Saint Stephen

Stephen was a Greek-speaking Hellenistic Jew chosen to oversee food distribution to widows in the early Jerusalem church. His teachings angered members of various synagogues, and he was accused of blasphemy. At trial he delivered a speech denouncing the Jewish authorities sitting in judgment. They stoned him to death. Among those present at the execution was Saul of Tarsus, a Pharisee who later became Paul. All detail of Stephen's life comes from Acts of the Apostles. He is venerated across Catholic, Orthodox, Anglican, and Lutheran traditions, typically depicted young and beardless in a deacon's vestments, holding three stones and wearing a martyr's crown.