December 26
SAINT STEPHEN, THE FIRST MARTYR
Dom Guéranger – The Liturgical Year
St. Peter Damian thus begins his
Sermon for this Feast: We are holding in our arms the Son of the Virgin, and
are honouring, with our caresses, this our Infant God. The holy Virgin has led
us to the dear Crib. The most beautiful of the Daughters of men has brought us
to the most beautiful among the Sons of men, and the Blessed among women to Him
that is Blessed above all. She tell us that now the veils of prophecy are drawn
aside, and the counsel of God is accomplished.
Is there anything capable of distracting us from this sweet Birth? On
what else shall we fix our eyes? Lo! whilst Jesus is permitting us thus to caress him;
whilst he is overwhelming us with the greatness of these mysteries, and our
hearts are riveted in admiration there comes before us Stephen, full of grace
and fortitude, doing great wonders and signs among the people? Is it right,
that we turn from our King, to look on Stephen, his soldier? No unless the King
himself bid us do so. This our King, who is Son of the King, rises to assist at
the glorious combat of his servant. Let
us go with him, and contemplate this standard-bearer of the Martyrs. The Church
gives us, in today's Office, this opening of a Sermon of St. Fulgentius for the
Feast of St. Stephen: Yesterday, we celebrated the temporal Birth of our
eternal King: today, we celebrate the triumphant passion of his Soldier. Yesterday,
our King, having put on the garb of our flesh, came from the sanctuary of his
Mother's virginal womb, and mercifully visited the earth: today, his Soldier,
quitting his earthly tabernacle, entered triumphantly into heaven. Jesus,
whilst still continuing to be the eternal God, assumed to himself the lowly
raiment of flesh, and entered the battle-field of this world: Stephen, laying
aside the perishable garment of the body, ascended to the palace of heaven,
there to reign for ever. Jesus descended veiled in our flesh: Stephen ascended
wreathed with a martyr's laurels. Stephen ascended to heaven amidst the shower
of stones, because Jesus had descended on earth midst the singing of Angels.
Yesterday, the holy Angels exultingly sang, Glory be to God in the highest;
today, they joyously received Stephen into their company Yesterday, was Jesus
wrapped, for our sakes, in swaddling-clothes: today, was Stephen clothed with
the robe of immortal glory. Yesterday, a narrow crib contained the Infant
Jesus: today, the immensity of the heavenly court received the triumphant
Stephen.
Thus does the sacred Liturgy blend the joy of our Lord's Nativity with
the gladness she feels at the triumph of the first of her Martyrs. Nor will
Stephen be the only one admitted to share the honors of this glorious Octave.
After him, we shall have John, the Beloved Disciple; the Innocents of
Bethlehem; Thomas, the Martyr of the Liberties of the Church; and Sylvester,
the Pontiff of Peace. But, the place of honour amidst all who stand round the
Crib of the new-born King, belongs to Stephen, the Protomartyr, who, as the
Church sings of him, was the first to pay back to the Saviour, the Death
suffered by the Saviour. It was just, that this honour should be shown to
Martyrdom; for,
Martyrdom is the Creature's
testimony, and return to his Creator for all the favors bestowed on him: it is
Man's testifying, even by shedding his blood, to the truths which God has
revealed to the world.
In order to understand this, let us consider what is the plan of God, in
the salvation he has given to man? The Son of God is sent to instruct mankind;
he sows the seed of his divine word; and his works give testimony to his
divinity. But, after his sacrifice on the cross, he again ascends to the right
hand of his Father; so that his own testimony of himself has need of a second
testimony, in order to its being received by them that have neither seen nor
heard Jesus himself. Now, it is the Martyrs who are to provide this second
testimony; and this they will do, not only by confessing Jesus with their lips,
but by shedding their blood for him. The Church, then, is to be founded by the
Word and the Blood of Jesus, the Son of God; but she will be upheld, she will
continue throughout all ages, she will triumph over all obstacles, by the blood
of her Martyrs, the members of Christ: this their blood will mingle with that
of their Divine Head, and their sacrifice be united to his.
The Martyrs shall bear the closest resemblance to their Lord and King.
