Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
To quiet the murmuring of the Greeks, the Apostles appoint seven Deacons, among whom St. Stephen is preeminent; in verse 19, disputing with the Jews and refuting them, he is seized by them and is arraigned in the council as guilty of violating the Mosaic Law.
Vulgate Text: Acts 6:1-15
1. And in those days, the number of the disciples increasing, there arose a murmuring of the Greeks against the Hebrews, because their widows were neglected in the daily ministration. 2. Then the twelve, calling together the multitude of the disciples, said: It is not reasonable that we should leave the word of God, and serve tables. 3. Wherefore, brethren, look out among you seven men of good reputation, full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business. 4. But we will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the word. 5. And the saying was pleasing in the sight of the whole multitude. And they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolas a proselyte of Antioch. 6. These they set before the Apostles; and they praying, imposed hands upon them. 7. And the word of the Lord increased; and the number of the disciples was multiplied in Jerusalem exceedingly; a great multitude also of the priests obeyed the faith. 8. And Stephen, full of grace and fortitude, did great wonders and signs among the people. 9. Now there arose some of that which is called the synagogue of the Libertines, and of the Cyrenians, and of the Alexandrians, and of them that were of Cilicia and Asia, disputing with Stephen; 10. and they were not able to resist the wisdom and the spirit that spoke. 11. Then they suborned men to say that they had heard him speak words of blasphemy against Moses and against God. 12. And they stirred up the people, and the elders, and the scribes; and running together, they took him, and brought him to the council. 13. And they set up false witnesses, who said: This man ceases not to speak words against the holy place and the law. 14. For we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth shall destroy this place, and shall change the traditions which Moses delivered unto us. 15. And all that sat in the council, looking on him, saw his face as if it had been the face of an angel.
Verse 1: A Murmuring of the Greeks Against the Hebrews
1. IN THOSE DAYS — in which the Apostles had been imprisoned and scourged, as preceded. So St. Chrysostom. Lucius Dexter in his Chronicle has handed down that these Deacons were created in the year of Christ 34, a little after His ascent into heaven, by the will and counsel of the Blessed Virgin: "The Apostles," he says, "appoint seven Apostolic Deacons, all from the Greeks." Baronius teaches that they were created in the same year, and from Eusebius in his Chronicle adds, that in the same year James the son of Alphaeus, the brother of the Lord, was ordained Bishop of Jerusalem by St. Peter, on the 27th of December, and sat for 29 years.
AS THE NUMBER GREW. — For through persecutions the Church always has grown and is growing: "We are made more numerous as often as we are mowed down by you: the blood of Christians is seed," says Tertullian, Apology, final chapter. For such was the modesty, piety, innocence, fortitude, charity, such the contempt of torments and of death, such the ardor of suffering for Christ, that shone forth in the face of the Apostles and Martyrs, that it carried away the Gentiles to embrace their faith and life. For they saw that these gifts were above the powers of nature, and could be inspired by none other than God. Hence St. Jerome, in the Life of S. Malchus: "By persecutions," he says, "the Church grew, by martyrdoms it was crowned."
THERE AROSE A MURMURING OF THE GREEKS AGAINST THE HEBREWS. — Behold, after persecutions schisms vex the Church, of which there was a twofold cause. The first, multitude and crowd: among the few there stood one soul and one heart; among the many, the souls of many crept in, and many hearts, that is, diverse judgments, desires, wills, cupidities, which in part broke up this union. We see the same thing happen in religious Orders and monasteries, according to that saying: "Thou hast multiplied the nation: thou hast not increased the joy," Isaiah ix, 3. The second, the diversity of nations: for the Greeks contend with the Hebrews. For each is wont to love his own nation more than a foreign one, and even to think little of foreigners, and even at times to turn away from them and hate them. Wherefore Paul frequently warns the faithful that these dissensions of nations, languages, and customs must be laid aside in Christ and the Church: "There is neither Jew," he says, "nor Greek; there is neither slave nor free; there is neither male nor female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus," Galatians 3:28.
