Saint Stephen

He therefore went to Jerusalem after this third vision. Bishop John, to whom he recounted what had happened to him, wept with joy and told him to go and search for the relics of the Saints, adding that he would find them under a heap of large stones that were near his church. Lucian replied that he thought the same. Upon returning home, he had the inhabitants of the village assemble the next morning to search under the heap of stones. While he was going to see the place where they had been digging, he met Migetius, a monk of holy life, who told him that Gamaliel had appeared to him, and that he had charged him to warn him that they were digging in vain in that place. He added that Gamaliel had spoken to him as follows: "We were placed there at the time of our funeral, and, in accordance with ancient custom, this heap of stones was intended to serve as a monument to the grief of our friends. Look elsewhere, in a place called Debatalia." Indeed, said Migetius, continuing to recount the vision he had had, "I suddenly found myself in the indicated place, and I saw there an old tomb where there were three beds adorned with gold. One, higher up, contained a young man and an elderly person; the other two each contained a man."

Lucian, having new proof of the truth of the vision he had had, left the heap of stones and went to the place that had just been indicated to him. When he had the earth dug up, he found the three chests, with a stone on which were engraved, in large characters, the following names: Cheliel, Nasuam, Gamaliel , Abiba Cheliel Protomartyr to whom Trond dedicated his property and a church. s. The first two are Syriac; they correspond to those of Stephen or Crowned, and of Nicodemus or Victory of the People. Lucian immediately informed Bishop John of what had just happened. The prelate, who was then at the Council of Diospolis, came immediately with Eutonius and Eleutherius, bishops, one of Sebaste and the other of Jericho.

Scarcely had the chest or coffin of Stephen been opened when the earth shook: a very pleasant odor also exhaled from it. There was a large number of people there, many of whom were afflicted with various illnesses. Seventy-three sick people recovered their health on the spot. Bishop John decided that the relics of Saint Stephen, who had been a deacon of the church of that city, should be carried to Jerusalem. Those of the other Saints remained at Caphargalama. The body of Saint Stephen was reduced to ashes, except for the bones, which were found to be entirely intact and in their natural position. Some of his blood was also found there. A small portion of the Saint's relics was left at Caphargalama. The rest was enclosed in the coffin and transported to the Church of Zion in Jerusalem, while singing psalms and hymns; an abundant rain then fell, which restored to the earth the fertility of which it had been deprived by a long drought. The ceremony of this translation took place on December 26, the day on which the Church has always celebrated the feast of Saint Stephen since; but the commemoration of the discovery of his relics is held on August 3; this is undoubtedly because some church, perhaps that of Ancona, was dedicated on this day under the invocation of Saint Stephen.

The body of Saint Stephen remained for some time in the Church of Zion. Empress Eudocia, wife of Theodosius the Younger, having made a second trip to Jerusalem in 444, built a magnificent church under the invocation of the Saint, about a stade from the city, near the place where he had been stoned, and requested that his relics be transferred there. She was herself buried in this church after her death, which occurred in 463.

Several churches immediately requested a portion of the relics of Saint Stephen, and a great number of miracles were performed through their virtue. Saint Saint Augustin Father of the Church and spiritual master of Possidius. Augustine reports that a person who had witnessed the martyrdom of Saint Stephen took one of his bones and later carried it to Ancona, in Italy, where an oratory to this Saint was established from that time on. When Christians had the freedom to build churches, a famous one was erected in honor of Saint Stephen near Ancona. Saint Gregory the Great mentions it in his dialogues.

After the discovery of which we have just spoken, a great number of churches in Europe and Africa wished to be enriched with some portion of the relics of the holy Martyr. Avitus, a Spanish priest who was then living in Palestine, obtained from Lucian a little of the ashes of the Saint's body and some small fragments of bone, which he sent to Palconius, bishop of Braga, the place of his birth, in order to console the church of that city, which was groaning at the sight of the ravages caused by the incursions of the Goths and Vandals. He had them carried by Orosius, wh o was depa Paul Orose Spanish priest and historian who transported relics to Africa and Menorca. rting to return to Spain.

