From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Stephen I
Birth name	Stephen
Papacy began	ca. May 12, 254
Papacy ended	August 2, 257
Predecessor	Lucius I
Successor	Sixtus II
Born	??? Rome, Italy
Died	August 2, 257 Rome, Italy
Other popes named Stephen

Styles of Pope Stephen I
Reference style	His Holiness
Spoken style	Your Holiness
Religious style	Holy Father
Posthumous style	Saint

Pope Saint Stephen I served as Bishop of Rome from May 12, 254 to August 2, 257.

Of Roman birth but of Greek ancestry, he became bishop of Rome in 254, having served as archdeacon of Pope Lucius I, who appointed Stephen his successor.

At the time internal disputes racking the Church were as much a threat as the external persecutions. Following the "Decian persecution" of 250 - 251 churches split over how to deal with the lapsed, with the strictest approach that of Novatian, later declared a heretic, which led to further controversy over whether to accept baptism from splinter groups as legitimate sacrament. In the early part of his pontificate Stephen was urged by Faustinus, Bishop of Lyon, to take action against Marcian, Bishop of Arles, who denied communion to the penitent among those whose faith had lapsed during the persecutions, the position called "Novatianism".

Stephen also held that converts from splinter churches that might be heretical did not need rebaptism, while Cyprian and certain bishops of the Roman province of Africa held it necessary for admission to communion. Stephen's view eventually won broad acceptance, but in his own life time the persecutions grew more violent. He is also mentioned as having insisted on the restoration of the bishops of León and Astorga, who had been deposed for unfaithfulness during the persecution but afterwards had repented. In Rome, he gathered his congregation to celebrate mass in the catacombs, in the tombs of the martyrs. On August 2, 257, Stephen was sitting on the pontifical throne in the catacombs when the emperor's men came and beheaded him. As late as the 18th century, the chair was preserved, still stained with blood. His feast day in the Roman Catholic Church is August 2.

Note that the Old Catholic Encyclopedia of 1913 cited below regards as highly dubious the claim that Stephen was a martyr. This is more likely to be a conflation with his successor Pope Sixtus II, who was one of the first victims of Valerian's 258 persecution. Valerian's original persecution in 257 did not have the orders to summary execution of bishops, so it is unlikely that Stephen was one of Valerian's martyrs. Saint Stephen I. is the patron of Hvar.

• "Pope St. Stephen I" in the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia.
• Opera Omnia