Pope Saint Stephen I served as Bishop of Rome from
May 12, 254 to
August 2, 257.
Of Roman birth but of Greek ancestry, he became bishop of Rome in 254, having served as archdeacon of
Pope Lucius I, who appointed Stephen his successor.
At the time internal disputes racking the Church were as much a threat as the external persecutions. Following the "
Decian persecution" of 250 - 251 churches split over how to deal with the lapsed, with the strictest approach that of
Novatian, later declared a
heretic, which led to further controversy over whether to accept baptism from splinter groups as legitimate sacrament. In the early part of his pontificate Stephen was urged by
Faustinus, Bishop of Lyon, to take action against Marcian,
Bishop of Arles, who denied communion to the penitent among those whose faith had lapsed during the persecutions, the position called "
Novatianism".
Stephen also held that converts from splinter churches that might be heretical did not need rebaptism, while
Cyprian and certain bishops of the Roman province of Africa held it necessary for admission to
communion. Stephen's view eventually won broad acceptance, but in his own life time the persecutions grew more violent. He is also mentioned as having insisted on the restoration of the bishops of
León and
Astorga, who had been deposed for unfaithfulness during the persecution but afterwards had repented. In Rome, he gathered his
congregation to celebrate mass in the
catacombs, in the tombs of the
martyrs. On
August 2, 257, Stephen was sitting on the pontifical throne in the catacombs when the emperor's men came and beheaded him. As late as the
18th century, the chair was preserved, still stained with blood. His
feast day in the
Roman Catholic Church is
August 2.
Note that the
Old Catholic Encyclopedia of 1913 cited below regards as highly dubious the claim that Stephen was a martyr. This is more likely to be a conflation with his successor
Pope Sixtus II, who was one of the first victims of
Valerian's 258 persecution. Valerian's original persecution in
257 did not have the orders to summary execution of bishops, so it is unlikely that Stephen was one of Valerian's martyrs.
Saint Stephen I. is the patron of Hvar.
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