OF THE GREEKS. — Hellēnistōn, that is, of the Graecists, or Hellenizers — namely, of the Jews who, born outside of Judaea in Greece or having long lived there, used the Greek language and Greek customs. For these were called not Hellēnes, that is, Greeks, but Hellēnistai, that is, Graecists. For Josephus relates that the Hebrews led colonies into Greece, such as to Lacedaemon, and into Ionia (book XII of the Antiquities, chapter v; and book XIV, chapter ix; and book XVI, chapter iv). For the Gentiles do not yet appear to have been admitted to the Church and to Christianity: for the first to be admitted to it appears to have been Cornelius, of whom in chapter x. The Gloss and others, however, hold the contrary, who by "Greeks" understand the Gentiles: for it is probable that some Gentiles mixed with the Jews, having heard Peter's preaching, were converted to Christ, of which more in chapter x. Bozius notes, in De Signis Ecclesiae, book XIX, chapter iii, that the Greeks, as they were the first to murmur, so were the first to make a schism and depart from the Church, being inclined to novelties and factions: although by "Greeks" or "Hellenizers" here are called not only those who came from Greece, but also those who came from Cilicia, Parthia, Media, or any other region of the Gentiles: for after the times of Alexander the Great and Antiochus, the Jews called all Gentiles Greeks. Whence the Apostle, Romans 1:16, and elsewhere, opposes the Jew to the Greek, that is, to the Gentile.
THE HEBREWS. — those who, born in Judaea, spoke Hebrew, but in a corrupt form — that is, Syriac.
BECAUSE THEIR WIDOWS WERE BEING DESPISED IN THE DAILY MINISTRATION. — What was this contempt? what ministry? First, Rabanus thinks that the Greek women were assigned by the Hebrews to the meaner ministries and were oppressed with too much labor. Second, S. Chrysostom and Bede think that the Greek widows, as being more uncultured, were rebuffed by the Hebrews from ministering, so that they ministered more rarely than the Hebrew women. Third, Oecumenius, whom Gagneius and Cajetan follow, takes this ministry not actively, as Bede does, but passively — namely, by which the necessities of life were divided out and ministered to them; that is to say, the widows of the Greeks were poorly fed. All these meanings are probable and connected. For there belonged to the widows a ministry not only passive but also active, properly so called: for they themselves, as elder matrons of households, ministered and divided necessities to others. For Deacons were ordained in their place for this ministry. For the Apostles, about to meet the murmuring, actively say: "It is not fitting for us to serve at tables," and therefore they create Deacons to minister to them in place of the widows. From the widows therefore the whole murmuring crept to the men: for women, as they have less judgment than men, so are more led by private affections. The origin therefore of the murmuring seems to have been this: that the Hebrew widows, because they were Hebrews, arrogated to themselves the more honorable and richer ministries — especially the distribution of food and clothing, as will be evident at verse 3 — but relegated the cheaper and slighter ones to the Greek widows. Again, that in the distribution of food and clothing they seemed to favor more and to give more to the Hebrews than to the Greeks.
Morally: from this learn that, in every commonwealth and community, the cause of peace and concord is equality, namely if all are treated with equal right and manner; but the cause of murmuring and discord is inequality, if some wish to dominate over others, or to have more. So we see in monasteries that, where this equality is exactly preserved, peace and discipline are perfect; but where not, both languish and perish.
Verse 2: It Is Not Fitting
2. IT IS NOT FITTING (the Tigurine, "it is not commendable"; Pagninus, "it is not pleasing to God and men"; the Syriac, "it is not a fair thing"; others, "it is not fitting": all these are signified by areston) FOR US TO ABANDON THE WORD OF GOD (to teach and preach) AND to serve at tables. — that is to say: It is for us to feed your souls with spiritual food, namely the word of God; it is therefore right that we should not be detained by the care of feeding your bodies with bodily food; let us therefore commit it to others less occupied. Hence it is plain that the "ministry" in which the widows of the Greeks were despised, and on account of which they were murmuring, was "to serve at tables" — namely, to take care of those things which pertain to food and drink and the sustenance of life. Where note that these tables were partly sacred and partly profane and common. For first, these first faithful celebrated the Eucharist, then the agape — that is, a common banquet of all the faithful as a sign of charity — and to both ministries Deacons were assigned, indeed ordained, of which more shortly. For from the ministry they are called in Greek Diakonoi, that is, ministers.
Let Bishops and Prelates note here that the management of their temporal affairs is to be committed to others, but that the governance of the Church and preaching belongs to themselves. This S. Basil, S. Gregory Nazianzen, and S. Augustine knew, who could not even bear to speak of their own temporal affairs, or to hear their accounts — as is evident in their Lives, and especially in that of S. Augustine, in Possidonius, chapter 24. See S. Bernard, book IV On Consideration, chapter 9.
