Fulgentius on Stephen

Today's saint is Stephen the Protomartyr. Here's a bit of what Saint Fulgentius the bishop (465 - 533) had to say about Stephen in a sermon he preached in honour of this day of thanksgiving for Stephen ...

Yesterday we were celebrating the birth in time of our eternal King. Today we celebrate the triumphal passion of his soldier. Yesterday our King, clothed in the robe of our flesh, was pleased to come forth from his royal palace of the Virgin's womb to visit the world. Today his soldier, laying aside the tabernacled o te body, entereth in triumph into the palace of heaven...

Yesterday the holy Angels rejoiced in the song: Glory to God in the highest. Today they rejoice in the welcome whereby they do receive Stephen into their company...

Yesterday Christ was for our sakes wrapped in swaddling bands. Today he girdeth Stephen with a robe of immortality. Yesterday the new-born Christ lay in a narrow manger. Today Stephen entereth victorious into the boundless heavens...

The place of honor amidst all who stand round the crib of the new-born King belongs to Stephen, the proto-martyr, who, as the Church sings of him, was "the first to pay back to the Saviour the death suffered by the Saviour." It was just that this honor should be shown to Martyrdom; for Martyrdom is the creature's testimony and return to the Creator for all the favors bestowed on him: it is man testifying, even by shedding his blood, to the truths which God has revealed to the world...

Now the glorious martyr-band of Christ is headed by St. Stephen. His name signifies the Crowned, and a conqueror such as he could not be better named. He marshals, in the name of Christ, the white-robed army; for he was the first, even before the apostles themselves, to receive the summons, and right nobly did he answer it.