St Stephen
St Stephen, Deacon and First Martyr The day after the joyous occasion of Christmas, in a plot twist reminiscent of J R R Martin, the Catholic Church remembers its first martyr Saint Stephen. Stephen, full of faith and the Holy Spirit In the Acts of the Apostles, St. Luke praises St. Stephen as “a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit,” who “did great wonders and signs among the people” during the Church's earliest days. Stephen was a Jew who most likely came in contact with Jesus during the Lord's ministry on earth. He may have been among the 70 or 72 disciples whom Christ sent out as missionaries, who preached the coming of God's kingdom while travelling with almost no possessions. [ Luke 10:1-24 ] Stephen, the Archdeacon Stephen's reputation as a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit, led the twelve Apostles to choose him, along with six others (Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas), to assist them in administering to the ...