Saint Stephen I
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Pope Stephen I ( la, Stephanus I) was the bishop of Rome from 12 May 254 to his death on 2 August 257.Mann, Horace (1912). "Pope St. Stephen I" in ''The Catholic Encyclopedia''. Vol. 14. New York: Robert Appleton Company. He was later canonized as a saint and some accounts say he was martyred while celebrating mass.


Early life

Stephen was born in Rome but had Greek ancestry. He served as archdeacon of Pope Lucius I, who appointed Stephen his successor.


Pontificate

Following the Decian persecution of 250–251, there was disagreement about how to treat those who had lapsed from the faith. Stephen was urged by Bishop Faustinus of Lyon to take action against Marcian, the Novatianist bishop of Arles, who denied penance and communion to the lapsed who repented. The controversy arose in the context of a broad pastoral problem. During the Decian persecution some Christians had purchased certificates attesting that they had made the requisite sacrifices to the Roman gods. Others had denied they were Christians while yet others had in fact taken part in pagan sacrifices. These people were called in Latin '' lapsi'', ''the fallen''. The question arose as to whether, if they later repented, they could be readmitted to communion with the church, and if so, under what conditions. Stephen held that converts who had been baptized by splinter groups did not need re-baptism, while Cyprian and certain bishops of the Roman province of Africa held rebaptism necessary for admission to the
Eucharist The Eucharist (; from Greek , , ), also known as Holy Communion and the Lord's Supper, is a Christian rite that is considered a sacrament in most churches, and as an ordinance in others. According to the New Testament, the rite was instit ...
. Stephen's view eventually won broad acceptance in the Latin Church. He is also mentioned as having insisted on the restoration of the bishops of León and Astorga, who had been deposed for unfaithfulness during the persecution but afterwards had repented.


Legacy

The ''
Depositio episcoporum {{Short description, 4th-century list of Christian popes The ''Liberian Catalogue'' ( la, Catalogus Liberianus) is a list of the bishops of Rome from Peter to Liberius (died 366). For each bishop, the list gives the lengths of his episcopate, the ...
'' of 354 does not speak of Pope Stephen I as a martyr and he is not celebrated as such by the Catholic Church, in spite of the account in the '' Golden Legend'' that in 257
Emperor Valerian Valerian (; la, Publius Licinius Valerianus; c. 199 – 260 or 264) was Roman emperor from 253 to spring 260 AD. He persecuted Christians and was later taken captive by the Persian emperor Shapur I after the Battle of Edessa, becoming the fir ...
resumed the persecution of Christians. Stephen was sitting on his pontifical throne celebrating Mass for his
congregation A congregation is a large gathering of people, often for the purpose of worship. Congregation may also refer to: *Church (congregation), a Christian organization meeting in a particular place for worship *Congregation (Roman Curia), an administra ...
when the emperor's men came and beheaded him on 2 August 257. As late as the 18th century, what was said to be the chair was preserved, still stained with blood. Stephen I's
feast day The calendar of saints is the traditional Christian method of organizing a liturgical year by associating each day with one or more saints and referring to the day as the feast day or feast of said saint. The word "feast" in this context d ...
in the Catholic Church is celebrated on 2 August. In 1839, when the new feast of St Alphonsus Mary de Liguori was assigned to 2 August, Stephen I was mentioned only as a commemoration within the Mass of Saint Alphonsus. The revision of the calendar in 1969 removed the mention of Stephen I from the General Roman Calendar, but, according to the terms of the General Instruction of the Roman Missal, the 2 August Mass may now everywhere be that of one of the Saints named that day in the ''Martyrologium Romanum'' of 2004, including Stephen I, unless in some locality an obligatory celebration is assigned to that day,"General Instruction of the Roman Missal"
355 c
while those permitted to use the pre-1969 calendar make commemoration of Saint Stephen I on that day. Pope Stephen I is the patron of Hvar and of
Modigliana Cathedral Modigliana Cathedral, otherwise the Church of Santo Stefano Papa ( it, Duomo di Modigliana; Concattedrale di Santo Stefano; Chiesa di Santo Stefano papa), is a Roman Catholic cathedral and the principal church of Modigliana in Emilia-Romagna, Italy ...
.


See also

* List of Catholic saints * List of popes


References


External links

*
"St. Stephen, Pope and Martyr"
''Butler's Lives of the Saints''

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stephen 01 257 deaths 3rd-century archbishops 3rd-century Christian saints 3rd-century Romans Greek popes Italian popes Saints from Roman Italy Papal saints People executed by decapitation Clergy from Rome Popes Year of birth unknown 3rd-century popes