Pope Stephen I
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| Saint Stephen I | |
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| Papacy began | c. 12 May 254 |
| Papacy ended | 2 August 257 |
| Predecessor | Lucius I |
| Successor | Sixtus II |
| Personal details | |
| Birth name | Stephanus |
| Born | ??? Rome, Roman Empire |
| Died | 2 August 257 Rome, Roman Empire |
| Other Popes named Stephen | |
| Papal styles of Pope Stephen I |
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| Reference style | His Holiness |
| Spoken style | Your Holiness |
| Religious style | Holy Father |
| Posthumous style | Saint |
Pope Saint Stephen I served as Bishop of Rome from 12 May 254 to 2 August 257.
Of Roman birth but of Greek ancestry, he became bishop of Rome in 254, having served as archdeacon of Pope Lucius I, who appointed Stephen his successor.
Following the Decian persecution of 250–251, there was disagreement about how to treat those who had lapsed from the faith, and Stephen was urged by Faustinus, Bishop of Lyon, to take action against Marcian, Bishop of Arles, who denied penance and communion to the lapsed who repented, the position called Novatianism, after Novatian, later declared a heretic, who held for the strictest approach.
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. Stephen's view eventually won broad acceptance.
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.
The Depositio episcoporum of 354 speaks of Pope Stephen I as not a martyr.[1] In the year 258, the emperor Valerian began persecuting Christians, and Stephen was sitting on his pontifical throne celebrating Mass for his congregation when the emperor's men came and beheaded him on 2 August 257.[2] As late as the 18th century, the chair was preserved, still stained with blood.
St Stephen I's feast day in the Roman Catholic Church is celebrated on 2 August [3] When in 1839 the new feast of St Alphonsus Mary de Liguori was assigned to 2 August, Saint 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 Saint Stephen I from the General Roman Calendar, but, according to the General Instruction of the Roman Missal, the 2 August Mass may now everywhere be that of Saint Stephen I, unless in some locality an obligatory celebration is assigned to that day,[4] and some continue to use pre-1969 calendars that mention a commemoration of Saint Stephen I on that day.
Pope Saint Stephen I is the patron of Hvar.
[edit] References
- ^ "Calendarium Romanum" (Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1969), p. 133
- ^ The golden legend: readings on the saints By Jacobus de Voragine, William Granger Ryan
- ^ "Martyrologium Romanum" (Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 2001 ISBN 88-209-7210-7)
- ^ "General Instruction of the Roman Missal" 355 c
[edit] External links
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Stephen I |
Pope St. Stephen I in the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia.- "St. Stephen, Pope and Martyr", Butler's Lives of the Saints
- His writings
| Catholic Church titles | ||
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| Preceded by Lucius I |
Bishop of Rome Pope 254–257 |
Succeeded by Sixtus II |
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