The members of St. Stephen S.C.C. meet every Sunday after the 2nd mass within the church premises.
The Feast Day of St. Stephen is ~ December 26th
Within a year of our Lord’s death the young church at Jerusalem already numbered over 5000, and the Apostles felt the need of officially delegating some of their duties like preaching, baptizing and the fair distribution of alms among the needy to a few assistants.. The first of the seven to be ordained deacon was Stephen, “a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit”, who had been taught by the great Gamaliel and had received a thorough pharasaic education. Since he spoke Greek, he could devote himself particularly to the Hellenistic converts who were generally looked down upon by the Palestinian Jews.
Stephen “full of grace and fortitude”, threw himself into his apostolic work with the greatest zeal, a zeal the Lord blessed by enabling him to perform “great wonders and signs”. He preached repeatedly in the “synagogue of the Freedmen” (descendants of those Jews who had been captured as children in 63 B.C, carried off to Rome by Pompey, and there freed), and in the synagogues of the Hellenist Jews from Cyrene, Alexandria Cilicia (Beirut) and Asia, who preferred to worship by themselves (there were over 400 such alien houses of worship in Jerusalem). Fearlessly he proved to his hearers that our Lord had come to save all and not merely the “Chosen People”, that the church was separate and distinct from the synagogue. He reproved the Pharisees for their obstinacy and hardness of heart that prevented them recognizing the long awaited Messiah and instead crucified him.
Defeated in every debate and hurt in their pride, the enraged Hebrews fanned riotous disturbances, spread calumnies, and finally had Stephen arrested and brought before the Sanhedrin on an accusation of blasphemy. His fiery and eloquent defense of the church, his enumeration of God’s past mercies toward Israel and the latter’s ingratitude, and finally his declaration that he was seeing “the heavens opened and the Son of man standing at the right hand of God”, raised their fury to the point of having him dragged outside the city and stoned to death in accordance with such a crime. His hands tied, he was placed atop a hillock from which the official “witnesses” had to knock him to the ground and then drop upon him “a stone such as two men could carry”. Even as they did this, Stephen’s thoughts , as a true follower of his Lord, were for his persecutors, “Lord, lay not this sin to their charge”, he prayed. “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!” he exclaimed as he gave up the spirit, earning himself the distinction of becoming the first martyr of the fledgeling church, thus living up to the meaning of his name which, in Greek, signifies, “crown”!
Reflection: ” Love was Stephen’s weapon by which he gained every battle… His love of God kept him yielding to the ferocious mob; his love for his neighbour made him pray for those who were stoning him. Love inspired him to reprove those who erred, to make them amend; love led him to pray for those who stoned him to save them from punishment” (St. Fulgentius of Ruspe)