Ritratto
di it:Papa Stefano I nella it:Basilica di San Paolo fuori
la Mura, Roma
Médaillon
de la frise des papes à Saint-Paul-hors-les-Murs. Il s'agit d'une mosaïque
représentant Étienne Ier, 23e pape de l'Église catholique (212 mars 254-2 août
257). Il fait partie de la série de médaillons voulue par Grégoire XVI destinée
à remplacer ceux de l'ancienne basilique après l'incendie de 1823.
Portait
of en:Pope Stephen I in the en:Basilica of Saint Paul
Outside the Walls, Rome
Saint Étienne Ier
Pape (23e) de 254 à
257 (+ 257)
Son pontificat dura trois années, mais il fut fertile en difficultés. Il avait envisagé de rétablir dans leurs fonctions des évêques de Lusitanie (Espagne-Portugal) qui avaient obtenu des certificats de sacrifices pour échapper au martyre.
Saint Cyprien de Carthage s'élève contre lui. Dans le même temps, il eut à combattre le schisme de Novatien en Gaule.
Enfin, il retrouva l'opposition de saint Cyprien quand saint Étienne décida que les baptêmes conférés par des hérétiques étaient des baptêmes valides.
En fait cela montre que l'Église était soucieuse de la primauté de l'évêque de Rome, mais aussi que certains grands évêques craignaient que des hérétiques ou des schismatiques l'utilisent contre eux en la circonvenant.
À Rome, sur la voie Appienne, au cimetière de Calliste, en 257, saint Étienne
Ier, pape. Pour que l'union baptismale des chrétiens avec le Christ, qui ne
doit se faire qu'une fois, ne soit pas obscurcie, il interdit de réitérer le
baptême des hérétiques qui demanderaient la pleine communion de l'Église.
Martyrologe romain
SOURCE : https://nominis.cef.fr/contenus/saint/1607/Saint-%C9tienne-Ier.html
Saint Étienne Ier, Pape
Mardi 02 Août 2016 : Fête
de Saint Étienne Ier, Pape et Martyr (+ 257).
Romain de la famille des
Julia, Étienne devint Évêque de Rome en 254. Son pontificat assez bref fut
marqué par la question du Baptême administré par les hérétiques.
Il invoqua la tradition
apostolique en faveur de la tradition romaine et dut faire face à la ferme
opposition de Saint Cyprien.
La tradition veut qu'il
fût décapité sur son trône pendant une Célébration Eucharistique dans les
catacombes.
Saint Étienne I (254-257)
Il naquit au sein d’une
noble famille romaine
Pendant son pontificat il
eut maille à partir avec les Églises d’Afrique et d’Asie Mineure, au sujet de
la suprématie du siège romain.
Il fut martyrisé lors des
persécutions déclenchée par l’empereur Valérien.
SOURCE : http://eglise.de.dieu.free.fr/liste_des_papes_02.htm
Johann von Schraudolph (1808-1879), Gebet des Hl. Papstes Stephan I., Fresko, Speyerer Dom, 1855
Kunstwebseite: http://www.monumente-online.de/de/ausgaben/2014/4/jedes-bild-ein-gottesdienst.php#.VqTslmfSl9B
Saint Étienne Ier
Pape (23e) de 254 à 257
Martyr († 257)
Etienne Ier, romain, issu
de la famille de la gens Julia, est surtout connu par ses affrontements avec
l'influent Évêque de Carthage, Saint Cyprien.
Le premier fut provoqué
par la déposition de deux Évêques espagnols qui avaient apostasiés pendant la
persécution.
Etienne les réhabilita.
Suite à l'appel des
Évêques espagnols auprès de Cyprien, celui-ci se prononça pour la déposition,
disant que le Pape avait été mal informé.
Le deuxième concernait
l'Évêque d'Arles, Marcien, qui avait adopté les vues rigoristes de Novatien,
refusant d'admettre à nouveau au sein de l'Église les « lapsi ».
Les Évêques locaux
demandèrent à Étienne de le condamner; mais il ignora l'affaire. Ceux-ci s'adressèrent
alors à Saint Cyprien.
Le troisième concerne la
question de la validité du Baptême administré par les hérétiques.
Pour Étienne, il était
valide; pour Cyprien, il était invalide, car le Baptême devait être reçu au
sein de l'Église.
La situation aurait pu
devenir dramatique si Étienne n'était pas mort le 2 Août 257. Et Cyprien
martyrisé un peu plus tard.
Une tradition plus
ancienne veut que le Pape Étienne fut décapité pendant une Célébration Eucharistique
dans les catacombes.
Il fut inhumé dans la
crypte des Papes au cimetière de Calixte sur la Voie Appienne. Vénéré par
l'Église comme Saint. Fête, le 2 Août.
Le Pape Étienne fut le
premier Pape à avoir fait reposer officiellement la primauté romaine sur les
paroles adressées par Le Christ à Pierre (Mt XVI,18).
http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89tienne_Ier_%28pape%29.
Das Martyrium des heiligen Papst Stephanus I vor dem Altar des Mars, dessen Statue vom Sockel stürzt. Kupferstich von Joh. Mathias Werlin nach I.W. Baumgartner, um 1760.
Saint Étienne Ier
Étienne Ier est le
23e pape de l'Église catholique romaine et succède
à Lucius Ier le 12 mai 254.
Noble romain, il est élu
Pape dans les catacombes de Saint-Calixte devant la communauté de fidèles par
les prêtres qui avaient un titre et par les diacres qui remplissaient une
charge ecclésiastique.
Son pontificat, qui dure
jusqu'au 2 août 257, s'insère entre deux vagues de persécutions mais connaît une
crise interne à l'Église particulièrement grave et mène celle-ci au bord de la
rupture avec les Église d'Orient et celle d'Afrique.
Comme ses deux
prédécesseurs Étienne est favorable à la réintégration des chrétiens apostats
sous la persécution de Dèce et repentis depuis.
Mais le problème se pose
aussi pour les clercs. Ils avaient le devoir de donner l'exemple, y compris
dans le martyre, et Étienne refuse de réintégrer deux évêques d'Espagne qui avaient échappé à la persécution en
produisant des certificats attestant qu'ils avaient sacrifié aux dieux païens.
Il fait de même envers
l'évêque d'Arles, qui depuis, dans une totale inconséquence, était passé
aux novatiens.
Étienne exige de la totalité
des Églises chrétiennes qu'elles se conforment à la tradition romaine en ce qui
concerne le baptême des hérétiques, des schismatiques et des chrétiens
apostats, à savoir une simple imposition des mains de l'évêque, la
confirmation, puisque ce sont des personnes qui dans le passé ont déjà été
baptisées.
Mais les Églises d'Orient
et d'Afrique exigent un nouveau baptême. Étienne est un personnage autoritaire
et il accepte mal cette indépendance.
Un conflit s'engage
avec Cyprien, l'évêque de Carthage, menacé par Étienne Ier d'excommunication. Cyprien
reçoit le soutien des Églises d'Asie mineure, de Syrie et de Cappadoce.
Alarmé le patriarche d'Alexandrie, Denys, joue les médiateurs mais en vain. C'est la mort
de Cyprien, puis celle d'Étienne le 2 août 257 qui met fin à cette querelle et évite la rupture.
On raconte qu'il fut
décapité sur son siège pontifical par les soldats pendant qu'il présidait un
Office Religieux dans les catacombes de Saint-Calixte.
Il est inhumé dans
la crypte des Papes de la catacombe de Saint-Calixte bien que
sa pierre tombale ne fût jamais retrouvée.
On le Fête le 2 août.
Reliquiario
della testa di Papa Stefano I, esposto nella chiesa Cattedrale di Lesina
(Hvar), in Dalmazia (Croazia), a lui dedicata, nel giorno della sua festa
02/08 St Etienne I,
pape et martyr
Pape de 254 à 257. Culte
dès le IVe siècle. Fête simple dans le calendrier de St Pie V, la fête de St
Étienne fut réduite au rang de commémoraison en 1839, lors de l’introduction de
celle de St
Alphonse. L’introduction du commun
des Souverains Pontifes en 1942 a supprimé du Missel l’introït propre
et la lecture des Actes.
La Depositio Episcoporum
de 354 annonce l’anniversaire du pape Etienne Ier et le Hiéronymien fait de
même. Il en est également fait mention dans le sacramentaire de Vérone, puis
dans l’évangéliaire de 645 et le sacramentaire grégorien. En accord avec le Liber
Pontificalis et les Itinéraires, qui font écho à la Passio Stephani, le
Grégorien donne à Etienne le titre de martyr. Ce titre, fondé sur une
confusion, s’est perpétué dans la tradition liturgique [1].
[1] Cf. Pierre Jounel, Le Culte des Saints dans les
Basiliques du Latran et du Vatican au douzième siècle, École Française de Rome,
Palais Farnèse, 1977.
eodem die 2 augusti
SANCTI STEPHANI I
Papæ et Mart.
Commemoratio
Missa Si
díligis, de Communi unius aut plurium Summorum Pontificum
ce même 2 août
SAINT ÉTIENNE Ier
Pape et Martyr
Commémoraison
Messe Si
díligis, du Commun d’un ou plusieurs Souverains Pontifes
eodem die 2 augusti
Pro SANCTO STEPHANO
I
Papa et Mart.
Ant. ad
Introitum. Ps. 131, 16
Sacerdótes eius índuam
salutári, et sancti eius exsultatióne exsultábunt
Ibid., 1.
Meménto, Dómine,
David : et omnis mansuetúdinis eius.
V/.Glória Patri.
Oratio.
Deus, qui nos beáti
Stéphani Mártyris tui atque Pontíficis ánnua sollemnitáte lætíficas :
concéde propítius ; ut, cuius natalítia cólimus, de eiúsdem étiam
protectióne gaudeámus. Per Dóminum.
Léctio Actuum
Apostolórum.
Act. 20, 17-21.
In diébus illis : A
Miléto Paulus mittens Ephesum, vocávit majóres natu ecclésiæ. Qui cum veníssent
ad eum, et simul essent, dixit eis : Vos scitis a prima die qua ingréssus
sum in Asiam, quáliter vobíscum per omne tempus fúerim, sérviens Dómino cum
omni humilitáte, et lácrimis, et tentatiónibus, quæ mihi accidérunt ex insídiis
Judǽorum : quómodo nihil subtráxerim utílium, quo minus annuntiárem vobis
et docérem vos, públice et per domos, testíficans Judǽis atque gentílibus in
Deum pœniténtiam, et fidem in Dóminum nostrum Jesum Christum.
Graduale. Eccli. 44,
16.
Ecce sacérdos magnus, qui
in diébus suis plácuit Deo.
V/. Ibid.,
20. Non est invéntus símilis illi, qui conserváret legem Excélsi.
Allelúia,
allelúia. V/. Ps. 109, 4. Tu es sacérdos in ætérnum, secúndum órdinem
Melchísedech. Allelúia.
+ Sequéntia sancti
Evangélii secúndum Matthǽum.
Matth. 16, 24-27
In illo témpore :
Dixit Iesus discípulis suis : Si quis vult post me veníre, ábneget
semetípsum, et tollat crucem suam, et sequátur me. Qui enim voluerit ánimam
suam salvam fácere, perdet eam : qui autem perdíderit ánimam suam propter
me, invéniet eam. Quid enim prodest hómini, si mundum univérsum lucrétur, ánimæ
vero suæ detriméntum patiátur ? Aut quam dabit homo commutatiónem pro
ánima sua ? Fílius enim hóminis ventúrus est in glória Patris sui cum
Angelis suis : et tunc reddet unicuíque secúndum ópera eius.
Ant. ad
Offertorium. Ps. 88, 21-22.
Invéni David servum meum,
oleo sancto meo unxi eum : manus enim mea auxiliábitur ei, et bráchium
meum confortábit eum.
Secreta.
Múnera tibi, Dómine,
dicáta sanctífica : et, intercedénte beáto Stéphano Mártyre tuo atque
Pontífice, per éadem nos placátus inténde. Per Dóminum.
Ant. ad
Communionem. Matth. 25, 20 et 21.
Dómine, quinque talénta
tradidísti mihi, ecce, ália quinque superlucrátus sum. Euge, serve bone et
fidélis, quia in pauca fuísti fidélis, supra multa te constítuam, intra in
gáudium Dómini tui.
Postcommunio.
ce même 2 août
SAINT ÉTIENNE Ier
Pape et Martyr
Introït
Je revêtirai de salut ses
prêtres, et ses saints exulteront de joie
Souvenez-vous, Seigneur,
de David et de toute sa douceur.