Paul Orosius, a learned Spanish priest, was from Tarragona. He first went to Africa, then to Palestine, to consult Saint Augustine and Saint Jerome on some difficult passages of Scripture. His name is famous in the writings of these two Fathers of the Church. He left Palestine in 446 with the precious treasure with which he was entrusted. He landed in Africa to visit Saint Augustine; after which he set sail for Minorca. The devastations of the Goths preventing him from crossing into Spain, he returned to Africa, where, on the advice of Saint Augustine, he wrote the history of the world from the creation. This history is divided into seven books; the style is clear and flowing. It is demonstrated therein, against the pagans, that the misfortunes which were then afflicting the world did not come from the fact that the ancient superstitions of idolatry were being despised, and that men, in different centuries, had often experienced similar calamities. Orosius, before returning to Africa, left the relics of Saint Stephen at Magone (today Mahon), one of the two cities of the island, while waiting until it was possible to have them reach the bishop of Braga, along with the letter that Avitus wrote to him, and which we still possess. Severus, bishop of Minorca, came from Jammona (today Citadella) to Mahon, with the intention of receiving the relics and having conferences with the Jews, who were in very great numbers in that city. The sight of these relics, joined to the zeal of the Christians, worked an astonishing prodigy. In the space of eight days, five hundred and forty Jews, including Theodore, their patriarch, converted and asked for baptism. There were only a few women who showed a little more obstinacy; but in the end, they also surrendered. These converted Jews built a church at their own expense and with their own hands. We still have the circular letter in which Bishop Severus recorded the history of this marvelous event.

On the very day that Evodius, Bishop of Uzalis, was reading to his flock the letter of Severus, some bone fragments of Saint Stephen and a vial containing his blood arrived at the chapel of the holy martyrs Felix and Gennadius, located near the city. Monks from Palestine had procured these relics. Evodius went to receive them with great joy. A young man who had broken his foot in a fall, and who had been bedridden for several days, was healed after imploring the intercession of Saint Stephen, and went to the martyrs' chapel to thank God there. Once the celebration of the holy Mysteries was finished, they went in procession to the city. The people, divided into several groups holding candles and torches in their hands, sang psalms and hymns. When they arrived at the main church, they deposited the relics there and placed them on the bishop's throne, which was covered with a veil. A blind woman recovered her sight by applying this veil to her eyes. Then, the relics were placed on a bed enclosed in a kind of cabinet, where there was an opening through which cloths were touched, which thereby received the virtue of healing the sick. The faithful came to visit them from very far away, and a great number of miracles occurred. Evodius had a list of them written by one of his clerics. It was read publicly at the feast of Saint Stephen, and, after the reading of each miracle, the healed persons were called, and they were made to pass successively through the middle of the church. The people, upon seeing them, wept with joy and redoubled their acclamations. Among those who were thus made to pass were three blind men who had recovered their sight, and a man from Hippo, named Restitutus, who had been healed of paralysis. The onlookers seemed to see the miracles rather than hear the account of them.

The Bishop Evodius, of whom we speak, was an intimate of Saint Augustine. He approved and published two books of the Miracles of Saint Stephen, which had been written by his order and which are ordinarily cited under his name. It is said there that, in front of the oratory where the relics of Saint Stephen were at Uzalis, there was a veil on which the Saint was depicted carrying a cross on his shoulders. In this history of the miracles of Uzalis, mention is made of some resurrected dead. Saint Augustine speaks of one of them in almost the same terms. A child, he says, still at the breast, died without having received baptism. His mother, seeing him lost forever, runs to the oratory of Saint Stephen, and makes the following prayer: "Holy Martyr, you see that I have lost my only consolation. Give me back my child, so that I may find him again before Him who crowned you." After her prayer, which was long, the child was resurrected, and he was heard crying. He was carried immediately to the priests, who baptized him. He then received the anointing, the laying on of hands, and the Eucharist; for it was the custom then to give confirmation and communion immediately after baptism, when the latter sacrament was administered solemnly. God soon called this child to Himself. His mother carried him to the tomb with as much confidence as if she had been depositing him in the bosom of Saint Stephen. These are the very words of Saint Augustine.

