Latest / Vox Liturgica / The Finding of St. Stephen | pre-1955 Missal | Latin Mass Readings | 8/3/2026

Transcript

The Finding of St. Stephen | pre-1955 Missal | Latin Mass Readings | 8/3/2026 · Vox Liturgica

• 0:00
  Vox Liturgica: The propers of the day according to the Roman Missal before 1955. The finding of Saint Stephen, August 3 in the year of our Lord 2026.
• 0:20
  The church, says Dom Gaspar Lefebvre, solemnizes on December 26, the feast of Saint Stephen, and on January 2, the octave of this saint. She holds the station on Passion Friday in the church dedicated to Saint Stephen on Mount Kilius at Rome. On August 10, she will celebrate the feast of Saint Lawrence whose remains which are more precious, says the writers of the first centuries, than gold and precious stones are with those of the deacon Stephen, which had been translated from Palestine to the capital of the Christian world.
• 1:06
  Today's mass commemorates the miraculous finding by a priest of these relics at Kafir Gamala on December 5 in the year of our Lord 04/2015. Except the collect, it is the same as that on December 26, the date of the translation of these remains from Kafir Gemullah to Jerusalem. For Gamaliel, the teacher of Saint Paul, so much esteemed among the doctors of Israel that at his death it was declared that the glory of Israel has disappeared, had buried 20 miles from that town at his country house, the holy martyr Stephen, Nicodemus, and his own son, Abibus. He himself was buried there. These precious relics long ignored or miraculously discovered and wrought numerous cures.
• 2:10
  The introit and the epistle recall how Stephen, filled with the Holy Ghost, convicted the Jews of error and how they, hating Christ as their fathers had hated him, seized Stephen and stoned him to death. Let us honor Saint Stephen and imitating his prayers for his persecutors relayed in the Epistle and the Communion, let us learn by his example to love our enemies, a grace which we pray for in the Collect. In the name of the father, and of the son, and of the holy ghost. Amen. The introit.
• 3:01
  Princes sat and spoke against me, and the wicked persecuted me. Help me, O Lord my God, for thy servant was employed in thy justifications. Blessed are they who walk through life's journey unstained, following the law of the Lord. Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the holy ghost as it was in the beginning is now and will be through all ages of ages. Amen.
• 3:39
  Princes sat and spoke against me and the wicked persecuted me. Help me, O Lord my God, for thy servant was employed in thy justifications. The Collect. Let us pray. Grant to us we beseech thee, O Lord, to imitate that which we venerate, that we also may learn to love our enemies because we celebrate the finding of him who knew to pray even for his persecutors.
• 4:18
  A prayer for the intercession of all the saints. From all perils of mind and body, defend us, we beseech thee, O Lord. And through the intercession of the blessed and glorious Mary, ever Virgin, mother of God, together with blessed Joseph, and thy blessed apostles Peter and Paul and blessed Stephen and all the saints, graciously grant us salvation and peace that all evils and errors being overthrown, thy church may serve thee in untroubled freedom. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, thy Son, who liveth and reigneth with thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God through all ages of ages. Amen.
• 5:12
  A lesson from the acts of the apostles. In those days, Stephen, full of grace and fortitude, was working great wonders and signs among the people. But there arose some from the synagogue, which is called that of the freedmen and of the Cyrenians and of the Alexandrians and of those from Cilicia and the province of Asia disputing with Stephen and they were not able to withstand the wisdom and the spirit who spoke. Now as they heard these things, they were cut to the heart and gnashed their teeth at him. But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.
• 6:10
  And he said, behold, I see the heavens opened and the son of man standing at the right hand of God. But they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and rushed upon him altogether. And they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul. And while they were stoning Stephen, he prayed and said, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.
• 6:54
  And falling on his knees, he cried out with a loud voice saying, Lord, do not lay this sin against them. And with these words, he fell asleep. The gradual. Princes sat and spoke against me, and the wicked persecuted me. Help me, o Lord my God.
• 7:25
  Save me for thy mercy's sake. Alleluia. Alleluia. I see the heavens opened and Jesus standing on the right hand of almighty God. Alleluia.
• 7:43
  A continuation of the Holy Gospel according to Matthew. At that time Jesus said to the scribes and the pharisees, behold I send to you prophets and wise men and scribes and some of them you put to death and crucify And some you scourge in your synagogues and persecute from town to town. That upon you may come all the just blood that has been shed upon the earth from the blood of Abel the just even unto the blood of Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, whom you killed between the temple and the altar. Amen, I say to you. All these things shall come upon this generation.
• 8:37
  Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone them that are sent to you, How often would I have gathered your children together as the hen gathers her children under her wings, but you refused it. Behold, your house shall be left to you desolate. For I say to you, you shall not see me henceforth until the time when you will be saying, blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. The Offeratory The apostles chose Stephen, a Levite, a man full of faith in the Holy Ghost, who, while the Jews stoned him, he prayed saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. The secret, may we devoutly deal with thy mysteries, O Lord, for the honor of thy holy martyrs and by them may both protection and joy be increased unto us.
• 9:56
  A prayer for the intercession of all the saints. Hear us, O God our Savior, that by the virtue of this sacrament thou mayest defend us from all enemies of mind and body, bestowing upon us both grace in this life and glory in the life to come through our Lord Jesus Christ, thy Son, who liveth and reigneth with thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God through all ages of ages. Amen. The common preface. Just it is indeed and fitting right and for our salvation, that we should at all times and in all places give thanks unto thee, O Holy Lord, Father Almighty, everlasting God, through whom the angels praise thy majesty, the dominions worship it, the powers stand in awe, the heavens and the hosts of heaven, together with the blessed Seraphim, joyfully do magnify.
• 11:10
  We entreat thee that thou command it be permitted us to join with them in confessing thee, while we say with lowly praise. Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of hosts, The heavens and the earth are full of thy glory. Hosanna in the highest. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest.
• 11:45
  The communion. I see the heavens opened and Jesus standing on the right hand of almighty God. Lord Jesus, receive my spirit and do not lay this sin against them. The post communion Let us pray. May the mysteries we have received, O Lord, help us and through the intercession of blessed Stephen, thy martyr establish us by thine everlasting protection.
• 12:29
  A prayer for the intercession of all the saints. Cleanse and fortify us, we beseech thee, O Lord, by the oblation of this divine sacrament and through the intercession of the blessed Virgin Mary, mother of God, of blessed Joseph, of thy blessed apostles Peter and Paul, and of blessed Stephen, and of all the saints. May it both purify us from all wickedness and deliver us from all evil through our Lord Jesus Christ, thy son, who liveth and reigneth with thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, God, through all ages of ages. Amen. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.
• 13:29
  Amen. Saint Stephen, proto martyr, pray for us.