Pope Stephen I

Saint Stephen I
Birth name	Stephanus
Papacy began	ca. 12 May 254
Papacy ended	2 August 257
Predecessor	Lucius I
Successor	Sixtus II
Born	??? Rome, Italy
Died	August 2 257 Rome, Italy
Other popes named Stephen

Pope Saint Stephen I served as bishop of Rome from May 12, 254 to August 2, 257. Of Roman birth but of Greek ancestry, was promoted to the papacy after serving as the archdeacon of Pope Lucius I, who appointed Stephen his successor.

The Christian church of Stephen's time was torn by a major schism over the question of the treatment of the laspsi, former Christians who had denied the faith and committed idolatry during the Decian persecution of 250-251. The Catholic position was to grant communion to the lapsi after due penance, while the Novatianists allowed the laspi fellowship, but not communion. Stephen became involved in a controversy with Saint Cyprian of Carthage over the question of validity of baptisms administered by Novatianist clergy. Cyprian and other bishops of the Roman province of Africa held such sacraments were not valid, while Stephen insisted that, as long as the minister had be properly ordained and the baptismal formula was technically correct, the Church must recognize the baptisms as valid. Stephen's view ultimately prevailed and became the standard of the Catholic Church to this day.

Although some sources call Stephen a martyr, others say he died of natural causes. Saint Stephen I's feast day in the Roman Catholic Church is celebrated on August 2.

Papacy

According to the most ancient lists, Stephen I was a Roman by birth, and the son of a man named Jovius. Little is known regarding his background. However, the Liber Pontificalis indicates that he served as archdeacon to his predecessor, Lucius I, who appointed Stephen as his successor in 254, just before his own martyrdom.

Most of what we know regarding Pope Stephen is connected directly or indirectly with the Novatianist controversy which by this time raged in the Christian churches throughout the Roman Empire. Novatian had been consecrated as a rival pope to Pope Cornelius a few years earlier in the wake of early Decian persecutions. The issue of Novatian's opposition centered on the question of the treatment of the lapsi, those Christians who had committed idolatry and apostasy by publicly sacrificing to the Roman gods in order to save their lives. Cornelius supported readmitting such persons to full communion after penance and absolution. Novatian insisted that the church did not have the authority to forgive mortal sins such as these. He favored receiving repentant apostates into fellowship, but withholding the Eucharist from them, since their sin could be forgiven only by God.

Saint Cyprian of Carthage was an ally of Stephen I in the Novationist controversy, but opposed him on the issue of the validity of heretical baptism.

Stephen's most important action was his defense of the validity of baptism performed by Novatianist priests. Several letters of Saint Cyprian of Crathage deal with Stephen's policy on the matter, with which Cyprian, although an important ally on other aspects of the Novatianist controversy, expresses disagreement. Cyprian and other bishops of Africa and Asia held that Novatianist baptisms were "heretical," and thus invalid, and that re-baptism was required for those who had received the sacraments from Novatianist ministers. Stephen insisted that, while absolution was required for Novatianists who wished to be admitted to communion, re-baptism was both unwise unnecessary. Stephen's view ultimately prevailed, although the issue of the validity heretical sacraments would plague the church in a major way during the later Donatist controversy.

Stephen seems to have been "soft" on Novatianism in other ways as well. In the early part of his pontificate, Stephen was urged on several occasions by Faustinus, bishop of Lyons, to take action against Marcian (or Marcion), bishop of Arles, who had followed the Novatianist policy by denying communion to the penitent lapsi. Stephen did not move, perhaps suspecting that issue had more to do with the internal church politics of the region than Novatianism per se. The bishops of Gaul, accordingly, turned to Cyprian and begged him to write to the pope, which he accordingly did (Ep. 72). Cyprian entreated Stephen to instruct the bishops of Gaul to condemn Marcian, and to elect another bishop in his stead. Since much of Cyprian's correspondence survives and no more is said by him about the matter, it is supposed by some that the pope acted in accordance with his wishes, and that Marcian was deposed. However, inasmuch as Cyprian's major issue—the validity of heretical baptism—was rejected by the pope, this supposition may be overreaching.

