Stephen, the first martyr
Stephen is one of the preferred disciples of Gamaliel, which explains the quality of his dialectic and rhetoric mentioned in Acts 6:10 [1]
When he encounters Jesus, Maria Valtorta describes him as a man about twenty-five years old, dark-haired, robust, with an intelligent gaze and an aristocratic appearance.[2]
With Hermas, a disciple of Gamaliel like himself, he decides to Following Jesus. They are part of the group of the seventy-two "sent out two by two".[3]-[4] They continue evangelizing together throughout Palestine, without breaking their ties with Gamaliel.
Jesus spiritually describes him and symbolically predicts his destiny:- "Your Face is clear. You are one of those who remain very small...At the Ascension, Jesus calls him among those close to Him whom He wants to have at the time of His departure:- "And what is on my Face, Lord?" Stephen asks.
- "Charity, faith, purity, generosity, wisdom," Jesus answers him. "God gave you all this and you have cultivated it. Your name, you have the crown of pure gold (Stephen means "crown" in Greek). Two words are engraved on it: 'Predestination' and 'Firstfruits'. Be worthy of your fate, Stephen".[5]
"You, Stephen, flower crowned with justice who have left the imperfect for the perfect and who will be crowned with a diadem you do not yet know but which the Angels will announce to you".[6]Having become one of the first deacons of the nascent Church, he is its first martyr, as is extensively reported in the Acts of the Apostles.[7]-[8] The stoners, who had laid down their clothes at the feet of Saul (Paul), abandon Stephen's body under the pile of stones, probably in a northern district of Jerusalem. The Virgin Mary and some Apostles come by night to fetch Stephen's body to give it a decent but unknown burial, close to Bethany, on the road to Jericho. Nicodemus and Lazarus take care of this task alone.[9]
His name[edit | edit source]
Stephen is the French form of Stephen, derived from the Greek Stephanos (Στέφανος) meaning "crown".
Where is he mentioned in the work?[edit | edit source]
GRM 166 GRM 170 GRM 171 GRM 172 GRM 173 GRM 176GRM 225 GRM 250 GRM 275 GRM 276 GRM 277 GRM 278 GRM 279 GRM 281 GRM 282
GRM 334 GRM 347 GRM 348 GRM 349 GRM 350 GRM 352 GRM 354 GRM 364 GRM 370 GRM 371 GRM 376
GRM 404 GRM 407 GRM 440 GRM 446 GRM 466 GRM 477 GRM 478 GRM 488 GRM 495
GRM 512 GRM 514 GRM 515 GRM 516 GRM 517 GRM 565 GRM 566 GRM 578 GRM 584 GRM 592 GRM 598
GRM 634 GRM 638 GRM 641 GRM 645 GRM 645 GRM 646
Learn more about this character[edit | edit source]
Excerpts from the Dictionary of Gospel Characters, According to Maria Valtorta (Monsignor René Laurentin, François-Michel Debroise, Jean-François Lavère, Salvator Editions, 2012):The Church celebrates the martyrdom of Saint Stephen on December 26. Authors differ on the year:- Salton Jacques de Voragine (1228-1298), the stoning took place "the year of the Lord's Ascension, in the following August, at the beginning of the third day". That would therefore be August 3, 30.[10] He was supposedly buried by Gamaliel and Nicodemus.
- Salton Mary of Agreda, Stephen died "nine months after the Passion, on December 26, the day the holy Church celebrates his martyrdom. On that day he finished his thirty-fourth year of Age.[11] It was also the thirty-fourth year since the Savior's birth," December 26, 30. He is buried by anonymous "Disciples". The location is not specified.[12]
- Johann Sepp, a German theologian (1816-1909), gives the date of Stephen's death "according to Church Tradition" as December 26, 32, referring to a text by Alexander of Jerusalem, quoted by Euthalius in the 4th century.[13]
- Monsignor Gaume indicates December 26, 33.[14]
- Different Bibles provide various datings: 31 for the Osty Bible, about 33 for the Jerusalem Bible, 34 to 36 for the Chouraqui Bible, about 35 for the Maredsous Bible.
At the Vatican Museum, a series of paintings by Bernardo Daddi (1290-1348) relates the discovery of Stephen’s tomb by a dream had by Lucien, a priest of Jerusalem at the beginning of the 5th century. The tomb would be located in Kafr Gimal ("The tomb of Gamliel"), today Bayt Jamal. This place is located 22 km east of Jerusalem.
Maria Valtorta does not date Stephen's death, but Jean Aulagnier, her exegete, estimates it occurred at the beginning of the year 32.[15]
Notes and references[edit | edit source]
Note: Quotations from the work of Maria Valtorta on this page currently use machine-translated text and will gradually be replaced by the official English translation. Until then, the official translation may be consulted through the reference link provided with each quotation.
- ↑ Acts 6:9b-10: They began to argue with Stephen, but they could not stand up against the wisdom and the Spirit by which he spoke.
- ↑ GRM 166
- ↑ Luke 10:1 and following
- ↑ GRM 279
- ↑ GRM 354
- ↑ GRM 638
- ↑ Acts 6:5 through 7:58-60
- ↑ GRM 645
- ↑ GRM 646
- ↑ Jacques de Voragine, The Golden Legend – Saint Stephen, page 89.
- ↑ Mary of Agreda thus sees a young man, like Maria Valtorta, but according to the latter, he would look five years younger.
- ↑ Mary of Agreda, "The Mystical City of God - Book 7, Chapter 11, § 198, pages 20 and 21."
- ↑ The Life of Our Lord Jesus Christ - Volume 1 chapter VII, page 159.
- ↑ Monsignor Gaume, Evangelical Biographies – Volume 2, page 8.
- ↑ With Jesus, day by day – page 345.