Collecte
Dieu, vous nous donnez
chaque année un nouveau sujet de joie par la solennité de votre Martyr et
Pontife, le bienheureux Étienne : accordez-nous, dans votre miséricorde,
de pouvoir ressentir les effets de la protection de celui dont nous célébrons
la naissance
Lecture des Actes des
Apôtres.
En ces jours-là :
Paul, de Milet, envoyant à Éphèse, il convoqua les anciens de l’église.
Lorsqu’ils furent venus auprès de lui, et qu’ils furent ensemble, il leur
dit : Vous savez de quelle sorte je me suis conduit en tout temps avec
vous, depuis le premier jour où je suis entré en Asie, servant le Seigneur avec
toute humilité, dans les larmes et au milieu des épreuves qui me sont survenues
par les embûches des Juifs ; comment je ne vous ai rien caché de ce qui
était utile, ne manquant pas de vous l’annoncer, et de vous instruire en public
et dans les maisons, prêchant aux Juifs et aux gentils la pénitence envers Dieu,
et la foi en notre Seigneur Jésus-Christ.
Graduel
Voici le grand Pontife
qui dans les jours de sa vie a plu à Dieu.
V/. Nul ne lui a été
trouvé semblable, lui qui a conservé la loi du Très-Haut.
Allelúia,
allelúia. V/. Vous êtes prêtre à jamais selon l’ordre de
Melchisédech. Alléluia.
Suite du Saint Évangile
selon saint Matthieu.
En ce temps-là, Jésus dit
à ses disciples : Si quelqu’un veut venir après moi, qu’il renonce à
lui-même, et qu’il porte sa croix, et qu’il me suive. Car celui qui voudra
sauver sa vie, la perdra ; mais celui qui perdra sa vie à cause de moi, la
trouvera. Que sert à l’homme de gagner le monde entier, s’il perd son
âme ? Ou qu’est-ce que l’homme donnera en échange de son âme ? Car le
Fils de l’homme viendra dans la gloire de son Père avec ses anges, et alors il
rendra à chacun selon ses œuvres
Offertoire
J’ai trouvé David mon
serviteur ; je l’ai oint de mon huile sainte ; car ma main
l’assistera et mon bras le fortifiera.
Secrète
Sanctifiez, Seigneur, ces
dons qui vous sont consacrés, grâce à eux et le bienheureux N., votre Martyr et
Pontife, jetez sur nous un regard de paix et de bonté.
Communion
Seigneur, vous m’avez
remis cinq talents ; voici que j’en ai gagné cinq autres. C’est bien, bon
et fidèle serviteur ; parce que tu as été fidèle en peu de choses, je
t’établirai sur beaucoup ; entre dans la joie de ton maître.
Postcommunion
Que cette communion,
Seigneur, nous purifie de nos fautes, et, par l’intercession du bienheureux N.,
Martyr et Pontife, nous rende participants du céleste salut.
Leçon des
Matines avant 1960.
Neuvième
leçon. Etienne, Romain d’origine, et souverain Pontife sous les empereurs
Valérien et Gallien, décréta que les Prêtres et les Diacres ne porteraient pas
les vêtements sacrés en dehors de l’église. Il défendit de baptiser de nouveau
ceux qui l’avaient été par les hérétiques, disant, au témoignage de saint
Cyprien : « Il ne faut rien innover, mais s’en tenir à la
tradition. » Par lui, beaucoup de païens furent amenés à se convertir à
Jésus-Christ, entre autres le tribun Olympius, avec sa femme Exupérie et leur
fils Théodule. En rendant la vue à Lucille, fille du tribun Némèsius, il lui
obtint en même temps le don de la foi, ainsi qu’à toute sa famille : tous
furent Martyrs pour la cause de Jésus-Christ. Malgré les persécutions de plus
en plus violentes excitées par les empereurs, Etienne convoquait son clergé,
exhortait les fidèles au martyre, célébrait régulièrement les saints Mystères
dans les cryptes des Martyrs, et tenait des conciles. Traîné au temple de Mars,
pour sacrifier à cette fausse divinité, il refusa résolument de rendre au démon
l’honneur dû à Dieu seul. Pendant qu’il parlait, un tremblement de terre
renversa la statue de Mars et ébranla le temple. Ce prodige mit en fuite tous
ceux qui retenaient Etienne, et le Pontife put revenir vers ses ouailles, au
cimetière de Lucine ; il les instruisait dans les préceptes divins et les
faisait participer au sacrement du Corps du Christ : un jour qu’il
achevait de célébrer la sainte Messe, les satellites impériaux survinrent pour
la seconde fois et, le trouvant sur son trône, lui tranchèrent la tête. Ses
Clercs ensevelirent son corps dans le cimetière de Callixte, le quatrième jour
des nones d’août, et placèrent auprès du Martyr le siège qu’il avait arrosé de
son sang. Il exerça le pontificat trois ans, et fit au mois de décembre deux
ordinations, dans lesquelles furent ordonnés six Prêtres, cinq Diacres et
sacrés trois Évêques.
St.
Stephen's Cathedral seen from the Spanish Fortress, Hvar, Croatia
Cathédrale St-Étienne vue de la forteresse espagnole, Hvar, Croatie
St.
Stephen's Cathedral seen from the Spanish Fortress, Hvar, Croatia
Cathédrale St-Étienne vue de la forteresse espagnole, Hvar, Croatie
St.
Stephen's Cathedral seen from the Spanish Fortress, Hvar, Croatia
Cathédrale St-Étienne vue de la forteresse espagnole, Hvar, Croatie
Dom
Guéranger, l’Année Liturgique
L’illustre mémoire
d’Étienne Ier, Pape et Martyr, complète d’un parfum d’antiquité la sainteté de
ce jour dédié à l’honneur du plus récent des bienheureux [2].
La gloire très spéciale
d’Étienne est d’avoir été dans l’Église le gardien de la dignité du saint
baptême. Le baptême, donné une fois, ne se renouvelle plus ; car le
caractère d’enfant de Dieu qu’il imprime au chrétien est éternel ; et
cette ineffable dignité du premier sacrement n’est aucunement dépendante des
dispositions ou de l’état du ministre qui le confère. Que ce soit Pierre qui
baptise, dit en effet saint Augustin, que ce soit Paul ou Judas, celui-là seul
et toujours baptise par eux dans le Saint-Esprit, sur qui descendit au Jourdain
la divine colombe [3]. Telle est l’adorable munificence
du Seigneur à l’égard de ce plus indispensable des moyens du salut, que le
païen même qui n’appartient pas à l’Église, que le schismatique ou l’hérétique
qui s’en est séparé, ne l’administrent pas moins validement, à la seule
condition d’observer le rit extérieur en son essence et de vouloir faire en cela
ce que fait l’Église.
Au temps d’Étienne Ier,
cette vérité qu’aujourd’hui nul n’ignore, apparaissait avec moins d’évidence.
De grands évêques, auxquels leur science et leur sainteté avaient acquis
justement la vénération de leur siècle, voulaient qu’on fit passer à nouveau
par le bain du salut les convertis des sectes dissidentes. Mais l’assistance
promise à Pierre n’en apparut que plus divine en son successeur ; et, en
maintenant la discipline traditionnelle, Rome par Étienne sauva la foi des Églises.
Témoignons notre gratitude joyeuse au saint Pontife, pour sa fidélité dans la
garde du dépôt qui est le trésor de tous ; et prions-le de protéger non
moins efficacement, en nous aussi, la noblesse et les droits du saint baptême.
[2] Allusion à la fête de St
Alphonse, proclamé docteur en 1871.
[3] Aug. in Johan. tract, VI.
Cerkev
sv. Štefana v Ribnici.
St. Stephen's church in Ribnica.
Cerkev
sv. Štefana v Ribnici.
St.
Stephen's church in Ribnica.
Bhx
cardinal Schuster, Liber Sacramentorum
Saint Etienne,
pape.
Station dans le cimetière
de Callixte.
Étienne Ier (254-257) est
demeuré célèbre dans l’histoire de la théologie catholique, pour la part qu’il
prit dans la question de la validité du baptême conféré par les hérétiques. Il
écrivit aux évêques de l’Asie Mineure et à Cyprien de Carthage qu’on ne devait
pas changer l’ancien usage : Si qui ergo a quacumque hæresi venient ad
vos, nihil innovetur, nisi quod traditum est, ut manus illis imponatur ad
pœnitentiam [4].
Saint Cyprien et les
Églises d’Afrique tenaient pour la sentence contraire confirmée alors par plusieurs
synodes. Il y eut donc un moment où il sembla que l’unité ecclésiastique dût
être brisée par l’attitude ferme du Pape et par l’obstination des Africains,
mais la persécution de Valérien et la mort d’Etienne Ier survinrent à propos,
et cette mort empêcha une rupture.
Étienne Ier sortit de ce
monde le 2 août 257 et fut enseveli dans la crypte papale du cimetière de
Callixte où en effet le vénérèrent les anciens pèlerins. Une légende, qui
commence déjà à apparaître dans le Liber Pontificalis, le confondit avec Sixte
II et attribua au premier les circonstances dramatiques du martyre de l’autre.
Cette confusion ne nuisit pas d’ailleurs à saint Étienne, car son nom pénétra
dans le Martyrologe Hiéronymien, dans le Sacramentaire Léonien et dans tous les
manuscrits dépendant de celui-ci, avec le glorieux titre de martyr au lieu de
celui de simple pontife, que comportait la tradition philocalienne.
De la crypte papale de
Callixte, le corps de saint Étienne fut transporté, au IXe siècle, par Paschal
Ier, au titre de sainte Praxède où, maintenant encore, le mentionne la fameuse
épigraphe commémorative de cette translation en masse des martyrs des
catacombes.
La station de ce jour est
déjà attestée par le Sacramentaire Léonien : Natale sancti Stephani in
cymiterio Callisti, via Appia.
Voici l’antienne pour
l’introït : PS. 131, 16. « Je revêtirai de salut ses prêtres, et ses
saints seront ravis de joie ». En effet, tel est le prêtre, tel est le
peuple. Si le prêtre est tiède et insouciant, les fidèles se corrompront dans
le péché ; tandis qu’au contraire, s’il est saint et zélé, un seul prêtre
sanctifiera une population entière.
Toutes les prières sont
du Commun.
La première lecture est
tirée des Actes des Apôtres (XX, 17-21). C’est le discours d’adieu au clergé
d’Éphèse, prononcé à Milet par saint Paul, et où il explique ce que doit être
la vie d’un évêque. Il parle des persécutions suscitées par les Juifs, des
larmes versées, du zèle déployé en public et en particulier pour annoncer à
tous le saint Évangile ; difficultés, prières et larmes qui, pour un
évêque, sont comme les douleurs de son enfantement spirituel, pour engendrer
les âmes à Jésus-Christ.
Selon la liste de
Würzbourg, aujourd’hui — natale sancti Stephani pontificis — la lecture
évangélique, d’accord avec la plus ancienne tradition liturgique de Rome, qui
mettait Étienne au nombre des simples confesseurs, est prise de saint Luc (XIX,
12-26). C’est la parabole du roi qui, avant d’entreprendre une expédition,
confie des mines à ses serviteurs pour qu’ils les fassent fructifier. Dans le
Missel actuel, la lecture est tirée de la messe des Martyrs du Commun.
Apprenons de saint
Étienne l’amour de la tradition ecclésiastique. Quod semper, ab omnibus,
ubique : ce qui, toujours, par tous et partout, a été tenu et observé,
cela vient de la prédication apostolique et représente donc l’enseignement du
Paraclet, lequel, selon la promesse du Christ, guidera dans toute la vérité, in
omnem deducet veritatem, l’Église de Dieu.
Saint Cyprien était zélé,
il était docte, il était favorisé par Dieu de visions et de
communications ; et cependant il y eut un moment où, faute d’attachement à
la tradition catholique, il s’en fallut de peu que toute sa sainteté fît
naufrage, et que lui-même tombât dans le schisme.
[4] CYPRIANI, Epist. 74, I. Cf. Denz. 110 : S’il en est
donc qui viennent à vous de quelque hérésie, qu’on innove pas sinon ce qui a
été transmis, qu’on leur impose la main pour la pénitence puisque les
hérétiques eux-mêmes, lorsqu’un des leurs vient à un autre groupe ne baptisent
pas, mais l’admettent simplement à leur communion.
