Saint Stephen

The day after Christmas, we remember the first man to die for that name. Stephen was one of the seven deacons chosen by the community in Jerusalem to look after the daily distribution to the poor while the apostles preached. He was Greek in language and culture, like the other six. The Acts of the Apostles tells how he debated in the synagogues of the Hellenist Jews and no one could hold their own against him. He was accused of speaking against the Temple and against the Law, and brought before the Sanhedrin. The speech he gave is the longest in the whole book: it retraces the entire history of Israel and ends with an accusation so direct that the reaction was immediate. They dragged him out of the city and stoned him. As he was dying, he asked that this sin not be held against them — the same words Jesus had spoken on the cross. And there is a detail the narrator slips in almost in passing: the witnesses laid their cloaks at the feet of a young man named Saul, who approved. That young man would become Paul. He is called the protomartyr, the first of the martyrs. In many European countries December 26 bears his name, and in Italy it is a public holiday. If your name is Stephen or Stephanie, today is your name day.