St. Stephen is called "the first martyr"; it was he, indeed, who first shed his blood for the faith. The Acts of the Apostles relate that he was "full of grace and power, performed great miracles and signs among the people." He belonged, it seems, to that group of Hellenized Jews who had lost the use of Hebrew because they remained abroad after the Babylonian captivity. He had become a Christian, had been ordained deacon by the apostles, and as such was given the care of feeding the poor and the widows to whose support the Christian community in Jerusalem was commited.
"There were those who came forward to debate with him, some of the synagogue. . . but they were no match for Stephen's wisdom, and for the Spirit which then gave utterance. Thereupon they employed agents to say they had heard him speaking blasphemously of Moses, and of God. Having thus roused the feeligns of the people, and of the elders and scribes, they set upon him and carried him off, and so brought him before the Council. There they put forward false witnesses, who declared, This man is never tired of uttering insults against the holy place, and the law. We have heard him say that the Nazarene, Jesus, will destroy this place, and will alter the traditions which Moses handed down to us."
The High priest asked him if this were true. Then, in a long speech recored in the Acts, Stephen showed them that this Jesus of Nazareth was indeed the Messias announced by Moses and the prophets, and come on earth to call all men to salvation.
"At hearing this, they were cut to the heart, and began to gnash their teeth at him. But he, full of the Holy Spirit, fastened his eyes on heaven, and saw there the glory of God, and Jesus standing at God's right hand; I see heaven opening, he said, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God. Then they cried aloud, and put their fingers into their ears; with one accord they fell upon him, thrust him out of the city, and stoned him. . . . Thus they stoned Stephen; he, meanwhile, was praying; Lord Jesus, he said, receive my spirit; and then, kneeling down, he cried aloud, Lord, do not count this sin against them. And with that, he fell asleep in the Lord. . . . Stephen was buried by devout men, who mourned greatly over him" (Acts vi-viii).
Taken from The Lives of the Saints (1951) by Omer Englebert.