%2C_%C3%A9glise_Saint-%C3%89tienne_depuis_l'ouest.jpg)
L'église
Saint-Étienne de Fosses (95), vue depuis le sud-ouest. Le bas-côté sud a été
construit dans le style de la première Renaissance.
%2C_%C3%A9glise_Saint-Etienne_depuis_l'est.jpg)
L'église Saint-Étienne de Fosses, dont le chœur et la partie centrale de la nef, de style romane, datent du XIIe siècle. L'on remarquera le rapport inhabituel des proportions entre la tour et la nef, et le transept à toits plats.
Dom
Pius Parsch, Le guide dans l’année liturgique
Saint Etienne. —
Jour de mort : 2 août 257. Tombeau : à Rome, dans la Catacombe de
Saint-Callixte. Son corps fut transporté, au IXe siècle, dans l’Église
Sainte-Praxède. Vie : Saint Étienne 1er (254-257) fut pape au temps des
empereurs Valérien et Galien. Nous savons qu’il interdit aux clercs de porter
les vêtements sacrés hors des églises. Plusieurs nobles familles romaines se
convertirent sous son pontificat. Saint Étienne est surtout connu dans
l’histoire religieuse par la position qu’il prit dans la controverse des
« rebaptisants ». « Si quelqu’un vient à vous de l’hérésie, vous
ne devez rien innover de contraire à la tradition en vigueur ; vous vous
contenterez de lui imposer les mains pour la pénitence » (Cyprien, Ép. 74,
1).
Pendant que la
persécution s’aggravait sans cesse, Étienne convoquait son clergé, exhortait
les fidèles à persévérer dans la foi, célébrait les saints mystères dans les
cryptes des martyrs. Traîné par les païens au temple de Mars pour sacrifier à
cette divinité, il s’y refusa résolument. Un tremblement de terre renversa
alors la statue et ébranla le temple. Ce prodige mit en fuite ses persécuteurs,
et il put revenir parmi les siens, au cimetière de Lucine, où il continua de
leur enseigner les préceptes divins et de les fortifier en les faisant
participer au sacrement du Corps du Christ.
Un jour qu’il célébrait
la messe, les soldats de l’empereur survinrent de nouveau et lui tranchèrent la
tête tandis qu’il se tenait sur son trône. Des clercs transportèrent son corps
dans le cimetière de Callixte, de même que le siège qu’il avait arrosé de son
sang » (Bréviaire).
Pratique : Assistons
par la pensée à un office solennel de la primitive Église, avec, au centre, sur
son trône, le pape à la fois sacrificateur et martyr. Excellent moyen pour bien
comprendre la liturgie.
SOURCE :http://www.introibo.fr/02-08-St-Etienne-I-pape-et-martyr
Relic
containing the head of Pope Stephen I, Speyer
Cathedral, Germany
Reliquiar mit Kopf von Papst Stephan I. im Dom zu Speyer
Relic
containing the head of Pope Stephen I, Speyer
Cathedral, Germany
Reliquiar
mit Kopf von Papst Stephan I. im Dom zu Speyer
Profile
Son of Jovius; little
else known of his early life. Archdeacon under Pope Lucius
I. Elected 23rd pope in 254.
Explicitly proclaimed the primacy of the diocese of
Rome in matters of theology,
and the current understanding of Christ’s statement to Saint Peter: “You
are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My Church.” He condemned the
Carthaginian practice of re-baptizing heretics,
and accepted baptisms performed
by heretics when
the convert had
acted in good faith; he corrected Saint Cyprian’s
thinking on the matter. Ordered that there be special clothing (vestments) for
use in liturgy, that priests not
conduct Mass in
street clothes, and not wear their vestments into the streets. Often listed as
a martyr in
old records, but modern scholarship has found no evidence of it.
Born
Roman
Papal Ascension
2 August 257 of
natural causes
buried in
the papal crypt of
Callistus on the Appian Way
transferred by Pope Saint Paul
I to Saint Stephen’s monastery
Additional
Information
Book
of Saints, by the Monks of
Ramsgate
Lives
and Times of the Popes, by Alexis-François Artaud de Montor
Lives
of the Saints, by Father Alban
Butler
Roman
Martyrology, 1914 edition
Saints
of the Day, by Katherine Rabenstein
books
Emblems of the Saints, by
F C Husenbeth and Augustus Jessopp
Our Sunday Visitor’s Encyclopedia of Saints
other
sites in english
video
sitios
en español
Martirologio Romano, 2001 edición
sites
en français
fonti
in italiano
notitia
in latin
MLA
Citation
“Pope Saint Stephen
I“. CatholicSaints.Info. 2 November 2023. Web. 12 October 2024.
<https://catholicsaints.info/pope-saint-stephen-i/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/pope-saint-stephen-i/
Book of Saints –
Stephen – 2 August
Article
(Saint) Pope, Martyr (August
2) (3rd
century) A Roman, successor of Pope Saint Lucius
(A.D. 253),
who was much occupied during his troubled Pontificate with
the ecclesiastical affairs of Gaul, Spain and Africa.
It was with him that Saint Cyprian,
the great African Father
of the Church and Martyr,
fell into a disagreement with regard to the re-baptising of heretics,
though of course the Papal decision
in the end prevailed. He died A.D. 257.
Tradition alleges that he was beheaded while
seated in his chair before the Altar in
the Catacombs.
MLA
Citation
Monks of Ramsgate.
“Stephen”. Book of Saints, 1921. CatholicSaints.Info.
1 August 2016. Web. 12 October 2024. <https://catholicsaints.info/book-of-saints-stephen-2-august/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/book-of-saints-stephen-2-august/
Calcografia in Giovanni Battista de'Cavalieri (1525–1601), Pontificum Romanorum effigies,
Roma, Basa Domenico\ Zanetti Francesco, 1580. Copper engraving. Municipal
Library of Trento
New
Catholic Dictionary – Pope Saint Stephen I
Article
(Greek: stephanos, a
crown), (254-257), born Rome; died there. His most important work was a defense
of the validity of heretical baptism against the mistaken opinions of Saint Cyprian
and other bishops of Africa. He is said to have ordained that vestments used
for ecclesiastical purposes should not be employed for daily wear. Feast, Roman
Calendar, 2 August.
MLA
Citation
“Pope Saint Stephen
I”. New Catholic Dictionary. CatholicSaints.Info. 9
October 2012.
Web. 12 October 2024.
<http://catholicsaints.info/new-catholic-dictionary-pope-saint-stephen-i/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/new-catholic-dictionary-pope-saint-stephen-i/
Golden Legend
– Saint Stephen the Pope
Article
Here followeth the Life
of Saint Stephen the Pope.
When Saint Stephen the
pope had converted many of the paynims unto the christian faith, both by word
and by example, and had also buried many bodies of the martyrs, in the year of
our Lord two hundred and sixty he was sought by great study of Valerian and of
Galien, then emperors, for because that he and his clerks should do sacrifice
unto their idols or else to be slain by divers torments. And the said emperors
made ordinance that whomsomever brought them, he should have all their
substance, and for that cause ten of his clerks were taken and brought forth,
and anon without audience were beheaded. And the day following Saint Stephen
the pope was taken and brought to the temple of Mars their god, to the end that
he should adore and do honour to the idol, or else he should have sentence to
be beheaded. But when he was entered into the temple he prayed to our Lord Jesu
Christ that he would destroy the temple. And anon a great part of the temple
fell, and all they that were there fled for dread that they had. And then he
went to the cemetery of Saint Luke, and when Valerian heard that he sent to him
more knights than he did tofore. And when they came they found him singing
mass, and anon he finished devoutly that which he had begun. And that done they
beheaded him in his seat.
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/the-golden-legend-the-life-of-saint-stephen-the-pope/
Chiesa di Santo Stefano dei Cavalieri, Pisa, Palazzo della Carovana
.jpg)
Chiesa di Santo Stefano dei Cavalieri, Pisa
Interno
della Chiesa di Santo Stefano dei Cavalieri a Pisa
The
Lives and Times of the Popes – Saint Stephen I – A.D. 253
Article
Saint Stephen I, a Roman,
was archdeacon of the Church of Rome under Saint Cornelius and Saint Lucius,
and succeeded them in the power of the keys. The period of the reign of Saint
Stephen was also that of the remarkable question whether it was necessary to
repeat the baptism given by heretics, in the event of their return to the
faith. The dispute arose between two of the most eminent Christians, one of
whom, Stephen, was the foundation-stone, and the other a principal pillar,
Saint Cyprian, Bishop of Carthage. The traditions of the Church held that
baptism, even when conferred by heretics, preserved its sacramental
characteristics, provided that in conferring it all the evangelical forms had
been preserved; and, consequently, when a heretic passed from the temples of
error to the true sanctuary of truth, the baptismal ceremony needed not to be
renewed. Nevertheless, by degrees, in some of the provinces of Africa and Asia,
the contrary custom had prevailed amongst holy bishops and learned men; and it
received weight and even an extraordinary importance from the example and
authority of Saint Cyprian, who had succeeded in causing it to be recognized in
several councils on both those continents.
Saint Cyprian supported
his opinion by arguments so plausible that Saint Augustine confessed that he
himself would have been misled by them had not the decision of the Church
served him as both argument and rule. Stephen, who, as became a pontiff,
supported the ancient and more sound doctrine, treated the custom as an
innovation, and to all the attacks of Saint Cyprian he opposed the invulnerable
buckler of tradition. He avoided parrying them by other arguments, lest on
questions relating to the faith too much weight should be given to human
reason, always too rash. Stephen was stern, more so than Cyprian had
anticipated. Both were actuated by the same spirit, and strove, though by
different ways, to attain to the same end. Cyprian was in error, yet sincerely
sought the truth; Stephen was sternly strict, because he feared lest in
respecting error he should nurture it.
The bishop said that in
order to be convinced he awaited the sentence of the oecumenical Church. The
pontiff anticipated it, and felt it within himself. Saint Augustine observes
that his controversy displayed the two superior virtues of both disputants,
charity and concord. Stephen, though persistent in his disapprobation of such a
maxim, yet did not condemn its propagator, and sedulously avoided striking one
of the most zealous supporters of the Church. Cyprian, in detaching himself
from the head, had given the whole body a violent shock, yet ceased not to show
himself faithfully united. He peacefully endured reproaches; he preached
gentleness, docility, and integrity; and if he did not abandon the doctrines
which he favored, he bore himself so humbly that it might be supposed that he
had repudiated them. Those two illustrious men, divided upon the question of
the first sacrament of the Church, were gloriously reunited to each other by
the baptism of blood. Saint Vincent de Lerins says of Stephen I: “That great
pope, whose prudence was as great as his sanctity, knew that piety can allow us
to receive no other doctrine than that which is handed down to us from the
faith of our predecessors, and that it is our duty to transmit it to others as
faithfully and as purely as we have received it; that we are not to carry
religion whithersoever we choose, but to follow it whithersoever it leads; that
the property of Christian modesty is consistently to preserve the holy maxims
left to us by our fathers, and not to hand down our own ideas to our
posterity.” What was the result of this dispute? That which is usual in such
matters: the old faith was recognized and upheld, and the innovation was
rejected. The question was not decided until the Council of Nice, where the
view of Stephen triumphed.
Novaes details the names
of the writers on the question as to the sufficient or insufficient baptism of
heretics returning to the true faith. It was Agrippinus, Saint Cyprian’s
predecessor in the bishopric of Carthage, who first started this difficulty.
Many authors, Italian, German, and French, have published important
dissertations on the subject. Novaes declines to decide another question, namely,
whether Stephen confined himself to threats or actually excommunicated Saint
Cyprian.
In reply to Napoleon, on
the subject of the marriage of Jerome Bonaparte, dated 25th June, 1805, Pius
VII used these very words: “The disparity of creed between two baptized persons
is not considered by the Church a fatal impediment to marriage, even though one
of the parties be not in the Catholic communion.”
In two ordinations in the
month of December, Stephen created three or four bishops, six priests, and five
deacons. He governed the Church four years and about six months. The
executioners of the persecutors seized him at the moment when he was
celebrating the Holy Sacrifice in the catacombs, and beheaded him on the very
altar.
Innocent XII, among the
presents that he made to Cosmos III, Grand Duke of Tuscany, who was at Rome
during the Jubilee of 1700, gave him the chair of Saint Stephen I, which the
grand duke sent to the cathedral of Pisa. It was under the invocation of this
pope and saint that the celebrated Tuscan order of knighthood was founded, the
“Order of Saint Stephen, Saint and Martyr.”
