Today, we celebrate the feast day of St Stephen. Born to a pagan in the 10th century, Stephen’s father was the chief of the Magyars, an ethnic group that lived in the Danube river region of the present-day country of country. He and his family were baptized as Christians when he was 10 years old. As an adult, he succeeded his father as the chief and supported his people’s conversion to Christianity. He requested that the Pope confer the title of king upon him, which was done on Christmas Day in the year 1001. He supported the building of churches and tithes to support the poor. He was canonized as a saint 50 years after his death in 1038. He is the patron saint of bricklayers and the country of Hungary.
Our psalm states today: “My strength and my courage is the LORD, and he has been my savior. With joy you will draw water at the fountain of salvation.” I really enjoy learning about the saints, about how they lived out their faith in the reality of their lives. St Stephen took strength and courage from his faith in the Lord, echoing the theme of today's psalm and helping transform an entire country to Christianity. We unite our prayers with the prayers of St Stephen today.
No comments:
Post a Comment