Verse 3: Seven Men of Good Testimony, Full of the Holy Spirit
3. OF GOOD TESTIMONY. — marturoumenous, that is, as Vatablus says, attested by good testimony: the Tigurine, of approved probity, namely those to whom the people bear witness of prudence, faith, and upright life — those who are of good repute. So S. Leo, epistle 87, chapter 1, requires in the election of Bishops "the suffrage, the testimonies of the peoples, the judgment of those held in honor, the election of the clergy." Testimony therefore belongs to the people, election to the Clergy, ordination to the Bishops. Sophronius — or rather John Moschus — relates in Pratum Spirituale, chapter 149, that this S. Leo kept vigil in prayer at the tomb of S. Peter, and asked pardon of his sins, and that S. Peter answered him: "I have prayed for thee, and thy sins are remitted to thee; except for the imposition of hands: this alone shall be required of thee, whether thou hast acted well, or perhaps ill." Let Bishops therefore see whom they ordain, and let them diligently first examine and scrutinize them.
SEVEN. — after the likeness of the seven angels: for as those assist and minister to God as His chief ministers, so these seven Deacons used to assist and minister to S. James and the rest of the Apostles. See what is said at Apocalypse 1:4. Therefore they chose seven Deacons in the Church militant, that they might correspond to the same number of Deacons, that is, ministers of God, in the Church triumphant. For each of these Churches is one and the same; the one is connected with and subordinated to the other. After their likeness, at Rome there were once appointed seven Deacons called Regionarii, from the seven regions of the city, over which they were placed by Pope Fabian, as his Life records. Pope Evaristus also ordained seven Deacons, who should guard the Bishop while preaching. In the Second Roman Council, under Sylvester, it is decreed, canon 6, that the Cardinal Deacons in the city should be seven. Other Churches decreed the same, as is evident in the Council of Aachen, chapter 7. But as the number of the faithful grew, this number of Deacons was likewise relaxed and enlarged.
FULL OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. — both for patiently bearing and quieting the cavils and murmurings of the widows and orphans, as Oecumenius holds; and for duly performing the other duties of Deacons, of which more shortly.
WHOM WE MAY APPOINT OVER THIS WORK. — Hence S. Chrysostom, Oecumenius, Bede, and Mariana think that these seven Deacons were established only as overseers of tables, but did not obtain any sacred ordination — and so were different from our Deacons, who are ordained for the ministry of the Eucharist and of the Church. The heretics go further, and so even from among the Catholics Durandus, in IV, Distinction 24, Question 2, who absolutely denies that the Diaconate is a Sacrament: for he says only the Priesthood is the sacrament of Order. With Durandus agrees Cajetan, vol. I, treatise 41. And writing on this passage of the Acts, he denies that the Deacons were ministers of the altar. The same is found in a spurious Canon attached to the Sixth Synod, chapter 10, in Theodore Balsamon. But I say both are false; for although it be not of faith (because it is neither expressed in Scripture nor defined by the Church), nevertheless the common opinion of the Fathers and Doctors is that the Diaconate is a Sacrament, and that these first seven Deacons were here initiated into it.
That this is so is evident, first, because these seven Deacons were ordained by the imposition of hands — that is, by a rite similar to that by which Bishops and Presbyters are ordained: therefore as they, so also the Deacons receive the sacrament of Order.
Second, because none others were chosen here as Deacons except those who had from the people a testimony of probity and were full of the Holy Spirit and of wisdom: but these things are not required for the ministry of tables, which the ordinary widows had previously performed, but for sacred ordination. Hence again they ordained them with prayer beforehand, as is wont to be done in the ordination of Priests.
Third, because S. Stephen, a little after ordination, began to preach the Gospel, and that with such force of spirit and grace, which he had received in his ordination, that none of the Jews was able to resist him.
Fourth, because S. Paul always joins Deacons with Bishops — under which he also includes Priests — and exacts of them great holiness and perfection. Moreover he instituted them at Ephesus, Philippi, and Crete, where, however, there was neither a common life nor a common table of the faithful, and consequently there were no overseers of tables there: therefore the Deacons there had another and higher ministry. See I Timothy, chapter 3, verse 2; to Titus, chapter 1, verse 6; Philippians 1:1.