The body of this saint
was at first interred in the cemetery of Calixtus, but on the 17th of August,
in the year 762, it was removed to the Church of Saint Stephen and Saint
Sylvester, which Paul I caused to be erected, and which is now called the
Church of Saint Sylvester in Capite, because in it is preserved the head of
Saint John the Baptist.
After the martyrdom of
Saint Stephen, the Holy See remained vacant for twenty-two days.
MLA
Citation
Alexis-François Artaud de
Montor. “Saint Stephen I – A.D. 253”. The
Lives and Times of the Popes, 1911. CatholicSaints.Info.
2 August 2022. Web. 12 October 2024.
<https://catholicsaints.info/the-lives-and-times-of-the-popes-saint-stephen-i-a-d-253/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/the-lives-and-times-of-the-popes-saint-stephen-i-a-d-253/
Rovigo, il Duomo o Basilica Concattedrale di Santo Stefano Papa e Martire.
_03.jpg)
Rovigo,
Duomo di Santo Stefano Papa e Martire, interno.
Pictorial
Lives of the Saints – Saint Stephen, Pope and Martyr
Article
Saint Stephen was by
birth a Roman, and, being promoted to holy orders, was made archdeacon under
the holy Popes Saint Cornelius and Saint Lucius. The latter having suffered
martyrdom, Saint Stephen was chosen to succeed him, and was elected Pope on the
3d of May, 253. The controversy concerning the rebaptization of heretics gave
Saint Stephen much trouble. It is the teaching of the Catholic Church, that
baptism given in the name of the three persons of the Blessed Trinity is valid,
though it be conferred by a heretic. Saint Stephen suffered himself patiently
to be traduced as a favorer of heresy in approving heretical baptism, not
doubting but those great men who by mistaken zeal were led astray would, when
the heat of the dispute had subsided, calmly open their eyes to the truth. Thus
by his zeal he preserved the integrity of faith, and by his toleration and
forbearance saved many souls. The persecutions becoming violent, he assembled
the faithful together in the underground tombs of the martyrs, to celebrate
Mass and to exhort them to remain true to Christ. On the 2nd of August, 257,
while seated in his pontifical chair, he was beheaded by the satellites of the
emperor; and the chair is still shown, stained with his blood.
MLA
Citation
John Dawson Gilmary Shea.
“Saint Stephen, Pope and Martyr”. Pictorial Lives
of the Saints, 1922. CatholicSaints.Info.
13 December 2018. Web. 12 October 2024. <https://catholicsaints.info/pictorial-lives-of-the-saints-saint-stephen-pope-and-martyr/>
SOURCE : https://catholicsaints.info/pictorial-lives-of-the-saints-saint-stephen-pope-and-martyr/
Cromolitografia in L. Tripepi, Ritratti e biografie dei romani pontefici: da S. Pietro a Leone 13, Roma, Vaglimigli Davide, 1879. Municipal Library of Trento
Stephen I, Pope M (RM)
Born in Rome, Italy; died
257; feast in the Eastern Church is either August 2 or September 7. After his
ordination to the priesthood, Saint Stephen, progeny of the gens Julia, was
promoted to archdeacon of the Roman Church. He served under the martyr-popes
Saint Cornelius and Saint Lucius, who nominated Stephen to succeed himself.
Stephen was elected pope on May 3, 254, and consecrated on May 12, 254.
Almost immediately he was
drawn into the Novatian controversy that raged throughout Western Christendom.
Could an individual who committed a serious sin--adultery, apostasy, or
murder--after baptism be forgiven and readmitted to communion? Marcian seems to
have succeeded Saint Regulus as bishop of Arles (France). He embraced
Novatianism and refused absolution to many even on the point of death. Bishop
Faustinus of Lyons and other prelates of Gaul sent complaints against Marcian
to Pope Stephen. In order to enlist Saint Cyprian in their cause, the bishops
also wrote to him.
Cyprian responded by
writing to the holy father: "It is necessary for you to dispatch ample
letters to our fellow-bishops in Gaul, so that they will no longer suffer the
obstinate Marcian to insult our college. Write to that province and to the
people of Arles, that Marcian being excommunicated, a successor may be provided
for his see. Acquaint us, if you please, who is made bishop of Arles in the
place of Marcian, that we may know to whom we are to send letters of communion
and to direct our brethren." Although we the letters of St. Stephen have
not survived, he must have acted because the ancient list of the bishops of Arles
does not include Marcian.
The controversy exhibited
itself in Spain with no less consequence. Bishops Basilides of Merida and
Martialis of Leon and Astorga had purchased libelati, pieces of paper saying
that they had sacrificed to idols, to save their lives during persecution. The
cowardice of Martialis was condemned in a synod and he was deposed. Basilides
was so intimidated that he voluntarily resigned his see. Both were replaced; by
Felix and Sabinus respectively.
Basilides repented of his
actions, went to Rome, and was forgiven by Pope Stephen. He returned to Spain
with letters from the pope and was received as a prelate by some of his brother
bishops. Encouraged by Basilides' example, Martialis claimed the same
privilege. The bishops of Spain asked Saint Cyprian how they should treat the
two former apostates. He responded that those guilty of notorious crimes were
disqualified by canon law from holding office in the Church, and that the
successors to the apostates had been validly ordained, which could not be
rescinded or nullified.
He also noted that the
pope's letters had been obtained by fraud and were consequently null. He wrote,
"Basilides going to Rome, there imposed upon our colleague Stephen, living
at a distance, and ignorant of the truth that was concealed from him. All this
only tends to accumulate the crimes of Basilides, rather than to abolish the
remembrance of them; since to his former account, hereby is added the guilt of
endeavoring to circumvent the pastors of the church." Cyprian does not
blame Stephen, but rather Basilides for fraudulently gaining access to him.
There is no account of the manner in which this affair was settled.
During his three-year
papacy, Stephen was primarily occupied with the question of the validity of
baptisms by heretics. He invoked the apostolic tradition in favor of the Roman
practice and was met with stout opposition from Saint Cyprian. Stephen noted that
baptism in the name of the Three Persons of the Trinity is valid, and was the
practice even in the African church until the time of Bishop Agrippinus of
Carthage at the end of the 2nd century.
Cyprian appealed to a
council at Carthage convened by Agrippinus as the source of the African
tradition. (Saints Augustine of Hippo and Vincent of Lérins testify to this
change by Agrippinus.) In three African councils, Cyprian decreed that baptism
by a heretic was always null on the faulty principle that one cannot receive
the Holy Spirit at the hands of one who does not himself possess Him. By this
logic, no one in mortal sin can validly administer any sacrament. We know that,
as Saint Stephen taught, Christ is the principal minister in the Sacraments,
whose validity and efficacy do not depend upon the grace of the human minister.
He refused to receive a delegation from an African council in 255 that had declared
such baptisms invalid.
Cyprian summarized his
arguments in a letter to Jubaianus in 256. Many other bishops sided with
Cyprian, including those of Cilicia, Cappadocia, Phrygia, Caesarea, and Tarsus.
They assumed that this was a matter of discipline and not of faith, that it
could vary by local tradition.
Once again the Church was
guarded from error by the Holy Spirit, without Whose special protection even
holy and earnest men prone to err. Pope Saint Stephen saw the implications that
would result from Cyprian's belief and declared that no innovation was to be
allowed and threatened Cyprian and his followers with excommunication. Eusebius
mentions that Saint Dionysius of Alexandria intervened to keep this from
happening. Saint Augustine writes that "Stephen thought of excommunicating
them; but being endued with the bowels of holy charity, he judged it better to
abide in union. The peace of Christ overcame in their hearts."
Saint Vincent of Lérins
wrote: "When all cried out against the novelty, and the priests everywhere
opposed it in proportion to everyone's zeal, then Pope Stephen, of blessed
memory, bishop of the apostolic see, stood up, with his other colleagues,
against it, but he in a signal manner above the rest, thinking it fitting, I
believe, that he should go beyond them as much by the ardor of his faith as he
was raised above them by the authority of his see. In his letter to the church
of Africa he thus decrees: 'Let no innovation be introduced, but let that be
observed which is handed down to us by tradition.' The prudent and holy man
understood that the rule of piety admits nothing new, but that all things are
to be delivered down to our posterity with the same fidelity with which they
were received; and that it is our duty to follow religion, and not make
religion follow us; for the proper characteristic of a modest and sober
Christian is, not to impose his own conceits upon posterity, but to make his
own imaginations bend to the wisdom of those that went before him. What then
was the issue of this grand affair, but that which is usual?--antiquity kept
possession, and novelty was exploded."
Tradition, as recorded by
Saint Gregory the Great in his Sacramentary, says that Stephen was beheaded
while seated in his presidential chair during the celebration of Mass in the
catacombs (which is very similar to the story of the martyrdom of his successor,
Saint Sixtus II). The earliest liturgical documents, however, present him as a
bishop and confessor, not martyr. He was buried in the cemetery of Saint
Callixtus. His relics were translated to Pica in 1682, where they are venerated
in the church named after him. His head is enshrined in Cologne, Germany
(Benedictines, Delaney, Encyclopedia, Farmer, Husenbeth).
In art, Pope Saint
Stephen is depicted beheaded in his chair at Mass. He might also be shown
stabbed at the altar or with a sword in his breast (Roeder).
SOURCE : http://www.saintpatrickdc.org/ss/0802.shtml
Madonna con Bambino, s. Papa Stefano I, s. Girolamo e s. Carlo Borromeo - Cattedrale di Lesina, Croazia
Pope St. Stephen I
Although there is
some doubt as
to the dates connected with the pontificate of Stephen, it is
generally believed that he was consecrated 12
May, 254, and that he died 2 August, 257. According to the most ancient
catalogues, he was a Roman by birth, and the son of Jovius, and
there is no reason to doubt the
assertion of the "Liber
Pontificalis" that Lucius
I, when about to be martyred,
made over the care of the Church to
his archdeacon Stephen (254).
Most of what we know regarding
Pope Stephen is connected directly or indirectly with the severe teachings of
the heretic Novatus.
Concerning his most important work, his defence of the validity of heretical baptism against
the mistaken opinion of St.
Cyprian and other bishops of Africa and Asia,
there is no need to speak now, as the history of this important
controversy will be found under BAPTISM and SAINT
CYPRIAN OF CARTHAGE. Suffice it here to call attention
to certain newly discovered letters on the subject by St.
Dionysius of Alexandria ("Eng. Hist. Rev.", Jan., 1910, 111
sq.), and to note, with the late Archbishop Benson of Canterbury,
that Stephen "triumphed, and in him the Church of Rome triumphed,
as she deserved" [E.W. Benson, "Cyprian, His Life, His Times,
His Works", VIII (London), 1897, 3]. In the early part of his
pontificate Stephen was frequently urged by Faustinus, Bishop of Lyons,
to take action against Marcian, Bishop of Arles,
who, attaching himself to doctrines of Novatus,
denied communion to the penitent lapsi.
For some reason unknown to us Stephen did not move.
The bishops of Gaul accordingly
turned to Cyprian,
and begged him to write to the pope.
This the saint did
in a letter which is our sole source of information regarding this affair (Epp.
lxix, lxviii). The Bishop
of Carthage entreats Stephen to imitate his martyred predecessors,
and to instruct the bishops of Gaul to
condemn Marcian, and to elect another bishop in
his stead. As no more is said by St.
Cyprian on this affair, it is supposed that the pope acted in
accordance with his wishes, and that Marcian was deposed. The
case of the Spanish bishops Martial and Basilides also
brought Stephen in connection with St.
Cyprian. As libellatici they had been condemned by the bishops of
their province for denying the Faith. At first they acknowledged
their guilt, but afterwards appealed to Rome,
and, deceived by their story, Stephen exerted himself to secure their
restoration. Accordingly some of their fellow bishops took
their part, but the others laid the case before St.
Cyprian. An assembly of African bishops which
he convoked renewed the condemnation of Basilides and Martial,
and exhorted the people to enter into communion with
their successors. At the same time they were at pains to point out
that Stephen had acted as he had done because
"situated at a distance, and ignorant of
the true facts
of the case" he had been deceived by Basilides.
Anxious to preserve the tradition of his predecessors in matters of
practical charity, as well as of faith, Stephen,
we are told, relieved in their necessities "all the provinces of Syria and Arabia".
In his days the vestments worn by the clergy at Mass and
other church services did not differ in shape or material from those
ordinarily worn by the laity. Stephen,
however, is said by the "Liber
Pontificalis" to have ordained that the vestments which
had been used for ecclesiastical purposes
were not to be employed for daily wear. The same authority adds that he
finished his pontificate by martyrdom,
but the evidence for this is generally regarded as doubtful.
