Collect for St. Stephen's Day (1928 BCP)

Collect for St. Stephen's Day (1928 BCP) is the collect appointed for Saint Stephen, Deacon and Martyr, on December 26 in the 1928 American Book of Common Prayer. It asks that Christians who suffer "for the testimony of thy truth" may look by faith to the heavenly glory seen by Stephen, be filled with the Holy Ghost, and learn to bless persecutors after the pattern of the first martyr.

Text of the Collect

GRANT, O Lord, that, in all our sufferings here upon earth for the testimony of thy truth, we may stedfastly look up to heaven, and by faith behold the glory that shall be revealed; and, being filled with the Holy Ghost, may learn to love and bless our persecutors by the example of thy first Martyr Saint Stephen, who prayed for his murderers to thee, O blessed Jesus, who standest at the right hand of God to succour all those who suffer for thee, our only Mediator and Advocate. Amen.

Prayer Book Setting

In the 1928 propers, St. Stephen's Day immediately follows Christmas Day and is paired with the appointed Epistle from Acts 7:55-end and the Gospel from Matthew 23:34-end. The collect does not treat martyrdom as abstract heroism. Its petitions are drawn directly from Stephen's vision, prayer, and death, and then placed on the lips of the whole Church.

The 1662 English Prayer Book gives the same basic collect, with small verbal differences from the 1928 American text. It reads "all those that suffer for thee" where the 1928 book has "all those who suffer for thee":

Grant, O Lord, that in all our sufferings here upon earth, for the testimony of thy truth, we may stedfastly look up to heaven, and by faith behold the glory that shall be revealed; and, being filled with the Holy Ghost, may learn to love and bless our persecutors by the example of thy first Martyr Saint Stephen, who prayed for his murderers to thee, O blessed Jesus, who standest at the right hand of God to succour all those that suffer for thee, our only Mediator and Advocate. Amen.

Procter and Frere explain the liturgical placement of Stephen, John, and the Holy Innocents immediately after Christmas as a theological sequence rather than a loose calendar accident:

After Christmas Day immediately follow the three Holy Days of S. Stephen, S. John, and The Innocents. S. Stephen was the first martyr; S. John was the disciple whom Jesus loved; and the slaughter of the children at Bethlehem was the first result of the Saviour's birth. "Martyrdom, love, and innocence are first to be magnified, as wherein Christ is most honoured."

They also trace the Stephen collect through the older Latin and pre-1661 English forms. That history shows why the 1928 prayer is centered on loving enemies, but now with fuller language from Acts 7 about Stephen's vision of Christ:

The Collects in each case went through some amplification in the revision of 1661, but they are still based upon the Latin Collects. Further alteration has been made in the Epistles for S. Stephen's Day and S. John's Day.

Clause by Clause

The opening petition, "Grant, O Lord," makes the collect a prayer for grace rather than a mere admiration of Stephen. The Church asks to receive in suffering what Stephen received in martyrdom: steadfast sight of Christ, the fullness of the Holy Ghost, and charity toward enemies.

"In all our sufferings here upon earth for the testimony of thy truth" ties the collect to witness. The appointed Gospel warns that God's messengers are often rejected, so the prayer prepares the congregation for faithful testimony without revenge:

Behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city.

"We may stedfastly look up to heaven" is a direct allusion to Acts 7. The collect is not asking for escape from earthly suffering, but for the eye of faith to be fixed where Stephen's own eyes were fixed:

Stephen, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up stedfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God.

"By faith behold the glory that shall be revealed" turns Stephen's unique vision into the Church's ordinary hope. The congregation does not claim Stephen's literal sight, but asks to behold the promised glory by faith, especially when witness to Christ is costly.

"Being filled with the Holy Ghost" keeps the prayer from reducing martyrdom to natural courage. In Acts, Stephen's endurance and forgiveness are the work of the Spirit. The same Spirit-filled witness is also implied in the 1928 Ordinal, where Stephen appears as the first named deacon:

Almighty God, who by thy divine providence hast appointed divers Orders of Ministers in thy Church, and didst inspire thine Apostles to choose into the Order of Deacons the first Martyr Saint Stephen, with others.

"May learn to love and bless our persecutors" is the collect's moral petition. Stephen's last prayer echoes Christ's own forgiveness from the cross, and the collect asks the Church to learn that charity rather than merely praise it:

And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep.

"O blessed Jesus, who standest at the right hand of God" gives the collect its Christological center. Stephen prays to Jesus; the collect prays to the same Jesus as the living Advocate. The persecuted Church is therefore not sustained by Stephen as an independent patron, but by Christ himself, standing "to succour all those who suffer for thee."

Historical Notes

The feast was already ancient in Western observance. The interleaved Prayer Book commentary summarizes its antiquity and the Prayer Book lesson history:

The festival of St Stephen, Martyr, has been celebrated from the 4th century. See note on Collect. The First Lessons were appointed in 1559, the Second in 1549.

The same commentary records a traditional explanation for the close association of Stephen, John, and the Innocents after Christmas, while preferring a more historical explanation based on Stephen's priority in martyrdom, the Innocents' connection with Christ's birth, and John's friendship with the Lord:

The Ritualists assign as a reason for the close association of the three Festivals of St Stephen, St John, and the Innocents, the triple kind of martyrdom which they endured--St Stephen in will and deed, St John in will, the Innocents in deed.

Theological Use

The collect teaches that martyrdom is witness to Christ before it is a dramatic form of death. Stephen's charity toward his killers is not separated from his vision of Jesus; forgiveness flows from seeing the crucified and exalted Lord as Advocate. For that reason the collect is useful not only on December 26 but whenever Christians pray for endurance under hostility, resentment, or costly witness.

The prayer also keeps Christmas from becoming sentimental. The day after the Nativity, the Church remembers the first martyr and asks for grace to suffer truthfully, hopefully, and charitably. In the 1928 Prayer Book pattern, the child born at Bethlehem is immediately confessed as the risen and ascended Jesus who stands at God's right hand to help those who suffer for him.

See Also

• Book of Common Prayer (1928)
• Collects Epistles and Gospels (1928 BCP)
• Church Calendar (1928 BCP)
• Holy Communion (1928 BCP)

External Links

• 1928 Common Prayer, The 1928 Book of Common Prayer: The Standard Book
• Church of England, Saint Stephen's Day (1662 BCP)
• Procter and Frere, A New History of The Book of Common Prayer
• Campion and Beamont, The Prayer Book Interleaved