Saint of the Day, December 26

Saint Stephen, called Protomartyr because he was the first of the Christian witnesses to die for the name of Christ, appears in the sixth chapter of the Acts of the Apostles as one of the seven men of good repute, "filled with the Spirit and with wisdom," whom the Apostles chose and ordained as the first deacons of the Church in Jerusalem. He was set apart especially to oversee the daily distribution of food to the Hellenist widows, a ministry of charity that freed the Apostles for prayer and the word.