[Rank]
In Octava S. Stephani.;;Simplex;;1.1;;vide Sancti/12-26

[Rank1960]
Die Secunda Januarii;;Feria;;1;;vide Sancti/01-01

[RankTrident]
In Octava Sancti Stephani.;;Duplex;;3;;ex Sancti/12-26

[Rule]
vide Sancti/12-26
Feria Te Deum
Comkey=70

[Lectio1]
Lesson from the letter of St Paul the Apostle to the Romans
!Rom 5:1-5
 5:1 BEING justified therefore by faith, let us have peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ:
5:2 By whom also we have access through faith into this grace, wherein we stand, and glory in the hope of the glory of the sons of God.
5:3 And not only so; but we glory also in tribulations, knowing that tribulation worketh patience;
5:4 And patience trial; and trial hope;
5:5 And hope confoundeth not: because the charity of God is poured forth in our hearts, by the Holy Ghost, who is given to us.

[Lectio2]
!Rom 5:6-9
5:6 For why did Christ, when as yet we were weak, according to the time, die for the ungodly?
5:7 For scarce for a just man will one die; yet perhaps for a good man some one would dare to die.
5:8 But God commendeth his charity towards us; because when as yet we were sinners, according to the time,
5:9 Christ died for us; much more therefore, being now justified by his blood, shall we be saved from wrath through him.

[Lectio3]
!Rom 5:10-12
5:10 For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son; much more, being reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.
5:11 And not only so; but also we glory in God, through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received reconciliation.
5:12 Wherefore as by one man sin entered into this world, and by sin death; and so death passed upon all men, in whom all have sinned.

[Responsory1]
@Sancti/01-01:Responsory1

[Responsory2]
@Sancti/01-01:Responsory2

[Responsory3]
@Sancti/01-01:Responsory3

[Lectio93]
From the Sermons of St Austin, Bishop (of Hippo.)
!2nd on St Stephen.
Christ, the Captain of the Martyrs, hath first suffered for us, leaving us an~
example that we should follow His steps, (i Pet. ii. 21.) And truly, Blessed~
Stephen followed them, when, having confessed Christ, he was stoned to death by~
the Jews, and obtained the crown which his name had foreshown. For the meaning~
of the Greek name Stephanos is a crown. Already he had a crown for his name, a~
foreshadowing of the martyr's palm which he beareth in heaven. Then they stoned him he did not rejoice at the thought that God would take~
vengeance on his persecutors. On the contrary, he prayed that they might be~
forgiven.
&teDeum

[Lectio4]
From the Sermons of St Austin, Bishop (of Hippo.)
!2nd on St Stephen.
Even after the glory of yesterday, bright with the splendour of Christ our~
Saviour's Birth, this day findeth itself an illumination of its own from the~
crown of the blessed Martyr Stephen. The whole earth knoweth how manfully he~
fought and conquered for he suffered at the very fountain-head of the Church,~
that is to say, in Jerusalem. It was in the Church there that he ministered as a~
Deacon and in the youthful springtime of life dyed with his blood the lily of~
his purity. His Passion is very glorious, and many ways wonderful, and when we~
read it in the Acts of the Apostles, we seem rather to see than to hear.

[Lectio5]
Christ, the Captain of the Martyrs, hath first suffered for us, leaving us an~
example that we should follow His steps, (i Pet. ii. 21.) And truly, Blessed~
Stephen followed them, when, having confessed Christ, he was stoned to death by~
the Jews, and obtained the crown which his name had foreshown. For the meaning~
of the Greek name Stephanos is a crown. Already he had a crown for his name, a~
foreshadowing of the martyr's palm which he beareth in heaven.

[Lectio6]
Then they stoned him he did not rejoice at the thought that God would take~
vengeance on his persecutors. On the contrary, he prayed that they might be~
forgiven. For he remembered the word of the Lord, that saith Vengeance~
belongeth unto Me, I will recompense, saith the Lord, (Heb. x. 30,) and again:~
Say not thou; I will recompense evil to mine enemies, but wait on the Lord,~
and He shall save thee. (Prov. xx. 22.) The Lord God biddeth us also be patient,~
knowing that in the great day of retribution, we, as well as His holy martyrs,~
shall be righted.

[Lectio7]
From the Holy Gospel according to Matthew
!Matt 23:34-35
In that time Jesus said to the scribes and Pharisee: Behold I send to you~
prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them you will put to death and~
crucify. And so on.
_
Homily by St Jerome, Priest (at Bethlehem.)
!Bk. iv. Comment, on Matth. xxiii.
O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the Prophets. The Jerusalem that~
killed the Prophets was not the material stone and houses, but they that dwelt~
therein. He wept over her with a father's love, as also it is written in another~
place that, when He saw the city, He wept over it. (Luke xix. 41.) How often~
would I have gathered thy children together. Here observe that Christ avoweth~
that He had been the Sender of all the former Prophets. Even as an hen gathereth~
her chickens under her wings. A similar figure is found in the Song of Moses in~
Deuteronomy, xxxii. II, As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her~
young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, and beareth them on her wings.

[Lectio8]
Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. God had already spoken these~
things once before, by the mouth of Jeremiah, where He saith I have forsaken~
Mine house, I have left Mine heritage; Mine inheritance is become unto Me like~
an hyaena's den. (xii. 7.) The house of the Jews, which was to be left unto~
them desolate, is that Temple, whose splendour they loved only too well, when~
they slew the Owner of it for the sake of it, and said of Christ, This is the~
heir; come, let us kill Him, and the inheritance shall be ours. ( Matth. xxi.~
38.)

[Lectio9]
I say unto you, Ye shall not see Me henceforth, till ye shall say Blessed is~
he that cometh in the name of the Lord. Here He speaketh to Jerusalem and to the~
Jewish people. The words, Blessed is He That cometh in the name of the Lord,~
were indeed spoken by babes and sucklings when the Saviour entered Jerusalem in~
triumph, and they that went before and they that followed, cried, saying, '~
Blessed is He That cometh in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest,'~
(Mark xi. 9,) but they are originally taken from Psalm cxvii. 26. -Which Psalm~
is all evidently written in honour of the coniing of our Lord.
&teDeum

[Oratio]
O Almighty and everlasting God, Who hast dedicated the first-fruits of thy~
Martyrs with the blood of the Blessed Stephen; grant, we beseech thee, that the~
same may pray for us also, who prayed even for his murderers
$Per Dominum
