¹ In the reading before us, we have perceived a vision celebrated by all the churches. We have heard not dreams deceived by the fickle errors of the senses, but oracles confirmed by the reality of their fulfillment. Rightly do we believe in the revelation conveyed in this sermon, for we hold its fruit in the gift it has brought. Where now are those who claim that pious honours should not be given to the martyrs? Behold this man, who has long enjoyed the blessed splendour of paradise, now revealed to the world, that he may be venerated. Thus, God, the dispenser of our welfare, clearly commands him to be honoured, since He has caused him to be found.

² Thus, the sermon of the revelation declares that no bird or beast violated that sacred body. Where now are those who wish the holy ashes of the martyrs to be dishonoured? Behold, the very brute nature of beasts and birds—creatures without reason—nonetheless rendered faithful service to their friend, avoiding unlawful touch, perhaps revering the mystery protected by angelic guardianship. No bird laid a claw on him; no beast did him violence. With bitter envy of cruelty, the reverence shown by beasts now puts man to shame. For, by the impiety of hardened hearts, our humanity is diminished and the ferocity of wild animals seems transferred to us.

³ This man, then—the first both minister and martyr of the newborn Church—was raised by the fire of his merits to the pinnacle and summit of glory. As a Levite of Christ’s altar, he was suddenly made a priest by the sacrifice of his own blood. After the Lord’s unique and glorious victory, Stephen, as leader of this new contest and author of an untested triumph, became the standard-bearer of the army of white-robed candidates. He offered himself to God as a devoted firstfruit of martyrdom.

⁴ Herald of truth and follower of the Redeemer, he was stoned to death by the impious people of the Jews, who, still burning with the heat of their recent crime of parricide, were panting with the guilt of their savage wickedness. Yet, struck by a storm of stones and torn with many wounds, he became all the more glorious—his garment stained with blood yet rendered purer and whiter. To this end, various graces from his earliest years, along with the disciplines of the Law and the Prophets, had prepared him.

⁵ Blessed is the one whose life was happily directed and even more happily expended. Blessed is the one whose life, presented as an example to the world, was perfected in God’s testimony and taken up into the protection of the whole universe. Blessed is the one in whom a glorious life trampled down death—indeed, in whom death became an exchange for life. Others perish through the common fall of ancient transgression, by the general fate of mortality, or through the various fevers and afflictions imposed upon humanity.

⁶ But this man is blessed, who, pouring out his spotless spirit for the honour of Christ, turned the necessity of nature into an occasion for glory. He deserved to convert the debt of his condition into the profit of virtue, so that what the law of origin and sin had claimed over humanity from time immemorial was, in him, entirely conquered by the devotion of praise. Thus, after the triumph of the Lord, in this man death, savage though it was, first came to recognize that it could also be conquered by a servant. As a result, death began to yield life even in taking life from the martyrs who would follow. When, therefore, the gates of justice were opened and he strove in spiritual combat with heaven as his witness, filled with the Holy Spirit and intoxicated with divine vision, he spoke out, saying: “Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God”.

⁷ Filled with the Spirit and beholding the Son of Man at the right hand of God, he offered the gifts of his passion under the vision of the Trinity. Concerning him and the Jews, the divine word testifies: “They saw his face as though it were the face of an angel”. Indeed, the radiance of his soul was so fully poured out into the beauty of his outward appearance that his face reflected the splendour of the angel who had beheld the face of God. Thus, the Jews saw his face as though it were the face of an angel.

⁸ It is a great portion of their condemnation that the wicked were not permitted to be ignorant of their own crime. They saw his face as the face of an angel, yet they were unable to take warning from the vision—they could only reap the fruit of their hatred. Even as they gazed upon the present glory of the one they were persecuting, they almost partook of it through their eyes. For in the very one they were congratulating themselves on destroying, they unwittingly recognized that through their own ministry, he was being consecrated.

⁹ They saw his face. If he appeared so glorious in battle, what do we suppose he will look like in his kingdom? And the God who adorned him with such beauty in death—what will He clothe him with at his resurrection? Then, falling to his knees, he prayed, saying: “Lord, do not hold this sin against them”. Dying, he willingly interceded for the very authors of his death, because he was not unaware of the glory of his precious martyrdom. “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.”

¹⁰ Do you think that this man, who prayed for his persecutors, will ever cease interceding for those who now plead with him? What will he grant to those who seek his prayers, if he gave such mercy to those who stoned him? If he interceded while being struck with stones, what will he do when invoked by prayer?

¹¹ It was not noble birth nor wealth that made this man a son of God and an angel, but rather his faith—his faith in the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. In this confession of God, he signed his testimony not with his hand, nor merely with his lips, but with his blood, and he swore it by his death. But you say: “No scriptural authority commands that honour be shown to the martyrs.” And where, then, is what the prophet declares through the Holy Spirit: “But to me, exceedingly honourable are your friends, O God”?

¹² God could not have given them a greater honour than to declare them His friends—to believe that in honouring their faces, He Himself is honoured. “But to me, exceedingly honourable are your friends, O God”—that is, Lord, I embrace your gifts displayed in the merits of your faithful ones. I admire your grace revealed in their virtues, and in venerating the gifts you have given them, I rightfully venerate you.

¹³ Thus, when our God declares that He is clothed in the naked, fed in the hungry, and honoured in the poor, saying: “Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me”, it follows that He must also be believed to speak and think in this way regarding His elect: the reverence shown to my saints is rendered to me.

¹⁴ It is fitting that the one who honoured me with his blood should be honoured in my name. Therefore, by divine providence, these martyrs have been appointed as healers for human infirmities, so that by this mutual and joyful exchange, the intercessor may have a devotee, and the devotee an intercessor.

¹⁵ Since this is so, dearest ones, let us venerate the sacred and venerable relics of the martyrs with all the strength we can muster. In this way, through their intercession, we may obtain the forgiveness of our sins, which we are unable to merit by our own efforts—through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns forever and ever. Amen.