He was buried in
the cemetery of St. Calixtus, whence his body was
transferred by Paul
I to a monastery which
he had founded in his honour.
Sources
DUCHESNE, Liber
Pontificalis, I (Paris, 1886), xcvii, 153-4; EUSEBIUS, Church
History VII.2-5; the letters of ST. CYPRIAN, lxvii sq., in any ed. of
his Works, or ap. COUSTANT, Epp.; Rom. Pont., I (Paris,
1721), 211 sq.; JAFFÉ, Regesta, I (Leipzig, 1888), 20-1;
HEFELE, Conciles; I (Paris, 1869), 97 sq.
Mann,
Horace. "Pope St. Stephen I." The Catholic
Encyclopedia. Vol. 14. New York: Robert Appleton
Company, 1912. 2 Aug. 2016 <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14288a.htm>.
Transcription. This
article was transcribed for New Advent by Kenneth M. Caldwell. Dedicated
to the memory of Jun Ho Park.
Ecclesiastical
approbation. Nihil Obstat. July 1, 1912. Remy Lafort, S.T.D.,
Censor. Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York.
Copyright © 2023 by Kevin Knight.
Dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.
SOURCE : http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14288a.htm
This illustration is from The Lives and Times of the Popes by Chevalier Artaud de Montor (1772–1849), New York: The Catholic Publication Society of America, 1911. It was originally published in 1842.
St. Stephen, Pope and
Martyr
See the Pontificals, and
the works of St. Cyprian, &c.; also Tillemont, t. 11; Orsi, t. 3, b. 7
A.D. 257
ST. STEPHEN was by birth
a Roman, and being promoted to holy orders, was made archdeacon of that church
under the holy popes and martyrs St. Cornelius and St. Lucius. The latter going
to martyrdom recommended him to his clergy for his successor. He was
accordingly chosen pope on the 3d of May, 253, and sat four years, two months,
and twenty-one days. Soon after his election, he was called to put a stop to
the havoc which certain wolves, under the name and habit of pastors, threatened
to make in the churches of Gaul and Spain. Marcian, bishop of Arles (in which
see he seems to have succeeded St. Regulus, immediate successor of St.
Trophimus), embraced the error of Novatian, and, upon the inhuman maxim of that
murderer of souls, refused the communion, that is, absolution, to many
penitents even in the article of death. Faustinus, bishop of Lyons, and other
Gaulish prelates, sent informations and complaints against him to St. Stephen
and St. Cyprian: to the first, on account of the superior authority and
jurisdiction of his see; to the other, on account of the great reputation of
his sanctity, eloquence, and remarkable zeal against the Novatians. St. Cyprian
having no jurisdiction over Arles, could do no more than join the Gaulish
Catholics in stirring up the zeal of St. Stephen to exert his authority, and
not suffer an obstinate heretic to disturb the peace of those churches to the
destruction of souls. This he did by a letter to St. Stephen, in which he says, 1 “It
is necessary that you despatch away ample letters to our fellow-bishops in
Gaul, that they no longer suffer the obstinate Marcian to insult our college.
Write to that province, and to the people of Arles, that Marcian being
excommunicated, a successor may be provided for his see. Acquaint us, if you
please, who is made bishop of Arles in the room of Marcian, that we may know to
whom we are to send letters of communion, and to direct our brethren.” Though
the letters of St. Stephen on this head have not reached us, we cannot doubt
but by his order every thing here mentioned was carried into execution; for, in
the ancient list of the bishops of Arles published by Mabillon, the name of
Marcian does not occur.
An affair of no less
consequence happened in Spain. Basilides, bishop of Merida, and Martialis,
bishop of Leon and Astorga, had fallen into the crime of the Libellatici, that
is, to save their lives in the persecution had purchased for money libels of
safety from the persecutors as if they had sacrificed to idols. For this and
other notorious crimes Martialis was deposed in a synod, and Basilides was so
intimidated that he voluntarily resigned his see. Sabinus was placed in that of
Basilides, and Felix in that of Martialis. Basilides soon after repented of
what he had done, went to Rome, and imposing upon St. Stephen, was admitted by
him to communion as a colleague in the episcopal Order; which was the more easy
as no sentence of deposition had passed in his case. Returning into Spain with
letters of the pope in his favour, he was received in the same rank by some of
the bishops; and Martialis, encouraged by his example, presumed to claim the
same privilege. The Spanish bishops consulted St. Cyprian what they ought to do
with regard to the two delinquents, and that learned prelate answered: that
persons notoriously guilty of such crimes were, by the canons, utterly
disqualified for presiding in the Church of Christ, and offering sacrifices to God;
that the election and ordination of their two successors having been regular
and valid, they could not be rescinded or made null; and lastly, that the
pope’s letters were obreptitious, and obtained by fraud and a suppression of
the truth, consequently were null. “Basilides,” says he, “going to Rome, there
imposed upon our colleague Stephen, living at a distance, and ignorant of the
truth that was concealed from him. All this only tends to accumulate the crimes
of Basilides, rather than to abolish the remembrance of them; since, to his
former account, hereby is added the guilt of endeavouring to circumvent the
pastors of the Church. 2 He
lays the blame not on him who had been imposed upon, but Basilides, who
fraudulently gained “access to him.” We know no more of this affair; but cannot
doubt that the pope (whose jurisdiction none of the parties disclaimed) was
better informed, and the proceedings of the Spanish bishops confirmed.
The controversy
concerning the rebaptization of heretics gave St. Stephen much more trouble. It
was the constant doctrine of the Catholic Church, that baptism given in the
evangelical words, that is, in the name of the three persons of the Holy
Trinity, is valid, though it be conferred by a heretic. This was the practice
even of the African Church till Agrippinus, bishop of Carthage, in the close of
the second century, changed it, fifty years before St. Cyprian, as St. Austin
and Vincent of Lerins testify; and St. Cyprian himself only appeals to a
council held by Agrippinus for the origin of his pretended tradition. 3 St.
Cyprian, in three African councils, decreed, according to this principle, that
baptism given by a heretic is always null and invalid; which decision he founds
in this false principle, that no one can receive the Holy Ghost by the hands of
one who does not himself possess him in his soul. Which false reasoning would
equally prove that no one in mortal sin can validly administer any sacrament;
but Christ is the principal, though invisible minister in the administration of
the sacraments; and though both faith and the state of grace be required in him
who confers any sacrament, not to incur the guilt of sacrilege; yet neither is
required for the validity. St. Cyprian sums up all the arguments which he
thought might serve his purpose in his letter to Jubaianus, written in 256.
Many bishops of Cilicia, Cappadocia, and Phrygia, having at their head Firmilian,
the learned bishop of Cæsarea, and Helenus of Tarsus, fell in with the
Africans, and maintained the same error. All the partisans of this practice
falsely imagined it to be a point, not of faith, which is every where
invariable, but of mere discipline, in which every church might be allowed to
follow its own rule or law. 4 St.
Cyprian and Firmilian carried on the dispute with too great warmth, the latter
especially, who spoke of St. Stephen in an unbecoming manner. If such great and
holy men could be betrayed into anger, and biassed by prepossession, how much
ought we sinners to watch over our hearts against passion, and mistrust our own
judgment! The respect which is due to their name and virtue obliges us to draw
a veil over this fault, as St. Austin often puts us in mind, who, speaking of
Firmilian, says: “I will not touch upon what he let fall in his anger against
Stephen.” 5 The
pope, who saw the danger which threatened the Church under the colour of zeal
for its purity and unity, and an aversion from heresy, opposed himself as a
rampart for the house of God, declaring that no innovation is to be allowed,
but that the tradition of the Church, derived from the apostles, is to be
inviolably maintained. He even threatened to cut off the patrons of the novelty
from the communion of the Church. But St. Dionysius of Alexandria interceded by
letters, and procured a respite, as Eusebius mentions. 6
St. Stephen suffered
himself patiently to be traduced as a favourer of heresy in approving heretical
baptism, being insensible to all personal injuries, not doubting but those
great men, who, by a mistaken zeal, were led astray, would, when the heat of
disputing should have subsided, calmly open their eyes to the truth. Thus by
his zeal he preserved the integrity of faith, and by his toleration and
forbearance saved many souls from the danger of shipwreck. “Stephen,” says St.
Austin, 7 “thought
of excommunicating them; but being endued with the bowels of holy charity, he
judged it better to abide in union. The peace of Christ overcame in their
hearts.” 8 Of
this contest, the judicious Vincent of Lerins 9 gives
the following account: “When all cried out against the novelty, and the priests
every where opposed it in proportion to every one’s zeal, then Pope Stephen, of
blessed memory, bishop of the apostolic see, stood up, with his other
colleagues against it, but he in a signal manner above the rest, thinking it
fitting, I believe, that he should go beyond them as much by the ardour of his
faith as he was raised above them by the authority of his see. In his letter to
the church of Africa he thus decrees: ‘Let no innovation be introduced; but let
that be observed which is handed down to us by tradition.’ The prudent and holy
man understood that the rule of piety admits nothing new, but that all things
are to be delivered down to our posterity with the same fidelity with which
they were received; and that it is our duty to follow religion, and not make
religion follow us; for the proper characteristic of a modest and sober
Christian is, not to impose his own conceits upon posterity, but to make his
own imaginations bend to the wisdom of those that went before him. What then
was the issue of this grand affair, but that which is usual?—antiquity kept
possession, and novelty was exploded.”
St. Stephen died on the
2nd of August, 257, and was buried in the cemetery of Calixtus. He is styled a
martyr in the Sacramentary of St. Gregory the Great, and in the ancient
Martyrologies which bear the name of St. Jerom. The persecution of Valerian was
raised in the year 257, and in it St. Stephen could not fail to be sought out
as the principal victim. The acts of his martyrdom deserve some regard, as
Tillemont observes. They are esteemed genuine by Baronius and Berti. 10 This
latter shows the exceptions made to their authority by Basnage, to be
altogether founded in mistakes. These acts relate that the saint was beheaded
by the pursuivants whilst he was sitting in his pontifical chair, which was
buried with his body, and is still shown as stained with his blood. The relics
were translated to Pisa in 1682, and are there venerated in the great church
which bears his name. But his head is kept with great respect at Cologn.
Not only bishops, but all
superiors, are Christ’s vicegerents, and are bound to be mindful of their
charge, for which they will be demanded a rigorous account. How many such live
as if they had only their own souls to take care of; yet think themselves good
Christians? Few have the light, the courage, the charity, and the zeal
necessary for such a charge; and many through sloth, self-love, or a passion
for pleasure, company, vanity, and the world, neglect various obligations of
their state. It will be a false plea for such to allege at the last day, that
they have kept well their own vineyard, whilst they have suffered others under
their care to be overgrown with briars and weeds.
Note 1. S. Cypr. ep.
67. Pam. 68. Fello. See Ganpred’s Histoire de Provence. Gallia Christ. Nov.
t. 1, p. 552. Hist. Littér. de la Fr. t. 1, p. 306. Longueval Hist. de l’Egl.
Gallicane. Dupin de Antiqu. Eccl. Discipl. [back]
Note 2. S. Cyr. ep.
68, Pam. 67. Fello. See Cenni, Antiqu. Eccl. Hisp. and Dupin, de
Antiq. Eccl. Discipl. [back]
Note 3. S. Cyper.
ep. 73, ad Jubaian. n. 3. [back]
Note 4. Some moderns
have made the numbers of those who were engaged in this error with St. Cyprian
much greater than the truth. It is false that the Asiatics generally favoured
it, which can only be true of some bishops of Cappadocia, and certain
neighbouring countries. Those are grossly mistaken who reckoned Dionysius of
Alexandria, with the Egyptian bishops, among the abettors of this error. Had he
been on St. Cyprian’s side, he could never have been a mediator between the two
parties. St. Austin knew their number when he said: “Are we to believe fifty
Orientals, and seventy or a few mere Africans, against so many thousands?” See
Petitdidier in his Remarks upon Du Pin’s Bibliothèque; Tillem. in S.
Cypr. § 44. [back]
Note 5. “Quæ in
Stephanum irritatus effudit, retractare nolo. S. Aug. l. 5, de Bapt. c. 25, p.
158. It is necessary here to make two remarks, First, that none of those who
maintained what they called a point of discipline against St. Stephen, ever
called in question the supremacy of the apostolic see of Rome, which St.