No fewer wonders occurred at Calama, a city of Numidia, which was fifteen Roman miles from Hippo, whose see was occupied by Saint Augustine. Possidius, a disciple of this holy doctor, was then Bishop of Calama. There was in this city a chapel of Saint Stephen, which was enriched with a portion of the relics of the holy Martyr, for which they were indebted to Saint Possien. Eucharius, a Spanish priest who lived at Calama, had long been tormented by the stone; but no sooner had he applied the relics of Saint Stephen to himself than he found himself healed. Some time later, he died of another illness: and they were already going to carry him to the tomb; but those who were around him, having placed on his body a tunic that had been brought from the Saint's chapel, he was resurrected. Several sick people, afflicted with various illnesses, also recovered their health. Saint Augustine, who was writing at that time, says that more of these kinds of healings took place at Calama than at Hippo, where, however, he had counted seventy. Among other wonders that happened at Calama, he insists mainly on the conversion of a pagan named Martial. He was a man of quality, and one of the principal inhabitants of the city. He did not diminish in the least his stubborn attachment to idolatry, even in his last illness. In vain were the strongest reasons used to convince him. His son-in-law, who was a Christian, had prayed for a long time for him before the reliquary that contained the relics of Saint Stephen, brought home some of the flowers that adorned this reliquary, and full of confidence in the intercession of the Saint, he placed them near the head of the sick man's bed. It was evening then. The day had not yet dawned when Martial asked to speak to Bishop Possidius, who was absent because he had gone to Hippo to visit Saint Augustine. The priests, being notified, came to see the sick man, instructed him, and baptized him. Martial, from the moment of his baptism until his last breath, did not cease to repeat these words with which Saint Stephen ended his life: "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit."

Bishop Projectus carried some relics of the same Saint to Tibilis, otherwise called Aquae Tibilitanae, an episcopal city that was fifteen miles from Hippo. When he was passing through Girte, a blind woman, having had herself led to these relics, recovered her sight.

Lucilius, Bishop of Sinica or Sinite, near Hippo, carrying the relics of the same Saint in procession, was suddenly healed of a fistula that did not return, although it had tormented him for a long time, and he was waiting for the surgeon to perform the operation.

In a village called Audura, a child who was playing was crushed under the wheel of a cart pulled by oxen, and died in violent convulsions. His mother having carried him before the relics of Saint Stephen, he recovered his life, without any mark remaining of the accident that had happened to him. A nun from a neighboring village, called Gaspaliana, was also resurrected for having been covered with a tunic that had been made to touch the same relics. All these miracles are reported by Saint Augustine.

The Church of Hippo received a portion of the relics of Saint Stephen in 425. One can see with what r espect Saint A saint Augustin Father of the Church and spiritual master of Possidius. ugustine received them by the letter he wrote to Bishop Quintianus, who was about to receive a small portion himself. "Your Holiness," he told him, "knows how much you are obliged to honor these relics, as we have done." It appears that he delivered his 317th sermon on the very day he received them. In it, he says that the relics of which he speaks consisted of a little dust from the Saint's body, enclosed in a box. He teaches the people that an altar was raised, not to Saint Stephen, but to God over the relics of Saint Stephen. Fearing that the ignorant might fall into superstition by not sufficiently distinguishing the master from the servant, he repeated, whenever the opportunity arose, that it is God who performs miracles through the Saints, and that it is to Him that we must attribute them, as well as the graces we receive through the intercession of the Blessed who reign in heaven. Less than two years had passed since the events reported above had occurred when he wrote his final book of The City of God, where he says that he had recei Cité de Dieu An apology for Christianity in the face of the decline of the Roman Empire. ved an account of nearly seventy miracles performed in Hippo by the relics of Saint Stephen, in addition to several others of which he knew no mention had been made. Among the latter, he speaks of the resurrection of three dead persons. One was the son of a tax collector named Irenaeus. Everything was already prepared for his funeral, and he was about to be buried. But he rose again when he had been anointed with the oil of the Martyr, which must be understood, no doubt, as the oil from the lamp that burned before the relics of Saint Stephen. The other was the daughter of a Syrian named Bassus. She recovered her life after being covered with a garment that her father had touched to the Saint's reliquary. Saint Augustine was an eyewitness to most of these miracles, among others the following.

