Posted on 08/02/2009 3:01:20 AM PDT by GonzoII
Saint Stephen was by birth a Roman. After being promoted to Holy Orders, he was made Archdeacon of Rome under the holy Popes Saint Cornelius and Saint Lucius. When these had both suffered martyrdom, Saint Stephen was elected Head of the Church in the year 254.
Controversy concerning the rebaptizing of heretics gave Saint Stephen much trouble. The heretics themselves were rebaptizing Catholics who left the orthodox faith to join them; certain oriental bishops decided then to rebaptize those who returned to it from their errors, and some African bishops joined them in this practice. It is the teaching of the Catholic Church, however, that baptism given with natural water and in the name of the Three Persons of the Blessed Trinity is valid, even if conferred by those in error. Saint Stephen suffered patiently when accused of favoring heresy by ratifying such baptisms; he did not doubt that the great men in whom a mistaken zeal seemed to obscure the truth 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 the Faith, and by his toleration and forbearance saved many souls.
When the persecutions grew violent, he assembled the faithful in the underground tombs of the martyrs, going from one catacomb to another to baptize neophytes, celebrate Mass and exhort them to remain true to Christ. After twelve members of his clergy were martyred, he himself was arrested; but he was set free when a violent storm so frightened the soldiers and executioners sent to put him to death, that they fled. Nonetheless, he was followed to a catacomb by the emperor’s satellites, and on August 2, 257, while seated in his pontifical chair, he was beheaded. The chair, stained with his blood, was placed with his relics in the Church which he had built and is still shown in the same church, today Saint Sylvester in capite.
Sources: Les Petits Bollandistes: Vies des Saints, by Msgr. Paul Guérin (Bloud et Barral: Paris, 1882), Vol. 9; Little Pictorial Lives of the Saints, a compilation based on Butler’s Lives of the Saints and other sources by John Gilmary Shea (Benziger Brothers: New York, 1894).
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.
Source: Catholic Encyclopedia
The baptism of heretics question in the 3rd century was a major big deal. +Stephen certainly took the position that rebaptism of heretics and schismatics was wrong. +Cyprian and the North African bishops took the opposite position and the Seventh Council of Carthage anathemized the heretics and decreed that indeed the had to be rebaptised. In fact, the Council pretty expressly condemned +Stephen. The decrees came down in 258. Although local, the council and its decrees are important as an early example of the territorial limits of papal jurisdiction. The No. African bishops saw themselves as being under Alexandria. At any rate, the Council expressly rejected +Stephen’s opinion and to a greater or lesser extent, the holding of that council held as between Orthodox, Monophysites and Latins until at least the 1960s. Interestingly, Arians and Nestorians later on were received into The Church by a simple recitation of The Creed.
This piece of history is instructive further because at other times +Cyprian, as the article notes, went to the pope on behalf of other bishops within the popes jurisdiction for assistance. Some have attempted to use these incidents as an example of +Cyprian accepting universal immediate papal jurisdiction. They are hardly that. In fact, here is what was said at the council about the pope’s actions:
“It remains, that upon this same matter each of us should bring forward what we think, judging no man, nor rejecting any one from the right of communion, if he should think differently from us. For neither does any of us set himself up as a bishop of bishops nor by tyrannical terror does any compel his colleague to the necessity of obedience; since every bishop, according to the allowance of his liberty and power, has his own proper right of judgment, and can no more be judged by another than he himself can judge another.”
I think it would be and example, what would he need to go the Pope for if it wasn't any of his business.
“I think it would be and example, what would he need to go the Pope for if it wasn’t any of his business.”
Because the bishops involved, from Spain and Gallia, were canonically under the Pope rather than Alexandria.
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