Cyprian strongly asserts in many places of his works; and Firmilian, who in the
heat of the contest was inclined to blame St. Stephen’s words, calls it
boasting that he should maintain the pre-eminence of his see, yet does not deny
it, which in the temper in which he wrote he would most certainly have done, if
he could have found the least colour for it. “Stephen boasts,” says he, “of the
rank and eminence of his see, and alleges his succession to the chair of Peter,
upon whom the foundations of the church were laid.” (Firmil. ep. ad Cypr. inter
Cyprianicos, 75.) A second remark is, that the pope never proceeded to
pronounce any excommunication or other sentence against these bishops, or they
would never have stood out against a censure in which the whole church
acquiesced. Nay, St. Austin was willing to persuade himself that they
afterwards laid aside their prejudices, and embraced the truth. He often
repeats that their eminent labours and charity atoned for this fault. Writing
of St. Cyprian, he says: “His charity covered that spot in the whiteness of his
holy soul.” (l. 1, de bapt. c. 19). And again: “That fault was compensated by
the abundance of his charity, and was purged by the axe of his
passion.” Ib. c. 18. [back]
Note 6. Hist. l. 7,
c. 5. [back]
Note 7. L. 5, de
Bapt. c. 21. [back]
Note 8. Nothing can
be more unjust than with some Protestants to tax this good pope with pride,
haughtiness, and obstinacy on this occasion, in which his meekness, charity,
and zeal excited the admiration of the most illustrious fathers of the church.
It is a no less notorious
slander of Blondel, Launoy, Du Pin, and Basnage, that St. Stephen fell into the
opposite error to that which he condemned, and maintained that any baptism
conferred by heretics is valid, even though administered by those who corrupted
the form, and entirely omitted the invocation of the three persons of the Holy
Trinity. But Eusebius, l. 7, c. 3; St. Austin in many places, as l. 5, de bapt.
c. 23, l. 3, contr.; Crescon. c. 3, &c.; St. Jerom, Dial, contr. Lucif.;
Vincent of Lerins, c. 9; Facundus Hermian. l. 10, c. 3, &c., unanimously
aver, that St. Stephen maintained the apostolical tradition, and the doctrine
of the church, which was afterwards solemnly defined and canonized by the great
councils of Arles and Nice. It is objected, first, that the bishop Jubaianus,
an advocate with St. Cyprian for the rebaptization of heretics, found a letter,
in which the baptism of the Marcionites was allowed valid, which the council of
Constantinople rejected, because in it the essential form was corrupted. But
those heretics might have used at first a valid form, as they often changed
both their discipline and their doctrine. Neither does it appear probable that
this letter could have been anonymous, had it been written by St. Stephen.
It is urged, secondly, by
Du Pin, &c., that St. Cyprian, ep. 73 and 74, understood St. Stephen’s
decree of the baptism of all manner of heretics, “from whatever heresy they
came.” But no man’s opinion can be learned from an adversary, who often imputes
to him consequences which he condemns. St. Stephen’s decree contained only this
short determination: “Let nothing be changed, but let the ancient tradition be
maintained,” as Vincent of Lerins gives it. Nor can he be understood of those
heresies which do not observe the essential form; for Firmilian himself
sufficiently clears this difficulty by saying that Stephen admitted the baptism
of heretics “in which the Trinity of names of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost
was invoked,” ep. 75, n. 7. He subjoins the following example:—He says that
twenty years before this, a certain woman started up in Africa, who, in fits of
enthusiasm, pretended to the gift of prophecy, and was so far under the power
of the devil that she deceived the brethren for a great while, performed many
strange and wonderful feats, and at last undertook to bring on an earthquake;
for the devil being a subtle and cunning spirit, says Firmilian, he may
sometimes foresee that there will be an earthquake, and then pretend that he
will bring it about. He also made this woman go barefoot over frozen snow, in a
very cold winter, without receiving any harm. But one of our exorcists, says
this author, a man of an approved character, by the importunity of several of
the brethren, inspired with the grace of God, withstood the wicked spirit, and
proved him to be what he was. This woman had presumed to celebrate the
eucharist, and thus to offer sacrifice to the Lord in the usual mysterious
rite; she likewise baptized several persons, using the known and proper interrogatories.
“Will Stephen approve this baptism,” says Firmilian, “because there was no
defect as to the article of the Trinity? Symbolum Trinitatis. Can the
patrons of heretical baptisms proceed so far as to affirm, that the devil
himself may confer the grace of baptism in the name of the Father, and of the
Son, and of the Holy Ghost?” To this, St. Stephen would have answered, that the
woman could not validly confer baptism, if by the influence of the devil or
otherwise she was out of her senses; much less could the devil be the minister
of a sacrament. This passage in an adversary is a convincing proof that St.
Stephen spoke of baptism in which every thing which is required in point of
form is observed; and in particular as to the invocation of the Trinity. [back]
Note 9. Common. c.
9. See Ant. Sandini’s Diss. 7, ad Histor. Pontif. Rom. p. 61; Alex. Herdt’s
Discordia concors inter Steph. et Cypr. [back]
Note 10. Laur.
Berti, Diss. Hist. t. 2, p. 170. [back]
Rev. Alban Butler (1711–73). Volume
VIII: August. The Lives of the Saints. 1866.
SOURCE : http://www.bartleby.com/210/8/021.html
Saint
Stephen church, Dolnja Košana, Slovenia.
Župnijska
cerkev sv. Štefana, Dolnja
Košana, Slovenija.
Pope St. Stephen I—He
defined the Sacrament of Baptism and it Stands to this Day
Photo By: Skeptism.org/Pope StephenI
If we could travel back
in time to the middle of the third century we would quickly discover the
Catholic Church, although fraught with differences from today, had many similarities
to our modern day, 21st-century church. There was plenty of hierarchical
infighting going on and the politics of leading the Church was in flux.
In the year 250 AD, the
Roman Emperor, Decius, unhappy as to how Christianity was spreading, embarked
on a persecution of the Christians that, up until that time, was the most
brutal they had ever faced. Among the first to die was Pope Fabian, the 16th Pope,
who had held the Papacy for fourteen years.
When Fabian died, he was
followed by Pope Cornelius who died within a year. He was followed by
Pope Lucius I who also died within a year. Both of these men died of natural
causes. The Church was then without a pope and was run collegiately under the
direction of a priest named Novatian.
Emperor Decius demanded
that all Christians offer sacrifice to the Roman gods to show their loyalty to
Rome. Any who refused were executed. Others fled into the countryside or tried
to bribe officials. The last recourse was to reject the Faith. Many took this
route. It was an easier path than giving up one’s life.
After Fabian’s murder and
during this time a huge pastoral problem arose. Emperor Decius’ persecution had
seen many Christians purchase certificates attesting to the fact that they had
made the required sacrifices to the Roman Gods. Other had denied that they were
Christians while others took part in pagan sacrifices.
These people were
called “lapsi.” The question within the still fledgling Church was
whether or not, if they repented for their sins, could they be readmitted to
full communion with the Church. If they could, what would be the conditions?
Novatian was preaching the false doctrine that those people who were “lapsi”
could not be forgiven while the Catholic position was to grant full communion
to those who fully repented.
Novatian and his
followers would only grant fellowship to the sinners, not full communion.
Novatian went even further and said that those who had denied the faith and
idol worshipped could not be forgiven as the Church did not have the power to
do so. He said that being baptized does not administer forgiveness for certain,
heinous sins.
Pope Lucius had appointed
his archdeacon, Stephen, as his successor (this was way before the College of
Cardinals) and Pope Stephen was faced with the task of reuniting the Church
from the schism started by Novatian. He began his papacy in the year 254.
Stephen’s most important
battle was his defense of the Sacrament of Baptism. The Novatianist priests
were re-baptizing those who sought forgiveness. Stephen insisted that
re-baptizing previously baptized persons was unnecessary. He argued that only
absolution was required to regain full communion with the Church. Cyprian of
Carthage and other African and Asian bishops called what the Novationists were
doing as heretical.
Stephen, besides having
the support of Cyprian and other bishops, was pressured from others within the
Church to be flexible and allow re-baptism for the Novationist priests. Stephen
would not waver and stayed true to his conviction. Even Cyprian changed his
mind and disagreed loudly claiming that baptism administered by heretics was
invalid. All those people who had received this sacrament would need to be
re-baptized.
But Stephen was the
Bishop of Rome. The unwavering defense of his position on Baptism more than
likely established Rome as the seat of the Church. He claimed that he was
occupying the seat of Peter as handed down by Christ. He is recognized as the
first pope to formally announce the primacy of Rome. He also put in place that
Baptism if administered by anyone with the right intent is valid. That practice
stands today, 1800 years later.
Stephen died in 257 and
his Feast Day is August 2. He is honored as a saint in the Catholic Church and
the Eastern orthodox Church.
Pope St. Stephen, pray
for us.
copyright
LarryPeterson 2018
Matevž
Langus (1792–1855), Papež sv. Štefan, 1837, 249 x 125, St.
Stephen's Parish Church, Ribnica
Santo Stefano I Papa
Romano, papa dal 12 marzo
254 al 2 agosto 257, fu sepolto nel Cimitero di Callisto sulla via Appia e da
Paolo I trasferito, il 17 agosto 761, a S. Silvestro in Capite.
Fu molto caritatevole
verso i Libellatici (cristiani che nel tempo delle persecuzioni avevano
ottenuto da un magistrato un libello attestante di aver sacrificato agli idoli,
per quanto ciò non fosse avvenuto).
Si oppose fermamente al
ribattesimo dei convertiti dall’eresia; stabilì che i paramenti sacri si indossero
unicamente in chiesa.
La “Passio” che lo
riguarda e lo vuole martire, quasi sicuramente, dà com sue le gesta del
successore S. Sisto II.
Martirologio Romano: A
Roma nel cimitero di Callisto, santo Stefano I, papa, il quale, per affermare
con chiarezza il principio che l’unione battesimale dei cristiani con Cristo si
compie una sola volta, proibì che quanti intendevano volgersi alla piena
comunione con la Chiesa fossero nuovamente battezzati.
E' romano di origine e
suo padre si chiamava Giulio. Altro non sappiamo della sua famiglia. Viene
eletto al pontificato come successore di Lucio I al tempo di Valeriano (253-260
ca.), che per qualche tempo lascia in pace i cristiani, già agitati per conto
loro.
C’è il problema di come
trattare i lapsi (“caduti”), ossia quei cristiani che in tempo di persecuzione
hanno ceduto per paura e che poi, pentiti, chiedono di essere riaccolti: un
aspro terreno di scontro tra rigoristi e indulgenti. Ci sono stati poi in Spagna
due vescovi, Basilide e Marziale, che hanno rinnegato Cristo durante una
persecuzione: ora, i fedeli sono sì disposti ad accettarli, ma solo come
semplici fedeli. E costoro invece rivogliono pure i vescovadi, arrivando a
ingannare papa Stefano, che dà loro ragione, facendo infuriare i fedeli di
Spagna e anche quelli del Nordafrica, col grande Cipriano vescovo di
Cartagine.
Altro motivo di
discordia: il cosiddetto “battesimo degli eretici”. Si tratta di quei seguaci
delle molte sètte di allora, che poi chiedevano di entrare (o di ritornare)
nella Chiesa. A Roma e in altre parti del mondo cristiano del tempo, questi
pentiti vengono riaccolti senza esigere un secondo battesimo.
In Africa, invece, lo si
richiede, non considerano valido il “battesimo eretico”(ed è anche vero che in
certe comunità staccate dalla Chiesa non tutti battezzano rigorosamente
"nel nome del Padre, del Figlio e dello Spirito Santo": c’è chi
infila nella formula anche altri nomi). Un’altra spina nel breve e afflitto
pontificato di Stefano.
La Chiesa, all’epoca, non
ha una sua compiuta teologia dei sacramenti; e non è ancora comparso
sant’Agostino a chiarire per tutti che la grazia sacramentale proviene
unicamente da Cristo. Cipriano motiva il suo rifiuto, e Stefano ribadisce la
posizione di Roma, ma giustificandola solo con la sua consuetudine. Il
conflitto si fa duro, ma nel 257 sull’intera Chiesa piomba la persecuzione di
Valeriano, che torna al regime duro per tenere insieme l’Impero nella guerra
contro la Persia.
In questo stesso anno
muore papa Stefano; ma non ci sono prove del suo martirio, al di là delle
annotazioni del Sacramentario Gregoriano e del Martirologio Geronimiano. Il suo
corpo viene sepolto nel cimitero a San Callisto, e poi sarà trasferito a Santa
Prassede. L’anno successivo, la persecuzione raggiunge l’Africa, dove muore per
la fede Cipriano, decapitato nella sua Cartagine.