There was in a prominent family of Caesarea ten children, seven boys and three girls. Having been cursed by their mother because of their bad conduct, they were seized successively, from the oldest to the youngest, with a trembling in all their limbs, which disfigured their entire bodies. In this sad state, they wandered here and there in different places. The second of these children was healed while praying in a chapel of Saint Lawrence in Ravenna. The sixth and the seventh arrived in Hippo in 425. They were named Paul and Palladia. They drew the eyes of everyone upon them. On the morning of Easter day, Paul, praying before the relics of Saint Stephen, found himself perfectly healed. One immediately heard cries from all sides in the church: Thanks be to God, blessed be the Lord. The young man threw himself at the feet of Saint Augustine, to whom he was presented. The Saint had him rise and embraced him. When he had mounted the pulpit to preach, he showed him to the people, saying: "We are accustomed to reading the accounts of the miracles that God has performed through the prayers of the blessed martyr Stephen. But today the presence of this young man takes the place of a book for us; we need no other writing than his face, which you all know, etc." He adds that, without the prayers of Saint Stephen, he would not have had the strength to endure the fatigue of the previous day (Holy Saturday), where he had spent the greater part of the day and night without taking food, which did not prevent him from preaching on Easter day. On Easter Tuesday, he had Paul and Palladia placed on the steps of the pulpit so that the people could see them. One no longer had any mark of his ailment, while the other was trembling in all his limbs. Having then had them withdraw, he preached on the respect that children owe their parents and on the moderation with which parents should treat their children. His sermon was interrupted by the acclamations of the people, who did not cease to repeat these words: "Thanks be to God." This was because Palladia had just been healed while praying before the relics of Saint Stephen. The sermon, which was interrupted by this miracle, has come down to us, as have all those that Saint Augustine preached on this occasion. About a year later, the holy doctor inserted the account of the healing of Paul and Palladia, along with that of several other miracles, into his final book of The City of God.

Jean le Clerc Jean le Clerc Modern critic who questioned the veracity of the miracles reported by Augustine. attacks the judgment and veracity of Saint Augustine regarding the miracles he reports as having been performed through the intercession of Saint Stephen. It is quite singular that such a discovery should have been reserved for this new master in the art of criticism. But will Christians suffer the most learned and holy doctors of the Church to be branded as knaves and impostors? And will they consent to having the rest of the faithful ranked in the class of fools? The miracles in question are attested not only by Saint Augustine, but also by Possidius, by Evodius, and by several other authors. It must also be observed that there were at that time in Africa a great number of men commendable for their enlightenment and penetration, who undoubtedly examined the facts and only admitted them after having recognized their truth. But let us suppose that the Catholics were simple enough to be imposed upon by their bishops; could one equally deceive their enemies, who watched their actions with such malignity? The miracles in question took place at a time when there were many Manichaeans, Donatists, and Arians in Africa. Yet, does one find the slightest trace of protest on the part of these heretics and pagans?

That is not all: one would have to say that the Fathers of that century all conspired to grossly deceive the faithful. But who could be persuaded of the reality of such a conspiracy? All subsequent ages have admired in these famous doctors, and especially in Saint Augustine, a happy assemblage of gravity, wisdom, holiness, judgment, and learning. The holy bishop of Hippo was mainly distinguished by his zeal in combating falsehood in all sorts of matters. Let one read the works he left on this vice. He proves, against the Priscillianists, that it can never be permitted to tell the slightest lie deliberately, even if it were a question of saving a man's life, of preventing evil, or even of procuring baptism for a child who otherwise could not receive it, because there is no circumstance where what is essentially evil can become legitimate. It is seen that lying is especially criminal in matters of religion; and if it could ever become legitimate, one should no longer count on the sincerity of anyone.

Le Clerc and his partisans say that the Fathers had recourse to fraud to facilitate the propagation of their favorite doctrine concerning the invocation of Saints and the cult of relics. But this invocation and this cult had been established for a long time and had often performed miracles in other parts of the Christian world. See, for the West, the works of Saint Paulinus, Saint Prudentius, Saint Sulpicius Severus, Saint Gaudentius, etc.; and for the East, those of Saint Chrysostom, Saint Basil, the two Saint Gregorys, Theodoret, Saint Ephrem, etc. Le Clerc himself acknowledges this in the lives of several of these Fathers.

In truth, Saint Augustine observes with other Fathers that the gift of miracles had diminished little by little, and that they had generally ceased in the Church because the Gospel was sufficiently established. But he explains this gift in the same way as the Apostles, and he adds that God still sometimes performs miracles for the glory of his name, and to awaken the fervor of the faithful by making them think of him. It is for this reason that in his book *The City of God*, he confounds the pagans with the miracles that were performed in his time, especially those of the relics of Saint Stephen. Speaking of the latter, he mentions five resurrected persons. He reports their names along with those of their families, and marks all the circumstances. Two recovered their lives through garments that had been made to touch the relics of Saint Stephen. One reads something similar in the *Acts of the Apostles*, and one sees there that certain things that had touched the body of Saint Paul were the instruments of various wonders. It only remains for these difficult critics to attack the story of the dead man resurrected by the touch of the bones of Elisha, and the healing of the sick who had devoutly applied to themselves the aprons and handkerchiefs that had been taken from the body of Saint Paul. God can undoubtedly use sensible instruments to manifest his power and his mercy, as Jesus Christ often did during his mortal life.

