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Our Lady Queen of the Martyrs Pray for us

Our Lady Queen of the Martyrs Pray for us

Saturday, December 26, 2009

St. Stephen ( the first martyr of the church )



Hi everyone, I hope you all had a good Christmas day, Christmas day was also my birthday that I share with the Lord, although his birthday is much more important than mine. Today celebrates the feast day of the above martyr St.Stephen whose name in aramaic ( the language of Jesus ) when transliterated means ''Kelil''.


"St. Stephen's Day, or the Feast of St. Stephen, is a Christian saint's day celebrated on 26 December in the Western Church and 27 December in the Eastern Church. Many Eastern Orthodox churches adhere to the Julian calendar and mark St. Stephen's Day on 27 December according to that calendar, which places it on January 9 according to the Gregorian calendar used in secular (and Western) contexts. It commemorates St Stephen, the first Christian martyr or protomartyr.

Acts of the Apostles tells the story of how Stephen was tried by the Sanhedrin (high priests) for blasphemy against Moses and God (Acts 6:11) and speaking against the Temple and the Law (Acts 6:13-14) (see also Antinomianism). He was stoned to death (c. A.D. 34–35) by an infuriated mob encouraged by Saul of Tarsus, the future Saint Paul: "And Saul entirely approved of putting him to death" (8:1). [3]. Stephen's final speech was presented as accusing the Jews of persecuting prophets who spoke out against their sins:

'"Which one of the Prophets did your fathers not persecute, and they killed the ones who prophesied the coming of the Just One, of whom now, too, you have become betrayers and murderers." (7:52)
Saint Stephen's name is simply derived from the Greek Stephanos, meaning "crown", which translated into Aramaic as Kelil. Traditionally, Saint Stephen is invested with a crown of martyrdom for Christianity; he is often depicted in art with three stones and the martyrs' palm. In Eastern Christian iconography, he is shown as a young beardless man with a tonsure, wearing a deacon's vestments, and often holding a miniature church building or a censer."

2 comments:

  1. We would be very glad if you could let your readers know about our blog:

    www.catholicheritage.blogspot.com

    You would be most welcome to link/follow/blogroll to it.

    Would you mind letting them know about the latest issue of our newsletter:

    www.catholicheritage.blogspot.com/2009/12/christvs-regnat-december-2009.html

    It might also be interesting to read the latest installment of our series on the traditional customs of Sweden:

    www.catholicheritage.blogspot.com/search/label/Sweden

    Happy Christmas!

    St. Conleth's Catholic Heritage Association (Ireland)

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  2. Hello Stephen

    And a belated Happy Birthday to you! I hope it was a good one.

    This is a really good post, informative and interesting. Thanks for posting it. You surely are named after a great saint. God Bless you.

    ReplyDelete