Autore: Domenico Agasso
SOURCE : http://www.santiebeati.it/dettaglio/89023
STEFANO I, santo
di Manlio Simonetti
Enciclopedia dei Papi (2000)
Il Liber pontificalis, nr. 24, lo dice romano di nascita, "ex patre Iobio". Fu eletto vescovo di Roma il 12 marzo 254, pochi giorni dopo la morte del predecessore Lucio. Il suo breve pontificato rivestì particolare importanza, perché, allo stato delle attuali conoscenze, egli è stato il primo vescovo di Roma che abbia cercato di dare al primato di onore, che dagl'inizi del II secolo veniva riconosciuto alla Sede romana dalle altre Chiese cristiane, un contenuto più concreto e significativo, considerandosi in diritto di interferire e legiferare in merito a questioni interne di altre Chiese. Questo suo tentativo si colloca in un contesto ecclesiale caratterizzato, quanto ai rapporti tra le varie sedi episcopali, da fluidità e incertezza per mancanza di qualsiasi norma in proposito. Infatti, alla metà del III secolo, dal punto di vista organizzativo la cristianità si presentava come un complesso di Chiese, cioè di singole comunità soprattutto cittadine, strutturate al proprio interno gerarchicamente, con a capo della gerarchia (presbiteri e diaconi) il vescovo ormai investito di potere monarchico, le quali, pur coscienti di costituire tutte insieme la Chiesa cattolica, corpo visibile di Cristo, si consideravano, e di fatto erano, autonome ognuna rispetto alle altre. Era naturale che le Chiese costituite in città importanti godessero di particolare prestigio nell'ambito della regione, Alessandria in Egitto, Cartagine in Africa, Antiochia in Siria, Efeso in Asia e così via, e in questo senso il prestigio di Roma non era limitato alla sola Italia ma era riconosciuto nell'ambito di tutta la cristianità: si trattava per altro di un prestigio che non dava autorità ai vescovi di quelle città di interferire nelle questioni interne delle altre Chiese delle loro regioni. In qualche regione, per esempio in Africa, c'era ormai l'usanza di demandare a concili provinciali la risoluzione di questioni relative ai rapporti tra singole comunità della regione, o anche interne alle singole comunità nel caso che venisse impugnata una qualche deliberazione del vescovo locale: si trattava per altro di una istituzione recente, che non solo non era ancora diffusa dovunque ma non era neppure bene organizzata, perché fondata, in assenza di una legislazione pertinente, soltanto sulla consuetudine. In tale contesto organizzativo, dai contorni ancora fluidi e incerti e dove perciò si poteva dare il caso che si avvertisse l'esigenza anche di una sede d'appello più che regionale in occasione di contestazioni locali di particolare rilievo, S. era convinto di avere il diritto, in quanto vescovo della sede considerata la prima in tutta la cristianità, di interferire direttamente in questioni riguardanti altre Chiese. I motivi non mancavano, perché tra sede e sede sussistevano divergenze, talvolta anche notevoli, in materia disciplinare e liturgica, a volte anche dottrinale, e soprattutto perché sia la recente persecuzione di Decio, con lo strascico di fedeli in varia guisa compromessi (lapsi) che chiedevano di essere riammessi nella comunità, sia lo scisma di Novaziano, che in merito alla possibilità e alla regolamentazione di tale riammissione aveva acuito il contrasto tra rigoristi e lassisti, avevano provocato un diffuso stato di conflittualità che non sempre si riusciva a risolvere in sede locale. In una situazione generale così caratterizzata S. fu protagonista di tre distinti episodi, che si conoscono quasi soltanto grazie all'epistolario di Cipriano, vescovo di Cartagine, la personalità di gran lunga più rappresentativa dell'episcopato occidentale alla metà del III secolo. Durante la persecuzione di Decio (250) Basilide e Marziale, vescovi delle comunità spagnole di Legio (León) e Asturica (Astorga), avevano apostatato: di conseguenza, il primo si era volontariamente dimesso, l'altro era stato deposto e al loro posto erano stati eletti Sabino e Felice. Per altro Basilide e Marziale, una volta riammessi nella comunità, non avevano accettato la sostituzione, avevano fatto ricorso a papa S. e questi li aveva riabilitati, ingiungendo alle due comunità di ripristinarli nella primitiva dignità. Ma i fedeli delle due comunità non avevano accettato la decisione romana e i due vescovi che avevano sostituito Basilide e Marziale si erano recati a Cartagine da Cipriano, latori di una lettera in cui erano esposti tutti questi fatti e di un'altra, di Felice vescovo di Caesaraugusta (Saragozza), che li confermava. Cipriano aveva riunito a Cartagine intorno al 254 un concilio cui aveva partecipato una quarantina di vescovi africani e la cui lettera sinodale, di pugno dello stesso Cipriano (ep. 67), è l'unica fonte che ragguagli su tutta la questione. Il concilio africano prese nettamente posizione a favore delle due comunità spagnole e contro il deliberato di S., di cui viene detto che, non al corrente della realtà dei fatti, era stato ingannato da Basilide che si era recato appositamente a Roma per recapitargli la protesta sua e di Marziale. L'osservazione di Cipriano è a doppio taglio: se, infatti, da una parte vuole in qualche modo giustificare, nel momento stesso in cui lo respinge, l'operato di S., dall'altra implicitamente gli fa carico di aver deliberato in favore di una delle due parti in causa dopo averne ascoltato soltanto una e perciò senza accurata e precisa conoscenza dei fatti. Per giustificare a sua volta la prassi del concilio africano, Cipriano espone le prevaricazioni dei vescovi deposti, insiste con larga esemplificazione scritturistica sulle doti di integrità e purezza che dovevano caratterizzare la dignità del vescovo, sanziona la perfetta regolarità dell'elezione di Sabino e Felice. Non consta che S., nonostante il rifiuto opposto alla sua deliberazione, sia ulteriormente intervenuto nell'affare. Esso è indicativo, in materia di rapporti tra sede e sede, dello stato di fluidità e incertezza cui sopra si è accennato. I fedeli di Legio e Asturica non avevano alcuna intenzione di ottemperare alla delibera di S., ma non si erano sentiti autorizzati ad agire in proprio, riconoscendo in certo modo la liceità del ricorso in appello dei due vescovi deposti a una sede esterna. Ma è su questo punto che c'era incertezza, sì che contro la decisione della Sede romana essi pensarono di ricorrere alla sede di Cartagine. Perché? Le Chiese di Spagna fino al V secolo e oltre si sentirono molto legate alle Chiese d'Africa, da cui probabilmente il messaggio cristiano era passato a loro, e Cartagine alla metà del III secolo era, in Occidente, dopo Roma la Chiesa più di prestigio. Ma non si può non tener conto anche del fatto che allora vi era vescovo Cipriano, personaggio ormai consacrato dalla fama in tutto l'Occidente cristiano, il che faceva valere nella questione una circostanza del tutto contingente. Va anche considerato che Cipriano non respinge l'intervento di S. in quanto tale, cioè non sembra negare il suo diritto a intervenire nella questione interna delle due Chiese spagnole, ma giustifica il rifiuto della sua delibera sul piano procedurale: S. si è poco e male informato e, in definitiva, si è fatto raggirare. Questo, che si potrebbe definire errore di procedura, autorizza il concilio africano a riformare la sentenza romana. Da tutto il contesto appare chiaro che, avvertita l'esigenza di una sede d'appello per litigi tra sede e sede e anche all'interno di una medesima sede, se da una parte si riconosceva al vescovo di Roma il diritto di intervenire, dall'altra questo diritto era sentito tutt'altro che incondizionato bensì in vario modo vincolato e circoscritto. Soprattutto va rilevato che, mentre S., richiesto da Basilide, sembra aver agito di sua propria e personale iniziativa, senza cioè premurarsi di concertare la sua decisione con l'appoggio di un concilio riunito appositamente, proprio questo aveva fatto Cipriano, in modo da far valere, contro la singola autorità del vescovo di Roma, quella di un concilio delle Chiese d'Africa. Inizia qui una vicenda destinata a prolungarsi per molti secoli. Anche il secondo dei tre episodi riguardanti S., sul quale informa l'epistola 68 di Cipriano, di poco posteriore alla precedente, fu provocato dagli strascichi della persecuzione di Decio. Quando, finita la persecuzione all'inizio della quale era stato messo a morte a Roma papa Fabiano, si erano contesi la successione Novaziano e Cornelio, il contrasto tra i due era stato caratterizzato da forti motivazioni ideologiche, perché quest'ultimo rappresentava la parte di chi era disposto a riammettere nella comunità i lapsi previa una congrua soddisfazione penitenziale, mentre in Novaziano si riconoscevano i rigoristi che quella riammissione senz'altro rifiutavano. Perciò, quando Novaziano, rimasto soccombente, si era tuttavia fatto anch'egli ordinare vescovo e aveva dato inizio allo scisma che da lui ha tratto il nome, questo rapidamente si diffuse un po' dappertutto nell'ambito della cristianità, dovunque ci fossero fedeli di tendenza rigorista. Tra questi in Gallia c'era Marciano, vescovo di Arelate (Arles), che aveva rifiutato di riammettere nella comunità i fedeli che avevano apostatato durante la persecuzione, non tenendo in alcun conto il loro pentimento. Altri vescovi della regione però, non condividendo questo rigore, avevano scritto in proposito a S.; Faustino, vescovo di Lugdunum (Lione), Chiesa particolarmente antica e importante, si era rivolto, oltre che a S., più di una volta a Cipriano, il quale a sua volta si rivolge ora, con la lettera sopra indicata, a Stefano. Da come egli si esprime nel richiamare brevemente questi fatti risulta evidente sia che la situazione di disagio e conflittualità si protraeva ad Arelate da parecchio tempo sia che i vescovi di Gallia di parere contrario non erano in grado di intervenire in modo diretto in quella sede a danno di Marciano, o comunque non si consideravano a ciò abilitati: di qui il loro rivolgersi a S. e, in linea - a quanto pare - subordinata, a Cipriano. Questi presenta Marciano a S. quasi che fosse già passato dalla parte di Novaziano distaccandosi perciò dall'unità della Chiesa cattolica: ma dalle sue parole non appare chiaro se Marciano fosse effettivamente entrato in comunione con la comunità di Novaziano, separandosi perciò automaticamente dalla comunione con la comunità cattolica di S. e con tutte le altre che erano in comunione con quello, ovvero se si fosse limitato a rifiutare la riammissione degli apostati, dal che Cipriano avrebbe dedotto il suo implicito aderire a Novaziano e il distacco dal complesso di tutte le Chiese cattoliche. Come che sia, Cipriano invita S. a prendere l'iniziativa di scrivere ai vescovi della Gallia sollecitandoli a deporre Marciano e a eleggere un altro vescovo al posto suo. Dato che si è informati su questo affare soltanto dall'epistola 68 di Cipriano, non si sa come esso si sia concluso, ma anche con questa carenza d'informazione il fatto è significativo per quanto attiene al contenzioso relativo ai rapporti tra le varie sedi episcopali, innanzitutto quella romana. In primo luogo, come nel caso precedente, anche se per motivazioni del tutto diverse si prospetta anche qui l'esigenza di una sede d'appello chiamata a risolvere contrasti interni di una comunità. Proprio come nel caso precedente, i vescovi della provincia non intervengono. Ma in questo caso, ben diverso dall'altro, è possibile ipotizzare che la posizione di Marciano all'interno della Chiesa di Arelate fosse tanto forte da sconsigliare l'intervento dei vescovi circonvicini; ma si può anche supporre che, come in Spagna e a differenza dell'Africa e di varie regioni orientali, neppure in Gallia fosse già in vigore l'istituto del concilio provinciale: si tenga conto che sia in Gallia come in Spagna la diffusione della religione cristiana era molto in arretrato rispetto a quanto si dava in Africa e in Oriente. Dalla lettera di Cipriano si ricava con chiarezza che solo il vescovo di Lugdunum si era rivolto più di una volta a lui, mentre a S. si erano rivolti tutti i vescovi della provincia ("a ceteris coepiscopis nostris in eadem provincia constitutis"): se