They shall be, as he said, like lambs among wolves. The world shall be strong,
and they shall be weak and defenseless: so much the grander will be the victory
of the Martyrs, and the greater the glory of God who gives them to conquer. The
Apostle tells us, that Christ crucified is the power and the wisdom of God; the
Martyrs, immolated, and yet conquerors of the world, will prove, and with a
testimony which even the world itself will understand, that the Christ whom
they confessed, and who gave them constancy and victory, is in very deed the
power and the wisdom of God. We repeat, then — it is just, that the Martyrs
should share in all the triumphs of the Man-God, and that the liturgical cycle
should glorify them as does the Church herself, who puts their sacred Relics in
her altar-stones; for, thus, the Sacrifice of their glorified Lord and Head is
never celebrated, without they themselves being offered together with him, in
the unity of his mystical Body.
Now, the glorious Martyr- band of Christ is headed by St. Stephen. His
name signifies the Crowned; a conqueror like him could not be better named. He
marshals, in the name of Christ, the white-robed army, as the Church calls the
Martyrs; for, he was the first, even before the Apostles themselves, to receive
the summons, and right nobly did he answer it. Stephen courageously bore
witness, in the presence of the Jewish Synagogue, to the divinity of Jesus of
Nazareth; by thus proclaiming the Truth, he offended the ears of the
unbelievers; the enemies of God, became the enemies of Stephen, and, rushing
upon him, they stone him to death. Amidst the pelting of the blood-drawing
missives, he, like a true soldier, flinches not, but stands, (as St. Gregory of
Nyssa so beautifully describes it,) as though snowflakes were falling on him,
or roses were covering him with the shower of their kisses. Through the cloud
of stones, he sees the glory of God; Jesus, for whom he was laying down his
life, showed himself to his Martyr, and the Martyr again rendered testimony to
the divinity of our Emmanuel, but with all the energy of a last act of love.
Then, to make his sacrifice complete, he imitates his divine Master, and prays
for his executioners: falling on his knees, he begs that this sin be not laid
to their charge. Thus, all is consummated the glorious type of Martyrdom is
created, and shown to the world, that it may be imitated, by every generation,
to the end of time, until the number of the Martyrs of Christ shall be filled
up. Stephen sleeps in the Lord, and is buried in peace in pace until his sacred
Tomb shall be discovered, and his glory be celebrated a second time in the
whole Church, by that anticipated Resurrection of the miraculous Invention of
his Relics.
Stephen, then, deserves to stand near the
Crib of his King, as leader of those brave champions, the Martyrs, who died for
the Divinity of that Babe, whom we adore. Let us join the Church in praying to
our Saint, that he help us to come to our Sovereign Lord, now lying on his
humble throne in Bethlehem. Let us ask him to initiate us into the mystery of
that divine Infancy, which we are all bound to know and imitate. It was from
the simplicity he had learnt from that Mystery, that he heeded not the number
of the enemies he had to fight against, nor trembled at their angry passion,
nor winced under their blows, nor hid from them the Truth and their crimes, nor
forgot to pardon them and pray for them. What a faithful imitator of the Babe
of Bethlehem! Our Jesus did not send his Angels to chastise those unhappy Bethlehemites,
who refused a shelter to the Virgin-Mother, who in a few hours was to give
birth to Him, the Son of David. He stays not the fury of Herod, who plots his
Death but meekly flees into Egypt, like some helpless bondsman, escaping the
threats of a tyrant lordling. But, it is under such apparent weakness as this,
that he will show his Divinity to men, and He the Infant-God prove himself the
Strong God. Herod will pass away, so will his tyranny; Jesus will live, greater
in his Crib, where he makes a King tremble, than is, under his borrowed
majesty, this prince-tributary of Rome; nay, than Caesar Augustus himself,
whose world-wide empire has no other destiny than this to serve as handmaid to
the Church, which is to be founded by this Babe, whose name stands humbly
written in the official registry of Bethlehem.
