Adapted from various sources, including Butler's Lives
St. Stephen I, Pope and Martyr († 257; Feast – August 2)
St. Stephen was by birth a Roman, and being promoted to Holy Orders, was made Archdeacon in Rome under the holy Popes and Martyrs
St. Cornelius and St. Lucius.
The latter, when going to martyrdom, recommended St. Stephen to his clergy for his successor.
Soon after his election he was called to put a stop to the havoc which certain wolves, under the name and clothing of pastors,
threatened to make in the churches of Gaul and Spain. Marcian, Bishop of Arles (in which see he seems to have succeeded St. Regulus,
immediate successor of St. Trophimus), embraced the error of Novatian, and upon the inhuman maxim of that murderer of souls,
refused absolution to many penitents even in the danger of death. Faustinus, Bishop of Lyon, and other Gaulish prelates,
sent informants and complaints against him to St. Stephen and St. Cyprian:
to the first, on account of the superior authority and
jurisdiction of his See; to the other, on account of the great reputation of his sanctity, eloquence, and remarkable zeal against
the Novatians. As St. Cyprian had no jurisdiction over Arles, he could do no more than join the Gaulish Catholics in stirring up
the zeal of St. Stephen to exert his authority, and not to suffer an obstinate heretic to disturb the peace of those churches to
the destruction of souls. This he did by a letter to St. Stephen, in which he says, It is necessary that you despatch ample
letters to our fellow Bishops in Gaul, that they no longer suffer the obstinate Marcian to insult our college. Write to that Province,
and to the people of Arles, that Marcian being excommunicated, a successor may be provided for his see. Acquaint us, if you please,
who is made Bishop of Arles in the place of Marcian, that we may know to whom we are to send letters of communion, and to direct our brethren.”
Though the letters of St. Stephen on this head have not been discovered, we cannot doubt but by his order everything here mentioned was carried
into execution; for in the ancient list of the Bishops of Arles published by Mabillon, the name of Marcian does not occur.
An affair of no less consequence happened in Spain. Basilides, Bishop of Merida, and Martialis, Bishop of Leon and Astorga,
had fallen into the crime of the Libellatici – that is, to save their lives during the persecution, they had purchased for money
libels of safety from the persecutors, which were false certificates of having sacrificed to idols. For this and other notorious crimes
Martialis was deposed in a synod, and Basilides was so intimidated that he voluntarily resigned his see. Sabinus was placed in that of
Basilides, and Felix in that of Martialis. Basilides soon after repented of what he had done, went to Rome and submitted to Pope St. Stephen.
He was admitted by him to communion as a colleague in the Episcopal Order – for indeed in his case no sentence of depostion had been passed.
Returning into Spain with letters from the Pope in his favor, he was received in the same rank by some of the bishops; and Martialis, encouraged
by his example, presumed to claim the same privilege. The Spanish bishops consulted with St. Cyprian as to what they ought to do with regard to
the two delinquents, and that learned prelate answered that persons notoriously guilty of such crimes were, by the canons, utterly disqualified
for presiding in the Church of Christ and offering the Holy Sacrifice to God; that the election and consecration of their successors having been
regular and valid, they could not be rescinded or made null; and lastly, that the Pope's letters were obreptitious and obtained by fraud and a
suppression of the truth, and consequently were null. Basilides,
said he, going to Rome, there imposed upon our colleague Stephen,
living at a distance and ignorant of the truth that was concealed from him. All this tends to accumulate the crimes of Basilides, rather than
to abolish the remembrance of them; since, to his former account, hereby is added the guilt of endeavoring to circumvent the Pastor of the Church
(Ep. 68). He lays the blame not on him who had been imposed upon, but Basilides, who fraudulently gained access to him.
We know no more of the affair; but cannot doubt that the Pope (whose jurisdiction none of the parties disclaimed) was better informed,
and the proceedings of the Spanish bishops confirmed.
The controversy concerning the rebaptizing of heretics gave St. Stephen much more trouble. It was the constant doctrine of the
Catholic Church that baptism administered with the evangelical words, that is, in the name of the Three Persons of the Holy Trinity,
is valid even though it be conferred by a heretic. This was the practice even of the African church till Agrippinus, Bishop of Carthage,
in the close of the second century, changed it fifty years before St. Cyprian, as St. Augustine and Vincent of Lerins testify;
and St. Cyprian himself only appeals to a council held by Agrippinus for the origin of his pretended tradition (Ep. 73 ad Jub.)
St. Cyprian in three African councils decreed that according to this principle, baptism conferred by a heretic is always null and invalid;
which decision he founds upon the false principle that no one can receive the Holy Ghost from the hands of one who does not possess Him in his soul.
But this false reasoning would equally mean that no one in mortal sin can validly administer any Sacrament – contrary to the truth that Christ
is the principle though invisible Minister in the administration of the Sacraments. Therefore though both faith and the state of grace be
required in him who confers any Sacrament in order not to incur the guilt of sacrilege, yet neither is required for validity.
St. Cyprian (image left) sums up all the arguments which he thought might serve his purpose in his letter to Jubainus, written in 256 and quoted above.
Many bishops of Cilicia, Cappadocia, and Phrygia, having at their head Firmilian, the learned Bishop of Caesarea, and Helenus of Tarsus,
fell in with the Africans, and maintained the same error. All the partisans of this practice falsely imagined it to be a point, not of faith,
which is everywhere invariable, but of mere discipline, in which every church might be allowed to follow its own rule or law. According to St. Augustine,
the number of these bishops was only about 120.
