Stephen was born c AD5, was a deacon in the early church at Jerusalem and became the first Christian martyr. He is first mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles, as one of the Seven Deacons who were appointed by the Apostles to distribute food and charitable aid to poorer members of the community in the early church.

But he went further and angered members of various synagogues by his teachings, and in particular, in a big speech to the Sanhedrin – the judicial and legislative body among the Jews - where, he presented the case for Israel's disobedience to God and claimed that Jesus would destroy the Temple in Jerusalem and had changed the customs laid out by of Moses (see Acts ch 7). He called his audience "stiff-necked" and said that they, like their ancestors, had resisted the Holy Spirit.

As a result, he was accused of blasphemy and stoned to death, in AD34. Saul of Tarsus, later known as Paul the Apostle, a Pharisee and Roman citizen who would later become an apostle, participated in Stephen's execution.

Artistic representations often show Stephen with a crown symbolising martyrdom, three stones, martyr's palm frond, censer, and often holding a miniature church building. Stephen himself is often shown beardless, with a tonsure, and wearing a deacon's vestments.

In 415, a priest named Lucian purportedly had a dream that revealed the location of Stephen's remains at Beit Jimal, some 40km SW of Jerusalem, His relics then were taken to the Church of Hagia Sion in Jerusalem, on 26 December 415, and this date became his feast day. His relics were later transferred to Rome by Pope Pelagius II during the construction of the basilica of San Lorenzo fuori le Mura and interred alongside those of Saint Lawrence. One legend has it that the relics of St Lawrence moved miraculously to one side to make room for Stephen. Another tradition claims that Stephen’s relics are located in Kudassanad in Kerala in India.

Stephen is the patron saint of deacons and stonemasons.

Picture above: part of a painting by Carlo Crivelli from The Demidoff Altarpiece, currently in the National Gallery, London