MASS
December 26
Saturday within the Octave of
Christmas
St. Stephen
Deacon and
Protomartyr
Double of the Second Class
Simple Octave – Red Vestments
Missa ‘Sederunt principes’
Station at St. Stephen’s on the
Coelian Hill
(Indulgence of 30 years and 30 quarantines)
The Introit is composed of the
words of the holy Martyr, who, in the language of the Royal Psalmist, tells us
of the plot formed against him by the wicked, and of his own humble confidence
in God, whereby he triumphed over their persecutions. From the murder of the
innocent Abel to the future Martyrs, who are to shed their blood in the days of
Antichrist — the Church is always under persecution; in some one country, she is
ever shedding her blood; but, her strength lies in her fidelity to Jesus her
Spouse, and in the simplicity, which the Babe of Bethlehem is come to teach her
by his own example.
INTROIT - Psalm 118: 23, 86, 1
Sederunt principes, et adversum me
loquebantur: et iniqui persecuti sunt me: adjuva me, Domine Deus meus, quia
servus tuus exercebatur in tuis justificationibus. Ps. Beati immaculati in via,
qui ambulant in lege Domini. Gloria Patri.
Princes sat, and spoke against me:
and the wicked persecuted me: help me, O Lord my God, for Thy servant was
employed in Thy justifications. Ps. Blessed are the undefiled in the way, who
walk in the law of the Lord. Glory be to the Father.
In the Collect, the Church
asks, for both herself and her children, that divine vigour, which makes the
holy Martyrs forgive their persecutors, and perfects, not only their testimony
to the truth, but also their imitation of Jesus Christ. It speaks the praise of
St. Stephen, who was the first to follow our Saviour's example.
COLLECT
Grant us, we beseech Thee, O Lord,
so to imitate what we revere, that we may learn to love even our enemies: for
we celebrate the heavenly birthday of him who knew how to pray for his very
persecutors to our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy Son: Who liveth and reigneth.
COMMEMORATION
FOR OCTAVE OF THE NATIVITY
Grant, we beseech Thee, almighty
God, that the new birth of Thine only-begotten Son in the flesh may set us
free, who are held by the old bondage under the yoke of sin. Through the same
our Lord.
Saul Present
at the Martyrdom of St. Stephen
EPISTLE - Acts 6: 8-10; 7: 54-59
In those days Stephen, full of
grace and fortitude, did great wonders and signs among the people. Now there
arose some, of that which is called the synagogue of the Libertines and of the
Cyrenians and of the Alexandrians and of them that were of Cilicia and Asia,
disputing with Stephen; and they were not able to resist the wisdom and the
spirit that spoke. Now, hearing these things, they were cut to the heart, and
they gnashed with their teeth at him. But Stephen being full of the Holy Ghost,
looking up steadfastly to heaven, saw the glory of God and Jesus standing on
the right hand of God. And he said: Behold I see the heavens opened, and the Son
of Man standing on the right hand of God. And they
crying out with a loud voice stopped their ears, and with one accord ran
violently upon him. And casting him forth without the city, they stoned him:
and the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man, whose
name was Saul. And they stoned Stephen, invoking and saying: Lord Jesus,
receive my spirit. And falling on his knees he cried with a loud voice, saying:
Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell
asleep in the Lord.
Thus, O glorious Prince of
Martyrs! thou wast led outside the gates of the City for thy sacrifice, and thy
punishment was that of blasphemers. The Disciple was to be like to his Master,
in all things. But neither the ignominy of such a death, nor its cruelty, could
daunt thy great soul: thou didst carry Jesus in thy heart, and, with Him, thou
wast stronger than all thy enemies. And what was thy joy, when thou sawest the
heavens open, and this same Jesus in his glorified Humanity, standing at the
right hand of God, and looking upon thee with love! A God looking complacently
on the creature that is going to die for him, and the creature permitted to
behold the God for whom he is dying — truly, this was more than enough to
encourage thee! Let thine enemies cast their stones against thee, and bruise
and tear thy flesh, as they please: nothing can distract thee from this sight
of the Eternal King, who raised himself from his throne to applaud thee, and
deck thee with the Crown, which he had prepared for thee from all eternity! Now
that thou art reigning in the kingdom of heaven, pray for us, that we also may
be faithful, and faithful even unto death, to this same Jesus, who not only
left his throne, but even came down among us as a Little Child.
GRADUAL - Psalm 118: 23, 86, 117
Princes sat, and spoke against me:
and the wicked persecuted me. Help me, O Lord my God: save me for Thy mercy's
sake.
