Pope Saint Stephen I
![[illustration of Pope Stephen I]](saints63.jpg "18kb jpg illustration of Pope Stephen I, artist unknown; please do not write to ask about the image")
- Memorial
- 2 August
- Profile
- Son of Jovius; little else known of his early life.
Archdeacon under Pope Lucius I.
23rd pope.
Explicitly proclaimed the primacy of the Rome diocese in matters of theology, and the current understanding of Christ's statement to Peter: "You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My Church."
Condemned the Carthaginian practice of rebaptizing heretics, and accepted baptisms performed by heretics when the convert had acted in good faith; corrected Saint Cyprian's thinking on the matter.
Ordered that there be special clothing (vestments) for use in liturgy, that priests not conduct Mass in street clothes, and not wear their vestments into the streets.
Often listed as a martyr in old records, but modern scholarship has found no evidence of it.
- Born
- Roman
- Papal Ascension
- 12 May 254
- Died
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2 August 257 of natural causes
buried in the papal crypt of Callistus on the Appian Way
transferred by Pope Saint Paul I to Saint Stephen's monastery
- Canonized
- Pre-Congregation
- Patronage
- Fiano Romano, Italy
- Additional Information
- Catholic Encyclopedia
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