One can see at Longpont, near Paris, in a gilded wooden reliquary, a crystal tube, fitted with silver closures, containing a significant bone of the holy Deacon, the first martyr, obtained through the influence of Cardinal de Richelieu, whose secretary was the commendatory grand-prior of Longpont.

The history of the cult and relics of Saint St ephen in Besançon Episcopal see restored by Saint Nicet. Besançon would require a special history; we can only say a few words about it. Saint Helena, mother of Constantine, during a trip to Besançon where Saint Stephen already had a chapel built by the bishop Saint Lin, at the foot of Mount Cœlius, spoke with Hilan, then bishop of this see, and implored him to pray to Saint Stephen to intercede with God for her son who was fighting for the empire against Maxentius. She promised, in return, to procure relics of this Saint for the church of Besançon. Indeed, later, when she went to Jerusalem, she asked for relics of Saint Stephen from Macarius, bishop of the holy city. He gave her, along with the Saint's dalmatic, a stone marked with his seal. These relics were sent and received in Besançon around the year 327. The tomb of Saint Stephen was, as we have said, discovered in 415. From then on, several churches obtained some bones of the holy deacon. Emperor Theodosius, in 446, donated the arm bone of Saint Stephen to Celidonius, archbishop of Besançon; it was received with the greatest solemnity. When they wanted to detach some particles of this holy relic to satisfy the pious desires of the ten bishops present at this ceremony, blood flowed in abundance from the dry bone, and the prelates collected it respectfully to carry it off to their dioceses. Miracles multiplied, and, in measure, increased the piety of the faithful and the gathering of pilgrims.

Besançon became like the center of the cult of Saint Stephen in the West, and the day on which the miracle we have just spoken of took place (August 3), was the one on which the invention of the relics of Saint Stephen was celebrated throughout the West.

These relics of Saint Stephen, the most authentic that could be seen, were destroyed in 1793. But in 1832, Cardinal de Rohan, archbishop of Besançon, brought back from Rome, where the greater part of the body of Saint Stephen rests, an arm bone of this holy martyr, which reawakened the devotion of the Bisontins to their holy protector. In 1848, the relic was richly enshrined in a vermeil reliquary, which His Eminence Cardinal Mathieu offered to the distinguished chapter of his metropolitan church. The same year, Mgr Mathieu obtained the restoration to worship of the citadel church built in the time of Louis XIV, when Vauban, to fortify the city, was obliged to tear down the old church of Saint-Étienne. The ordinance is dated December 20, and signed by Lamoricière. Each year, the entrance to the citadel is opened to the public for the feast of December 26.

Finally, by a brief dated from Rome, April 9, 1853, our Holy Father Pope Pius IX granted a Pape Pie IX Pope who canonized Josaphat in 1867. plenary indulgence to all those who, having received the sacraments of Penance and Eucharist, visit the citadel church on December 26, and pray there according to the intentions of the Sovereign Pontiff. The church of Besançon celebrates the memory of Saint Stephen on July 13 and 20, August 3 and 23, and December 26.

The history of Saint Stephen (his martyrdom, the invention of his relics, his various miracles) is traced on an interesting Vatican diptych, though from a somewhat late period. What is especially curious in this monument is the vision of the priest Lucian, where the bodies of Saint Stephen, Gamaliel, Nicodemus, and Abibas are symbolized by four vases placed near the bed where he rests.

The history of this miraculous discovery and this translation was written by the priest Lucian himself. Avitus, a Spanish priest and intimate friend of Saint Jerome, who was then living in Jerusalem, translated it into Latin; and the Benedictines published it in their appendix to the seventh volume of the works of Saint Augustine. What it contains is attested by Chrysippus, one of the principal priests of the Church of Jerusalem, whose virtue the author of the life of Saint Euthymius singularly praises; by Idatius and Marcellinus in their chronicles; by Basil, Bishop of Seleucia; by Saint Augustine, Bede, etc. The account of the same facts is found in most historians and in the sermons of the principal Fathers of that century. — See, for more details: Vie des Saints de Franche-Comté, one of the best works of hagiology produced in our time.