Synodal Apostolic
Exhortation Verbum Domini, no. 94).
FEAST
OF ST STEPHEN, PROTOMARTYR
BENEDICT
XVI
ANGELUS
Saint
Peter’s Square, Wednesday, 26 December 2012
Dear Brothers
and Sisters,
Every year on
the day after the Birth of the Lord the liturgy has us celebrate the Feast of
St Stephen, a deacon and the first martyr. The Book of the Acts of the Apostles
presents him to us as a man full of grace and of the Holy Spirit (see Acts
6:8-10; 7:55). Jesus’ promise, recorded in today’s Gospel text, was fulfilled
in him: believers called to bear witness in difficult and dangerous
circumstances will not be abandoned or defenseless; the Spirit of God will
speak through them (see Mt 10:20).
Stephen the
Deacon, in fact, worked, spoke and died motivated by the Holy Spirit,
witnessing to the love of Christ even to the supreme sacrifice. The Protomartyr
is described in his suffering as a perfect imitation of Christ, whose Passion
is repeated even in the details. The whole of St Stephen’s life is shaped by
God, conformed to Christ, whose Passion is replicated in him; in the final
moment of death, on his knees he takes up the prayer of Jesus on the Cross,
commending himself to the Lord (see Acts 7:59) and forgiving his enemies; “Lord,
do not hold this sin against them” (v. 60). Filled with the Holy Spirit, when
his eyes were about to be dimmed for ever, he fixed his gaze on “Jesus standing
at the right hand of God” (v. 55), the Lord of all and who draws all beings to
himself.
On St Stephen’s
Day we too are called to fix our eyes on the Son of God whom in the joyful
atmosphere of Christmas we contemplate in the mystery of his Incarnation.
Through Baptism and Confirmation, through the precious gift of faith nourished
by the sacraments, especially the Eucharist, Jesus Christ has bound us to him
and with the action of the Holy Spirit, wants to continue in us his work of
salvation by which all things are redeemed, given value, uplifted and brought
to completion. Letting ourselves be drawn by Christ, as St Stephen did, means
opening our own life to the light that calls it, guides it and enables it to
take the path of goodness, the path of a humanity according to God’s plan of
love. Lastly, St Stephen is a model for all who wish to put themselves at the
service of the new evangelization. He shows that the newness of the
proclamation does not consist primarily in the use of original methods or
techniques — which of course, have their usefulness — but rather in being
filled with the Holy Spirit and letting ourselves be guided by him.
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