Fifth, because Deacons in the absence of Priests can baptize, administer the Eucharist, reconcile public penitents, preach, etc., as is plain from the Council of Nicaea, chapter 14; S. Cyprian, book III, epistle 17; S. Gregory, book IV, epistle 88; the Second Council of Valence, chapter 2; and from the Life of S. Vincent, Martyr and Deacon, who used to preach by the Bishop's command: indeed of old, ordinarily, Deacons used to administer the Blood of the Lord to the people, as is plain from the acts of S. Lawrence, and from S. Cyprian, sermon 5 On the Lapsed, and from S. Justin, Apology II, and from the Council of Carthage, book IV, chapter 38. Therefore as Priests are ordained for these things and receive grace to perform them duly, so also Deacons.
Sixth, the Diaconate, once received, cannot be lost or repeated; therefore it imprints a character: therefore it is a Sacrament.
Seventh, the Diaconate by the institution of the Apostles has celibacy attached to it, as the Council of Carthage teaches, book II, chapter 2. The same has been sanctioned in the Council of Ancyra, chapter 9 or 10; the Council of Agde, under Symmachus; the Second Council of Arles, chapter 2; the First Council of Orange, chapter 22; by Siricius, in his epistle to the African Bishops, chapter 2; by S. Leo, epistle 93; and by others: therefore it is a Sacred Order.
Eighth, because to Deacons by office belong the solemn recitation or chanting of the Gospel, prayer with the Pontiff, the care of silence and peace in the Church (as S. Clement says, book II of the Constitutions, chapter 6), the care of the sacred vessels and treasury of the Church, the distribution of alms; which surely demand a sacred and consecrated minister.
Ninth, this is proved from the Fathers. S. Dionysius places the Deacons among the Sacred Order in his Ecclesiastical Hierarchy, chapter 2 and following, and says, among other things, that they place the holy bread and the chalice of blessing — that is, of the consecration of the Eucharist — upon the altar. S. Ignatius, in his epistle to Hero the Deacon, who succeeded him in the Episcopate of Antioch: "Do nothing," he says, "without the Bishops: for they are priests, but you are the priests' minister; they baptize, sacrifice, choose, lay on hands; but you minister to them, as S. Stephen to James." The same, in the epistle to the Trallians: "It behooves also Deacons, ministers of the mysteries of Christ, to please in all things: for they are not (note) ministers of food and drink, but ministers of the Church of God." And further down: "What are Deacons but imitators of the Angelic virtues? who exhibit a pure and blameless ministry to them (the Priests), as S. Stephen to Blessed James, Timothy and Linus to Paul, Anacletus and Clement to Peter: he therefore who does not obey these is utterly atheist and impious." The same is handed down by S. Cyprian, book III, epistle 9; he teaches that these Deacons were ordained by the Apostles for this purpose, "that they might have ministers of their Episcopate and of the Church." S. Polycarp, in his epistle to the Smyrnaeans, asserts that Deacons are ministers not of men, but of Christ.
Furthermore, that these first seven Deacons received the sacred Order of Diaconate is taught by S. Dionysius, Ecclesiastical Hierarchy, chapter 5; Cyprian, epistle to Rogatian; S. Augustine, sermon 4 On the Saints; Arator, Baronius, Salmeron, and many others on this passage. Indeed S. Clement, book VIII of the Constitutions, chapters 17 and 18, hands down that the Bishop ordains a Deacon by laying hands on him and with certain prayers by which he asks that the fullness of the Holy Spirit be given to him, as S. Stephen was filled with Him. And S. Jerome, epistle I, affirms that Nicolas, one of these seven Deacons, administered the chalice of the Lord.
The Council of Aachen, chapter 7, teaches that Deacons are ordained in the Church after the likeness of these seven first Deacons, whom the Levites in the Old Testament prefigured: indeed the Church in the ordination of Deacons prays that they may be worthy of the grade and order in which the Apostles chose Stephen with his companions in the sevenfold number. Wherefore the Council of Neocaesarea, canon 14, asserts that the Deacons instituted by the Apostles are the rule for Deacons.
