[Rank]
De Inventione S. Stephani Protomartyris;;Semiduplex;;2;;vide C2

[Oratio]
@Sancti/12-26::s/heavenly birthday/Finding of the holy body/

[Lectio1]
From the Acts of Apostles.
!Acts 7:51-54
51 You stiffnecked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Ghost: as your fathers did, so do you also.
52 Which of the prophets have not your fathers persecuted? And they have slain them who foretold of the coming of the Just One; of whom you have been now the betrayers and murderers:
53 Who have received the law by the disposition of angels, and have not kept it.
54 Now hearing these things, they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed with their teeth at him.

[Lectio2]
!Acts 7:55-58
55 But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looking up steadfastly to heaven, saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God. And he said: Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God.
56 And they crying out with a loud voice, stopped their ears, and with one accord ran violently upon him.
57 And casting him forth without the city, they stoned him; and the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man, whose name was Saul.
58 And they stoned Stephen, invoking, and saying: Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.

[Lectio3]
!Acts 7:59; 8:1-2
59 And falling on his knees, he cried with a loud voice, saying: Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep in the Lord. And Saul was consenting to his death.
1 And at that time there was raised a great persecution against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all dispersed through the countries of Judea, and Samaria, except the apostles.
2 And devout men took order for Stephen's funeral, and made great mourning over him.

[Lectio4]
In (the year of our Lord 415,) in the reign of the Emperor Honorius, a Priest named Lucian, (dwelling at Caphargamala, about twenty miles from Jerusalem,) received a message from God, in consequence of which discovery was made of the bodies of the Saints Stephen the First Martyr, Gamaliel, Nicodemus, and Abibon, (the son of Gamaliel,) which had long been lying unknown and unheeded. Lucian was asleep when Gamaliel appeared to him in a dream as a tall comely old man of worshipful presence, told him where the bodies were lying, and bade him go to John, Patriarch of Jerusalem, and deal with him that they might have more honourable burial.

[Lectio5]
When the Patriarch of Jerusalem heard it, he called together Bishops and Priests from the neighbouring cities, and betook himself to the place, where he found the tombs hewn in the rock, and a right sweet savour flowing forth from them. The thing being noised abroad, a great multitude of people came together, and many that were sick and weak of diverse diseases returned home whole. The sacred body of holy Stephen was then carried with great pomp to the holy Church of Zion. Under the Emperor Theodosius the Younger it was taken to Constantinople and during the Popedom of Pelagius I. it was brought to Rome, where it has been laid in the sepulchre of the holy Martyr Lawrence in the Veranian Field.

[Lectio6]
From the Book upon The City of God, written by St. Augustine, Bishop (of Hippo,)
!xxii. 8
When the Bishop Projectus brought some reliques of that most glorious Martyr Stephen to Tibilis, a great multitude came together and went out to meet the shrine. A blind woman prayed to be led to the Bishop who was bearing the hallowed deposit. She laid on the reliques the flowers which she was carrying, took them up again, touched her eyes with them and forthwith saw. She went forward rejoicing, at the head of the amazed procession, choosing her own path, and needing no more that any should lead her. I remember also the shrine of this same Martyr which hath been placed in the town of Synica, hard by this city of Hippo. Lucillus, Bishop of that place, was carrying it, with a multitude going before and following after when, all of a sudden, by bearing this hallowed burden, he was healed of the emerods, from which he was even then suffering, and which were being treated by a physician, an intimate friend of his, who was about to cut them.

[Lectio7]
From the Holy Gospel according to Matthew
!Matt 23:34-39
At that time Jesus said unto the Scribes and Pharisees Behold, I send unto you Prophets, and wise men, and Scribes and some of them ye shall kill and crucify. And so on.
_
Homily on this passage by St. Jerome, Priest (at Bethlehem.)
!Bk. iv. Commentary on Matth. xxiii.
We have already remarked that the Lord's words, Fill ye up the measure of your fathers, (32,) refer in the first place to Himself, Whom the Jews afterwards put to death. In a secondary sense it may likewise be applied to His disciples, of whom He saith, Behold, I send unto you Prophets, and wise men, and Scribes. Here observe that, according to the Apostle writing to the Corinthians, (1 Cor. xii. 4,) there are diversities of gifts among Christ's followers. Some are Prophets of that which is to come some are wise men, who know the due season for rebuke and exhortation some are Scribes learned in the law. And of these they stoned Stephen, slew Paul with the sword, crucified Peter, and scourged the Disciples mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles, (v. 40 xvi. 33.)

[Lectio8]
It is a subject of dispute among commentators who is meant by Zacharias the son of Barachias. We read of several persons of the name of Zacharias. But here, in order to prevent any mistake, it is particularly said, Whom ye slew between the temple and the altar. I have read various opinions in various places upon this question, and I will give each. First, some hold that Zacharias the son of Barachias is the eleventh of the twelve Minor Prophets and this opinion is supported by the father's name. But the Bible nowhere telleth us that this Prophet was slain between the temple and the altar and it is hardly possible that he can have been, for in his time it could scarcely be said that even the ruins of the temple were in existence. Secondly, others maintain that this Zacharias was Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist. This interpretation is derived from the dreams of the Apocryphal Gospels, wherein it is asserted that he was martyred for preaching Christ's coming.

[Lectio9]
That Zacharias was not the son of Barachias, but of Jehoiada the priest; whence it is written, Joash remembered not the kindness which Jehoiada his father had done to him. The question therefore ariseth, if this opinion be true, why, the name and manner of death both agreeing with this explanation, Zacharias is called the son, not of Jehoiada, but of Barachias. In Hebrew Barachias signifieth the Blessed of the Lord, and Jehoiada Righteousness. In the Gospel used by the Nazarenes, the name of Jehoiada is used instead of Barachias.
&teDeum

[Lectio94]
The bodies of the Saints Stephen the Protomartyr, Gamaliel, Nicodemus, and Abibon, were found near Jerusalem, a right sweet savour flowing forth from them, by John, Patriarch of Jerusalem. The thing being noised abroad, a great multitude of people came together, and many that were sick and weak of diverse diseases returned home whole. The sacred body of holy Stephen was then carried with great pomp to the holy Church of Sion. Under the Emperor Theodosius the Younger it was taken to Constantinople; and during the Popedom of Pelagius I it was brought to Rome, where it hath been laid in the sepulchre of the holy Martyr Lawrence in the Veranian Field.
&teDeum