St. Cyprian and Firmilian carried on the dispute with too great warmth – the latter especially, who spoke of St. Stephen in an unbecoming manner.
If such great and holy men could be betrayed into anger, and biased by prejudice, how much ought we sinners to watch over our hearts against passion,
and mistrust our own judgment! The respect which is due to their name and virtue obliges us to draw a veil over this fault, as St. Augustine often reminds us,
who said, speaking of Firmilian, I will not touch upon what he let fall in his anger against Stephen.
It is necessary here to make two remarks.
First, none of those who maintained what they called a point of discipline against St. Stephen, ever called into question the Supremacy of the Apostolic See of Rome,
which St. Cyprian strongly asserts in many places in his works. Even Firmilian, who complained that St. Stephen was boasting
when he asserted his Supremacy,
never denied it. Second, St. Stephen never proceeded to pronounce any excommunication or other censure against these bishops, or they would never have
stood against a censure in which the whole Church acquiesced. Indeed St. Augustine was persuaded that they afterwards laid aside their prejudices,
and embraced the truth. He often repeated that their eminent labors and charity atoned for this fault. Writing of St. Cyprian he said,
His charity covered that spot in the whiteness of his holy soul
(l. 1 de bapt. c. 19). And again, That fault was compensated by the abundance of his charity,
and was purged by the axe of his martyrdom
(ibid. c. 18).
The Pope, who saw the danger which threatened the Church under the color of zeal for its purity and unity, and an aversion of heresy,
opposed himself as a rampart for the House of God, declaring that no innovation is to be allowed; rather, the tradition of the Church,
derived from the Apostles, is to be inviolably maintained. Of course, all understood that he spoke of baptisms in which the essential matter, form,
and intention are employed. He even threatened to cut off the patrons of the novelty from the commuion of the Church. But St. Dionysius of Alexandria
interceded by letters, and procured a respite, as Eusebius mentions (Hist. l. 7, c. 5).
St. Stephen patiently suffered himself to be accused of being a favorer of heresy in approving heretical baptism, being insensible to
all personal injuries. He did not doubt that those great men, who, by a mistaken zeal, were led astray would, when the heat of the disputing
should have subsided, calmly open their eyes to the truth. Thus by his zeal he preserved the integrity of the Faith, and by his toleration and
forebearance saved many souls from the danger of spiritual shipwreck. Stephen,
said St. Augustine, thought of excommunicating them;
but being endued with holy charity, he judged it better to abide in union. The peace of Christ overcame in their hearts
(L. 5, de Bapt., c. 21).
St. Stephen died on August 2, 257, and was buried in the cemetery of Calixtus. He is styled a Martyr in the Sacramentary of
St. Gregory the Great and in the ancient Martyrologies which bear the name of St. Jerome. The persecution of Valerian was raised in the year 257,
and in it St. Stephen could not fail to be sought out as the principal victim. The Acts of his martyrdom are esteemed as genuine by Baronius and others.
They relate that the Saint was beheaded by the persuers while he was sitting in his Pontifical chair, which was buried with his body,
and is still shown stained with blood. The relics were translated to Pisa in 1682, and are there venerated in the great church which bears his name (image above right).
But his head is kept with great respect in Cologne. Now let us hear the Breviary Lesson for this holy Pope:
Stephen, a Roman, exercised the pontificate when Valerian and Gallienus were emperors. He decreed that priests and deacons should on no occasion wear the sacred vestments,
except in church. He forbade the re-baptism of such as had been baptized (validly) by heretics, writing to the holy Cyprian in these words: Let there be no innovation,
but only what has been handed down.
He also converted many to Christ, among them the tribune Olympius, with his wife Exsuperia and his son Theodulus;
likewise Nemesius the tribune, whose daughter Lucilla he cured of blindness, and his whole household; these were all Martyrs for Jesus Christ.
But, when the persecution by the emperors increased in violence, Stephen called the clergy together, and encouraged them to suffer martyrdom,
and constantly celebrated Mass and held councils in the vaults of the Martyrs (catacombs). Finally, Stephen was dragged by the infidels to the temple of Mars,
that he might offer sacrifice to the idol; but he openly denied that he would give to devils that worship which is due to God alone. At these words,
the statue of Mars fell to the ground in an earthquake, and the temple was greatly shaken. On this account, all those who were restraining Stephen ran away,
and the Pontiff returned to his own people in the cemetery of Lucina. He instructed them in the divine precepts, and gave them the Communion of the Sacrament
of the Body of Christ (image below); and there, while he was bringing the solemnities of the Mass to a close, the officers of the emperors once more arrived,
and he was beheaded as he sat in his chair. His body, and the same chair, spattered with the blood of the Martyr, were buried by the clergy in the cemetery of Callistus,
on the fourth of the Nones of August (August 2). He was Pope for three years, three months, and twenty-two days. He held two ordinations in the month of December,
in which he made six priests, five deacons, and three bishops.
Not only bishops, but all superiors are Christ’s vicegerents, and are bound to be mindful of their charge, for which they will be demanded a rigorous account.
How many such have lived as if they had only their own souls to take care of; yet have thought themslves good Christians? Few have the light, the courage, the charity,
and the zeal necessary for such a charge; and many through sloth, self-love, or a passion for pleasure, company, vanity, and the world, neglect various obligations of their state.
It will be a false plea for such to allege at the Last Day, that they have kept well their own vineyard, while they have suffered others under their care to be overgrown
with briars and weeds.
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