Flower of Devotion

According to the apparitions of the Venerable Mary of Jesus

Not only was St. Stephen full of grace and power, and performed many miracles in Jerusalem, but he was also, after the Apostles Peter and Paul, the first disciple to engage in oral disputes with the Jews and defeat them. Hence, the Jews set false witnesses against him, who accused him of blaspheming God and the law. As a result of this accusation, he was captured and brought before the High Council. Here, full of holy inspiration, he gave a discourse in which he proved by statements from the Scriptures that Jesus was the true Messiah. At the same time, he shone with supernatural beauty, so that all who were in the High Council saw his face as if it were the face of an angel.
At the end of his discourse, Heaven opened, and Jesus Christ appeared to St. Stephen, standing at the right hand of the Power of the Most High, to show that He was on the side of the saint, to help him in his hard struggle. Stephen, raising his eyes to Heaven, cried out with a loud voice: “Behold, I see Heaven opened, and the Son of Man at the right hand of God!” But the Jews, in their obstinacy, counted these words blasphemy, and stopped their ears so that they could not hear them. And since blasphemy was punishable by stoning according to the law, an order was given that the punishment should be carried out on Stephen.
They immediately rushed upon him like beasts of prey, and with a tremendous cry led him out of the city.
When St. Stephen felt the first blow of the stones and saw himself close to death, he cried out, “Lord, do not count this to them as a sin!”
Thus St. Stephen died under a hail of stones which the Jews threw at him. He was martyred nine months after the death of the Lord Jesus, on December 26. On that day my husband turned 34 years old; also 34 years and 1 day had elapsed since the birth of the Lord Jesus, so that the 35th year began. For St. Stephen was born on the day after the birth of the Lord Jesus, and thus he was nine months older than the Lord Jesus, which elapsed between the death of the Saviour and his stoning.
Venerable Mary of Jesus gives the following detail: “
Saul also took part in the stoning of St. Stephen, who, through the prayer of this holy martyr and through the intercession of the Mother of God, was later converted, took the name Paul, and became a very zealous and great apostle.
(See the section entitled “By What St. Paul Obtained the Grace of Repentance.”) – Editor’s Note.