The story of Saint Stephen

31 gennaio 2021
Today we talk about another martyr saint represented in the retablo of the Holy Christ: Saint Stephen, the first martyr of Christian history.
He was one of the first seven deacons chosen by the early Christian community to assist the Apostles in their mission and became an evangelist.
Stephen was such an excellent and effective orator, that the Jews accused him of blasphemy, and he was led in front of the supreme council of the Jews, the Sanhedrin, where he kept on preaching the magnificence of his God: this angered the crowd and he was dragged outside the city walls of Jerusalem and stoned to death.
It is believed he died around the year 34 A.D., not very long after Jesus Christ's death.
So, that’s why he is often represented carrying a pile of rocks or with rocks on his head.
In this painting, Saint Stephen is holding a book with three rocks on it.