il ricorso a Cipriano, motivato dal prestigio del personaggio e/o della sede cui presiedeva, era stato un fatto sporadico, la Sede romana era apparsa ai vescovi della Gallia la naturale destinataria di un ricorso in appello. Dal canto suo Cipriano, in quanto, pur nominativamente interpellato, si astiene dall'intervenire in modo diretto e invita S. a prendere l'iniziativa di ristabilire la corretta situazione nella Chiesa di Arelate, riconosce anche lui al vescovo di Roma il diritto d'intervenire. In un passo della lettera egli giustifica l'intervento alla luce della concezione, più diffusamente esposta nel De ecclesiae catholicae unitate, dell'episcopato come corpo unitario e solidale, autorizzato a intervenire nel caso di distacco di qualche membro di esso: nell'attuale contingenza egli, in veste di rappresentante di questo corpo unitario, invita S. a intervenire. Se ci si chiede perché non l'abbia fatto lui stesso come nel caso precedente, in primo luogo bisogna tener conto della diversità di situazione, in quanto nel caso dei vescovi spagnoli l'intervento gli era stato sollecitato proprio in opposizione al deliberato del vescovo di Roma. Si deve, per altro, soprattutto considerare che mentre le Chiese di Spagna, come si è detto sopra, erano collegate in modo particolare con quelle d'Africa, le Chiese di Gallia guardavano naturalmente, come referente esterno, a Roma, come già testimoniano vari fatti del tempo di Ireneo. Perciò Cipriano, sapendo che alcune di quelle Chiese avevano già unitariamente richiesto l'intervento di S., ha ritenuto naturale che spettasse a questi piuttosto che a lui, il diritto e il dovere di intervenire. Le vie di S. e di Cipriano, che finora si erano variamente incrociate, intorno al 256 vennero a diretta collisione in merito alla questione del battesimo degli eretici. Si dava allora non di rado il caso di chi, dopo essere diventato da pagano cristiano aderendo a una comunità di eretici e ricevendo qui il battesimo, chiedesse in un secondo tempo di entrare nella Chiesa cattolica: in questo caso le Chiese d'Africa, come anche di molte parti dell'Oriente, considerando non valido il battesimo amministrato dagli eretici, usavano ribattezzare l'interessato; invece a Roma si considerava valido quel battesimo e si usava soltanto sottoporre chi lo aveva ricevuto al rito della imposizione delle mani con cui, dopo l'amministrazione del battesimo, il celebrante invocava su di lui la discesa dello Spirito Santo. Non consta che fino allora fossero sorte difficoltà in merito a questa discrepanza, né le svariate lettere di Cipriano che informano sulla questione (69-75) ragguagliano circa i motivi specifici per cui S. e Cipriano ebbero a scontrarsi duramente. Dato che nella prima lettera dedicata alla questione, la 69, Cipriano risponde affermativamente al collega Magno che gli aveva chiesto se dovessero essere ribattezzati coloro che erano stati battezzati dai novaziani, e nella successiva epistola 73 osserva che costoro usavano ribattezzare i membri della Chiesa cattolica che passavano nelle loro file, si può forse ipotizzare che proprio il recente scisma di Novaziano avesse attirato l'attenzione di S. sulla discrepanza che si ravvisava in questo contesto, dato che egli vedeva i novaziani, certamente non pochi a Roma, ribattezzare i cattolici e sapeva che in molte Chiese ci si comportava in questo modo, mentre la Chiesa cattolica di Roma in casi del genere si limitava all'imposizione delle mani. Come che sia, S. decise di intervenire per imporre l'uniformità del rito, nel senso che tutte le altre Chiese si dovevano adeguare alla prassi in uso nella Chiesa di Roma. A questo riguardo si apprende da Eusebio (Historia ecclesiastica VII, 3.5.7) che il primo scontro si ebbe tra S. e Cipriano ma che il vescovo di Roma scrisse pure alle Chiese di Cilicia, Cappadocia, Galazia e regioni vicine, minacciando di rompere la comunione con loro se avessero continuato a ribattezzare gli eretici. Dal canto suo Dionigi di Alessandria, dal cui epistolario Eusebio ha ricavato queste notizie, seguiva l'uso alessandrino di non ribattezzare, ma aveva ritenuto opportuno non interferire nella prassi delle Chiese che avevano deciso diversamente. Quanto a Cipriano, egli oppose a S. la decisione di un concilio di più di settanta vescovi africani, che aveva deliberato di attenersi all'usanza, tradizionale in Africa, di ribattezzare (epp. 70 e 72), e sollecitò in proposito Firmiliano, autorevole vescovo di Cesarea di Cappadocia, il quale rispose con una lettera, compresa come 95 nell'epistolario di Cipriano, violentemente, in più punti anche ironicamente, polemica nei confronti di Stefano. Si era giunti al punto di rottura quando l'insorgere della persecuzione di Valeriano, durante la quale Cipriano ebbe a subire il martirio, interruppe la disputa. Nel corso del IV secolo, in circostanza che non si conosce, anche le Chiese d'Africa si sarebbero uniformate alla prassi romana di non ribattezzare, e Agostino, in polemica con i donatisti, avrebbe giustificato, a livello di teoria, tale prassi; in Oriente invece la pratica di ribattezzare gli eretici è variamente attestata nel IV secolo e oltre. Nell'epistolario di Cipriano non è conservata la lettera a lui indirizzata da S. con l'imposizione di adeguarsi alla prassi romana, ma i punti fondamentali del suo contenuto si ricavano dalle epistole 74 e 75. S. richiamandosi all'autorità che gli veniva, per successione, da Pietro, imponeva agli Africani di non innovare rispetto a quanto era stato tramandato ("nihil innovetur, inquit, nisi quod traditum est": ep. 74, 2), nel caso che un qualsiasi eretico avesse chiesto di passare alla Chiesa cattolica, e la tradizione voleva che gli venissero imposte le mani in segno di penitenza. Per giustificare questa prassi, S. osservava che neppure gli eretici, nel passare dall'una all'altra setta, erano soliti ribattezzare e che già gli apostoli avevano proibito di ribattezzare chi provenisse da una setta eretica e avevano ordinato che così si osservasse nel tempo a venire. In sostanza S., senza cercare di chiarire, a livello di teoria, il significato della prassi romana, l'avvalorava soltanto in base alla tradizione, che pretendeva rimontasse agli apostoli. Di contro Cipriano, mentre non ha difficoltà a rilevare l'incongruenza sia di giustificare la prassi romana assimilandola a quella degli eretici sia di far risalire agli apostoli una pratica che presupponeva l'esistenza degli eretici, comparsi invece dopo il tempo degli apostoli, oppone il ragionamento alla tradizione e articola il suo argomentare in due punti: da una parte la vera Chiesa è una sola e perciò uno solo il battesimo; l'eretico, in quanto si pone fuori della Chiesa, non ha alcun diritto di battezzare; il suo è soltanto un "lavacro profano", che non può essere considerato battesimo. Perciò, Cipriano osserva, noi non ribattezziamo gli eretici ma li battezziamo. Dall'altra l'imposizione delle mani conferisce il dono dello Spirito Santo, ma questo può essere conferito soltanto a chi è rinato spiritualmente, e questa rinascita la si ottiene soltanto col battesimo. Perciò l'imposizione delle mani ha senso soltanto come prosieguo del battesimo, ma tale è da considerare soltanto quello amministrato nella Chiesa cattolica. In sostanza, si entra nella Chiesa mercé la santificazione operata dallo Spirito Santo, e questo, che è lo spirito di Cristo, è attivo soltanto nella Chiesa di Cristo, che è soltanto quella cattolica. Molto tempo dopo, in opposizione a questo ragionamento, Agostino avrebbe giustificato la validità del battesimo amministrato dagli eretici argomentando da tutt'altro punto di vista: si sarebbe cioè fondato sul concetto dell'onnipotenza divina, osservando che l'uomo non può con la sua azione rendere inoperante la volontà salvifica di Dio, che ha voluto il battesimo amministrato nel nome di Cristo efficace per la salvezza dell'uomo, indipendentemente dalla condizione morale di chi lo amministra: il sacramento è efficace "ex opere operato" e non "ex opere operantis", cioè per virtù propria e non per quella di chi lo amministra. S. morì il 2 agosto (giorno in cui ancora oggi viene celebrata la sua memoria liturgica) del 257. In questo anno Valeriano pubblicò il suo primo editto di persecuzione a danno della Chiesa, ma la notizia che S. sarebbe morto martire si legge solo a partire da un tardo testo agiografico (risalente al VI secolo) ed è ignorata dalle fonti più antiche. Per concludere su di lui, si può osservare che il suo operato ai fini di accentuare lo spessore autoritario della primazia del vescovo di Roma non fu coronato da esito felice, perché trovò un forte ostacolo nella grande autorità di Cipriano, che ne mise in evidenza carenze e limiti: infatti, apprezzato sulla base dell'informazione attualmente disponibile, esso appare ancora velleitario e soprattutto non adeguatamente sorretto da una previa meditata valutazione delle questioni che lo avevano sollecitato e perciò da argomenti obiettivamente validi. D'altra parte, proprio la sua vicenda sta a testimoniare che ormai, date le dimensioni raggiunte dalla Chiesa e il conseguente complicarsi dei rapporti tra le diverse comunità e anche all'interno di ciascuna di esse, da più parti si cominciava ad avvertire l'opportunità, per non dire l'esigenza, di una sede d'appello al di sopra delle parti, che in Occidente non poteva essere se non la Sede romana.
Fonti e Bibl.: Le Liber pontificalis, a cura di L. Duchesne, I-II, Paris
1886-92: I, nr. 24, p. 154. Per le coordinate cronologiche v. il Catalogo
Liberiano, contenuto nel Liber pontificalis, cui poco, e nulla di attendibile,
aggiunge il Liber stesso. Tutte le notizie sulla politica primaziale di S. e le
questioni in cui egli fu impegnato si ricavano da lettere di Cipriano o
comunque comprese nel suo epistolario (Sancti Cypriani Episcopi epistularium
[...], a cura di G.F. Diercks, Turnholti 1996 [Corpus Christianorum, Series
Latina, 3C]: epistola 67, sulla questione dei vescovi spagnoli (pp. 446-62);
epistola 68, su Marciano di Arles (pp. 463-68); epistole 69-75, sul battesimo
degli eretici (pp. 469-604). Altre notizie sulla questione del battesimo degli
eretici si leggono in Eusebio, Historia ecclesiastica VII, 3.5.7, a cura di E.
Schwartz, Leipzig 1908 (Die Griechischen Christlichen Schriftsteller. Eusebius
Werke, II, 2), pp. 638-40, 642-48. Sull'attività di S. v.: E. Caspar,
Geschichte des Papsttums, I, Tübingen 1930, pp. 86-90; J. Zeiller, in Histoire
de l'Église, a cura di A.Fliche-V.Martin, II, Paris 1948, pp. 413-16.
© Istituto della
Enciclopedia Italiana fondata da Giovanni Treccani - Riproduzione riservata
SOURCE : https://www.treccani.it/enciclopedia/santo-stefano-i_(Enciclopedia-dei-Papi)/
Franc
Globočnik (1825–1891), Papež sv. Štefan, 1871, St. Stephen's
Parish Church, Ribnica
San Esteban I. Papa
(254- 257). M. 257.
Martirologio Romano: En
Roma, en el cementerio de Calixto, san Esteban I, papa, que prohibió rebautizar
a los herejes que buscaban la plena comunión con la Iglesia, para que no
quedase oscurecida la unión bautismal de los cristianos con Cristo, que debe
realizarse una sola vez.
Natural de Roma.
Perteneciente a la gens Julia. Fue elegido Pontífice, sucediendo a san Lucio I,
después de una vacante del solio pontificio de unos 60 días. A los comienzos de
su pontificado no se vieron sacudidos por la hostilidad del emperador
Valeriano. En su breve pontificado se ocupó sobre todo de la cuestión del
bautismo administrado a los herejes; apeló a la tradición apostólica para
sostener la práctica romana, pero encontró la oposición de san Cipriano de
Cartago, es decir que el Papa era partidario que los apostatas no fueran
bautizados de nuevo, como pretendía san Cipriano. En esta controversia reafirmó
conscientemente la preeminencia de la sede romana, reivindicando su antigüedad
y la autoridad por el hecho de proceder del apóstol san Pedro.
La tradición afirma que
fue decapitado mientras celebraba la eucaristía; pero documentos más antiguos
lo nombran como obispo o confesor; en efecto, no fue mártir y fue enterrado en
el cementerio de San Calixto. Le sucedió san Sixto II.
SOURCE : https://hagiopedia.blogspot.com/2013/08/otros-santos-del-dia_2.html