Moreover the Deacons, as young in age, vigor, and spirit, sustained the weight of the Church, especially in persecution, and in it surpassed the Pontiffs in the strength and alacrity of body and mind, and gave to the whole Church an example of constancy and a model of martyrdom — as did S. Lawrence, in the time of Pope S. Sixtus; Vincent, in the time of Valerius, Bishop of Saragossa; S. Cyriacus, Largus, Smaragdus, etc., in the time of S. Marcellus under Diocletian — to all of whom this S. Stephen led the way and shone before them, as their primicerius and chorus-leader.
You will say: S. Anacletus, epistle 2; S. Cyprian, book III, epistle 9; and Damasus, epistle 3, assert that Deacons were instituted not by Christ, but by the Apostles: therefore the Diaconate is not a Sacrament; for all Sacraments were instituted by Christ, not by the Apostles, as the Council of Trent defines, session 7, chapter 1.
I answer that these Fathers wish only to say that Christ ordained no Deacons, as He ordained Bishops and Presbyters: yet from this it does not follow that Christ did not institute the sacrament of the Diaconate, but only that He committed its execution to the Apostles. In like manner Christ confirmed no one, and yet He instituted the sacrament of Confirmation, and He commanded the Apostles and Bishops that they should administer it.
You will say, secondly: The Deacons here are instituted on the occasion of murmuring, and they are placed only over the tables: therefore they were not ordained to any other sacred ministry.
I answer, first, that the occasion of instituting these Deacons was the murmuring about the tables; yet it does not follow from this that they were placed only over tables. For the Apostles, taking this occasion, executed the precept of Christ concerning the creating of Deacons, and committing to them all the duties sanctioned by Christ — both spiritual and corporal, such as was the distribution of tables and of alms. So Innocent III, book III On the Mystery of the Mass, chapters 5 and 56.
I answer, secondly, that these tables were sacred — namely, of the celebration of the Eucharist; and after it, the agape, or common banquet as a sign of charity. For the first Christians communicated daily, and after Communion supped together, as is plain from I Corinthians 11:21. Hence they did not take bodily food unless they had first taken the sacred. The Deacons therefore were instituted to minister both to the priest at the table — that is, the altar of the Eucharist, which is acknowledged to be wholly sacred — and to the people at the table of the agape, which, although it was bodily, was nevertheless also spiritual and sacred; both because it was an appendix and as it were a closing and consummation of the Eucharist; and because this table was blessed by the celebrating priest; and because it was instituted in common, as a symbol of love and charity; and finally because it was furnished from the goods of the faithful offered and dedicated to God, which therefore were now ecclesiastical and sacred, not lay and profane. Therefore the Deacons, ministering at both tables, performed a ministry not profane but sacred; for the duly performing of which therefore a special grace of God was required, which was given to them in the imposition of the hands of the Apostles — namely, in ordination.
Finally, besides the duties of the Deacons already recounted, theirs it was, first, to look round upon all things which were done in the Church and to refer them to the Bishop. Hence S. Clement, book III of the Constitutions, chapter 19, calls the Deacon "the soul and sense" — namely, the eye, hearing, mouth, and heart "of the Bishop."
Second, from among the Deacons were chosen Apocrisiarii — that is, the messengers and legates of the Apostolic See, as is evident from S. Gregory, book XI, epistle 43.
Third, it belonged to the Deacons to visit the prisons; and to console, animate, feed, and aid by every spiritual and corporal help the Confessors and future Martyrs, as is evident from S. Cyprian, book III, epistle 45.
Fourth, it belonged to them to carry and care for the sacred relics, as is evident from Victor of Utica, book IV of the Vandal Persecution. Many of their duties are listed by S. Clement, book III of the Constitutions, chapter 19, which are also enumerated in the Decretum, distinction 93, chapter Diaconi Ecclesiae.
The same Clement, book II of the Constitutions, chapter 61: "Let the Deacon," he says, "see the places, that everyone entering (into the church) may go to his own place, and not sit improperly. Let him take heed lest anyone murmur, or wink, or nod."
And presently: "After the prayer is finished, let some of the Deacons be intent on the offering of the Eucharist, ministering to the body of the Lord; let others watch the crowds and command quiet upon them."
"Let the Deacon who assists the Pontiff say to the people: Let no one come against another, let no one in hypocrisy" — namely, approach the Holy Eucharist.