ALLELUIA - Acts 7: 56
Alleluia, alleluia. I see the
heavens opened, and Jesus standing on the right hand of the power of God.
Alleluia.
GOSPEL - Matthew 23: 34-39
At that time Jesus said to the
Scribes and Pharisees: Behold I send to you prophets and wise men and scribes,
and some of them you will put to death and crucify, and some you will scourge
in your synagogues, and persecute from city to city: that upon you may come all
the just blood that hath been shed upon the earth, from the blood of Abel the
just even unto the blood of Zacharias the son of Bacharias, whom you killed
between the temple and the altar. Amen I say to you, all these things shall
come upon this generation. Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the
prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee, how often would I have
gathered together thy children as the hen doth gather her chickens under her
wings, and thou wouldst not? Behold your house shall be left to you desolate.
For I say to you, you shall not see me henceforth, till you say: Blessed is He
that cometh in the name of the Lord.
The Stoning of
St. Stephen by Paolo Uccello
The Martyrs are given to the
world that they may continue the ministry of Christ on the earth, by bearing
testimony to his word, and by confirming this testimony by their blood. The
world has despised them; like their divine Master, they have shone in the
darkness, and darkness has not understood their light. Nevertheless, many have
received their testimony, and the seed of the Martyrs' blood has brought forth
in them the rich fruit of Faith. The Synagogue was cast off by God for its
having shed the blood of Stephen, after having imbrued its hands in that of
Jesus. Unhappy, they who cannot appreciate the Martyrs! Let us, who are
Christians, take in the sublime lessons taught us by their generous sacrifice;
and let our respect and love for them testify, that we are grateful for the
noble ministry they have fulfilled in the Church, and are still fulfilling. The
Church is never without Martyrs, just as she is never without Miracles: it is
the twofold testimony that she will give to the end of time, and by which she
evidences the divine life she has received from her almighty Founder.
OFFERTORY Acts 6: 5; 7: 58
The Apostles chose Stephen to be a
Levite, a man full of faith and of the Holy Ghost: whom the Jews stoned,
invoking and saying: Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. Alleluia.
SECRET
United by Holy Communion to her divine Spouse, the Church, too, sees the heavens opened, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. She sends up to this Incarnate Word the yearnings of her intense love, and derives from the heavenly Food she has received that meekness, which makes her bear with the injuries and insults put upon her by her enemies, in order that she may win them all to the faith and love of Jesus Christ. It was by partaking of this same heavenly Food, that Stephen got the superhuman strength, whereby he won his victory and Crown.
COMMEMORATION
FOR OCTAVE OF THE NATIVITY
Receive, O Lord, our gifts, in
commemoration of Thy Saints: that as suffering made them glorious, so our
devotion may render us innocent. Through our Lord.
CHRISTMAS PREFACE
It is truly meet and just, right
and availing unto salvation that we should at all times and in all places give
thanks unto Thee, O holy Lord, Father almighty and everlasting God. Because by the mystery of the Word made flesh
the light of Thy glory hath shone anew upon the eyes of our mind: that while we
acknowledge Him to be God seen by men, we may be drawn by Him to the love of
things unseen. And therefore with angels and archangels, with thrones and
dominions, and with all the heavenly hosts, we sing a hymn to Thy glory, saying
without ceasing:
Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus, Dóminus Deus
Sábaoth. Pleni sunt cæli et terra glória tua. Hosánna in excélsis. Benedíctus
qui venit in nómine Dómini. Hosánna in excélsis.
COMMUNION - Acts 7: 55, 58, 59
I see the heavens opened, and Jesus
standing on the right hand of the power of God: Lord Jesus, receive my spirit,
and lay not this sin to their charge.
Virgin in
Glory with Sts. John the Baptist and Stephen by Michelangelo Anselmi
POSTCOMMUNION
May the mysteries we have received,
O Lord, help us, and through the intercession of blessed Stephen, Thy Martyr,
establish us by Thine everlasting protection. Through our Lord.
COMMEMORATION
FOR OCTAVE OF THE NATIVITY
Grant, we beseech Thee, almighty
God, that as the Saviour of the world, born on this day, is the Author of our
heavenly birth, so He may also be to us the Giver of immortality: Who with Thee
liveth and reigneth.
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