Editing Pope Stephen I

{{Short description|Head of the Catholic Church from 254 to 257}}
{{Infobox Christian leader
| type = Pope
| honorific-prefix = [[Pope Saint]]
| name = Stephen I
| title = [[Bishop of Rome]]
| church = [[Catholic Church]]
| image = Head of Pope Saint Stephen I - Speyer Cathedral - Speyer - Germany 2017.jpg
| caption = Relic containing the head of Pope Stephen I, [[Speyer Cathedral]], [[Germany]]
| term_start = 12 May 254
| term_end = 2 August 257
| predecessor = [[Pope Lucius I|Lucius I]]
| successor = [[Pope Sixtus II|Sixtus II]]
| birth_date = 
| birth_place = [[Rome]], [[Roman Italy|Italy]], [[Roman Empire]]
| death_date = 	2 August 257
| death_place = [[Rome]], [[Roman Italy|Italy]], [[Roman Empire]]
| other = Stephen
| venerated = [[Catholic Church]]<br>[[Eastern Orthodox Church]]
| feast_day = 2 August, 3 August
| patronage = {{unbulleted list|[[Hvar (town)|Hvar]]|[[Archdiocese of Esztergom-Budapest]]|[[Modigliana Cathedral]]}}
}}

'''Pope Stephen I''' ({{langx|el|Στέφανος Α΄}} {{langx|la|Stephanus I}}) was the [[Bishop of Rome]] from 12 May 254 to his death on 2 August 257.<ref name="ce">Mann, Horace (1912). "Pope St. Stephen I" in ''The Catholic Encyclopedia''. Vol. 14. New York: Robert Appleton Company.</ref>  He was later [[Canonization|canonized]] as a saint and some accounts say he was killed while celebrating [[Mass in the Catholic Church|Mass]].

==Early life==
Stephen was born in [[Rome]] but had [[Greeks|Greek]] ancestry. He served as [[archdeacon]] of [[Pope Lucius I]], who appointed Stephen his successor.

==Pontificate==
Following the [[Decian persecution]] of 250–251, there was disagreement about how to treat those who had lapsed from the faith. Stephen was urged by Bishop [[Faustinus of Lyon]] to take action against Marcian, the [[Novatianist]] [[bishop of Arles]], who [[Novatianism|denied penance and communion to the lapsed who repented]].  The controversy arose in the context of a broad pastoral problem. During the Decian persecution some Christians had purchased certificates attesting that they had made the requisite sacrifices to the Roman gods. Others had denied they were Christians while yet others had in fact taken part in pagan sacrifices. These people were called in Latin ''[[Lapsi (Christianity)|lapsi]]'', ''the fallen''. The question arose as to whether, if they later repented, they could be readmitted to communion with the church, and if so, under what conditions.<ref name=Hogan>{{cite book |last=Hogan |first=R.M. |title=Dissent from the Creed: Heresies Past and Present |date=2001 |publisher=Our Sunday Visitor |isbn=9780879734084 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YuxxgQRDIpQC&pg=PA71 |page=71 |access-date=2016-03-30 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160417232428/https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=YuxxgQRDIpQC&pg=PA71 |archive-date=2016-04-17 }}</ref>

Stephen held that converts who had been baptized by splinter groups did not need re-baptism, while [[Cyprian]] and certain bishops of the Roman province of Africa held rebaptism necessary for admission to the [[Eucharist]]. Stephen's view eventually won broad acceptance in the [[Latin Church]].<ref name="ce"/> He is also mentioned as having insisted on the restoration of the bishops of [[León, León|León]] and [[Astorga (Spain)|Astorga]], who had been deposed for unfaithfulness during the persecution but afterwards had repented.<ref name="ce"/>

==Legacy==
[[File:Legendari di sancti istoriado uulgar, 1497 – (santo Stefano papa e martire) - BEIC IE4411199.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|The Martyrdom of Pope Stephen in the ''[[Golden Legend]]'' (1497)]]
The ''[[Depositio episcoporum]]'' of 354 does not speak of Pope Stephen I as a martyr and he is not celebrated as such by the [[Catholic Church]],<ref>"Calendarium Romanum" (Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 1969), p. 133</ref> in spite of the account in the ''[[Golden Legend]]'' that in 257 [[Emperor Valerian]] resumed the persecution of Christians.  Stephen was sitting on his pontifical throne celebrating [[Mass (liturgy)|Mass]] for his [[Wiktionary:congregation|congregation]] when the emperor's men came and beheaded him on 2 August 257.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=VpvI5TAp08IC&dq=%22Pope+Stephen%22&pg=PA39 The golden legend: readings on the saints] By Jacobus de Voragine, William Granger Ryan</ref>  As late as the 18th century, what was said to be the chair was preserved, still allegedly stained with blood.<ref>[http://www.bartleby.com/210/8/021.html Butler, Alban. "St. Stephen, Pope and Martyr", ''Butler's Lives of the Saints'' Vol. VIII: August, 1866]</ref>

Stephen I's [[feast day]] in the Catholic Church is celebrated on 2 August.<ref>"Martyrologium Romanum" (Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 2001 {{ISBN|88-209-7210-7}})</ref> In 1839, when the new feast of [[Alphonsus Liguori|St Alphonsus Mary de Liguori]] was assigned to 2 August, Stephen I was mentioned only as a [[commemoration (liturgy)|commemoration]] within the [[Mass (liturgy)|Mass]] of Saint Alphonsus. The revision of the calendar in 1969 removed the mention of Stephen I from the General Roman Calendar, but, according to the terms of the [[General Instruction of the Roman Missal]], the 2 August Mass may now everywhere be that of one of the Saints named that day in the ''Martyrologium Romanum'' of 2004, including Stephen I, unless in some locality an obligatory celebration is assigned to that day,<ref>[http://www.acbc.catholic.org.au/documents/200707031933.pdf "General Instruction of the Roman Missal"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080720091216/http://www.acbc.catholic.org.au/documents/200707031933.pdf |date=2008-07-20 }} 355 c</ref> while those permitted to use the pre-1969 calendar make commemoration of Saint Stephen I on that day.

Pope Stephen I is the patron of [[Hvar (town)|Hvar]] and of [[Modigliana Cathedral]].

==See also==
{{Portal|Biography|Christianity|History}}
*[[List of Catholic saints]]
*[[List of popes]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Stephanus I|Stephen I}}
{{wikisource author}}
*{{Cite CE1913|wstitle=Pope St. Stephen I}}
*[http://www.documentacatholicaomnia.eu/01_01_0254-0257-_Stephanus_I,_Sanctus.html His writings]

{{S-start}}
{{s-rel|grt}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Lucius I]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Bishop of Rome]]|years=254–257}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Sixtus II]]}}
{{S-end}}

{{Popes}}
{{Catholic saints}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stephen 01}}
[[Category:257 deaths]]
[[Category:3rd-century archbishops]]
[[Category:3rd-century Christian saints]]
[[Category:3rd-century Romans]]
[[Category:Greek popes]]
[[Category:Italian popes]]
[[Category:Saints from Roman Italy]]
[[Category:Papal saints]]
[[Category:People executed by decapitation]]
[[Category:Clergy from Rome]]
[[Category:Popes]]
[[Category:Year of birth unknown]]
[[Category:3rd-century popes]]