The case of the Spanish bishops Martial and Basilides also brought Stephen into correspondence with Cyprian. As libellatici—holders of certificates attesting that they had conformed to the religious tests required by Emperor Decius—they had been condemned by the bishops of their province for apostasy. At first they acknowledged their guilt, but later appealed to Rome, and Stephen supported their restoration. Accordingly, some of their fellow bishops accepted them, but the others complained of the case to Cyprian. As bishop of Carthage, Cyprian assembled a synod of African bishops which renewed the condemnation of Basilides and Martial and exhorted Christians to enter into communion with their successors. The council claimed out that Stephen was "situated at a distance and ignorant of the true facts of the case," and that he had been deceived by Basilides.

Stephen, like his predecssors, used the wealth of the Roman church to relieve the suffering of churches elsewhere in the empire. Thus, we are told, he helped "all the provinces of Syria and Arabia." The Liber Pontificalis says that he ordained that the vestments which had been used for ecclesiastical purposes—namely the Mass—were not to be employed for daily wear. This source, however, routinely ascribes similar edicts to popes anachronistically, and this report must thus be treated with some skepticism. The same may be said with the Liber's claim that he ended his pontificate by martyrdom, since it claims this for virtually all the early popes, even when their papacy took place in times of peace.

Legacy

Stephen I was buried in the catacombs of Saint Callixtus, and his body was later transferred by Pope Paul I to a monastery founded in Stephen's honor. Although his martyrdom is no longer considered to be historically attested, Stephen I was long venerated as such, probably because of a conflation with his successor, Pope Sixtus II, who was one of the first victims of Valerian's 258 persecution, which also claimed the life of the "heretic" Novatian.

File:Milingo-mpnow.jpg

Archbishop Emmanuel Milingo, who has consecrated several married priests as bishops, is one beneficiary of the policy of Stephen I, who decided that sacraments performed by excommunicated bishops, must be considered valid.

It was said that, as he was sitting on his pontifical throne in the catacombs celebrating Mass for his congregation the emperor's men came and beheaded Stephen on August 2, 257. As late as the eighteenth century, the supposed chair on which he sat was preserved, still stained with blood. However, Valerian's initial persecution of Christians in 257 did not order summary execution of bishops.

Stephen's most important legacy was his policy regarding the validity of heretical baptism. This position, maintained in the face of the opposition of the formidable figure of Cyprian of Carthage, protected the spiritual status of thousands of Christian who sincerely believed themselves to be properly baptized. It also set the precedent, which is maintained to this day, that any sacrament correctly administered by a properly ordained priest or bishop is technically valid, even if that particular minister has fallen into serious heresy and has been excommunicated.

When the new feast of Saint Alphonsus Liguori was assigned to August 2 in 1839, Saint Stephen I was mentioned only as a commemoration within the Mass of Saint Alphonsus. The revision of the calendar of saints in 1969 removed the mention of Saint Stephen I from the General Roman Calendar. However, according to the General Instruction of the Roman Missal, the August 2 Mass may now be celebrated in honor of him, unless in some locality an obligatory celebration is assigned to that day.

Roman Catholic Popes
Preceded by: Lucius I	Bishop of Rome Pope 254–257	Succeeded by: Sixtus II

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• Chapman, John. Studies on the Early Papacy. Port Washington, NY: Kennikat Press, 1971. ISBN 9780804611398
• Duffy, Eamon. Saints and Sinners: A History of the Popes. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2002. ISBN 0300091656
• Fortescue, Adrian, and Scott M. P. Reid. The Early Papacy: To the Synod of Chalcedon in 451. Southampton: Saint Austin Press, 1997. ISBN 9781901157604
• Kelly, John N. D., and Michael J. Walsh. The Oxford Dictionary of Popes. Oxford [u.a.]: Oxford Univ. Press, 2005. ISBN 9780198614333
• Loomis, Louise Ropes. The Book of Popes (Liber Pontificalis). Merchantville, NJ: Evolution Publishing. ISBN 1889758868
• Maxwell-Stuart, P. G. Chronicle of the Popes: The Reign-by-Reign Record of the Papacy from St. Peter to the Present. New York, N.Y.: Thames and Hudson, 1997. ISBN 0500017980.
• Walsh, Michael J. An Illustrated History of the Popes: Saint Peter to John Paul II. Bonanza Books, 1980. ASIN B000O9Y9I6

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