The same, in book VIII, chapters 7 and 9, hands down that the Deacon was accustomed to dismiss from the Mass the energumens and catechumens at a fixed time, just as, when the Mass is finished, he dismisses all the faithful, saying: "Ite, missa est." And in chapter 13, he says that the Deacon was wont to call upon the people to pray for the Bishops, Presbyters, widows, virgins, orphans, catechumens, and every state of the Church.
Furthermore, Baronius rightly notes, in the year of Christ 34, that these seven Deacons were not so set over the tables that (as belongs to the ministers of tables) while the rest reclined, they themselves brought thither what pertained to food and drink; but that they took care of what each had need of by distributing alms: a custom which was retained, S. Leo testifies in his sermon On S. Lawrence, when he says of him: "He excelled not only in the ministry of the Sacraments, but also in the dispensation of the Ecclesiastical substance." The same is plain from the Acts of S. Sisinnius, Cyriacus, Largus, and Smaragdus, Deacons, who used to distribute the alms of the faithful to the Christians condemned to mud and brick in the baths of Diocletian. So also Titus the Deacon, distributing money to the poor, was slain and fell as a martyr, as Prosper testifies in his Chronicle, in the year of the Lord 429. The same is handed down concerning the Deacons by S. Ambrose, book On Duties, last chapter, and S. Jerome, on Ezekiel, chapter 48.
So far indeed was the care of the Church's affairs entrusted to the Deacons that they would constantly rise up against Bishops who squandered them — as did Honoratus, Archdeacon of the Church of Salona, as S. Gregory testifies, book II, epistle 13.
Hence at Rome and in other places, where the Roman Church possessed great estates, diaconiae were established, in which alms were wont to be distributed by the Deacon, the rector of the diaconia and the dispenser of the fruits collected from the estates, as S. Gregory teaches everywhere in his epistles; which diaconiae still exist at Rome, and retain their ancient name. At Rome before S. Gregory the diaconiae, like the Cardinal Deacons, were seven; but in his time the number was doubled and fourteen were created, according to the same number of regions or districts into which the city was divided, so that each region might have its own Cardinal Deacon, who had under him other Deacons, through whom he would distribute alms to all the poor of the region committed to him. To these fourteen Pope Gregory III added four others, so that altogether there were eighteen, as Onuphrius testifies in his Life. And this is the origin of the eighteen Cardinal Deacons, who once were seen in the college of Cardinals: in which before Leo X there were numbered fifty-two Cardinals. Leo X increased this number, and the succeeding Pontiffs. Wherefore lest the number of Cardinals be wandering and excessive, Sixtus V, in the bull which begins Vetus ille, sanctioned that they altogether should be seventy, according to the number of the seventy elders whom God added to Moses in the rule of the people, Numbers 11:16. The same, in the Constitution Postquam, which is the 50th, decreed that among the seventy Cardinals fourteen should be Deacons (as many as were in the time of S. Gregory), six Bishops, and the rest Presbyters.
And so the first and chief of the Deacons were the Archdeacons, who at Rome were called Cardinal Deacons, as is gathered from the Second Roman Council, chapter 7. For the Cardinals are divided into three classes or orders: for some are Cardinal Bishops, some Cardinal Presbyters, some Cardinal Deacons; and to all these, and to them alone, belongs the election of the Pope, since they are his familiars and counselors: which custom began in the year of the Lord 1059, if we believe Sigonius, book IX On the Kingdom of Italy; who also in book III teaches that it was sanctioned by Pope Stephen III, in the year of the Lord 779, that no one should be elected Pope from any other source than from the number of the Cardinals.
Verse 4: But We to Prayer
4. BUT WE TO PRAYER. — Note here that the first office of the Apostles was to pray for themselves and the whole Church, and in prayer they drew from God those things which they were going to teach and to preach. Let Bishops, Prelates, Doctors, and Preachers imitate the same, "that, contemplating in quiet, they may drink in what, occupied in speaking to their neighbors, they may pour forth," says S. Gregory, book VI of the Morals, chapter 17, or, according to another edition, 25. For unless the Holy Spirit kindles their hearts and steeps and inflames their tongue, in vain do they preach.
Verse 5: They Chose Stephen
5. THEY CHOSE STEPHEN. — This election was not an ordination, nor an institution or creation of Deacons. For this pertained to the Apostles, not to the people; but it was an offering and presentation, as if to say: The people from among all the disciples chose Stephen with his companions as more fit than the rest for this office, and presented them to the Apostles to be authorized and ordained, if they would approve their election. So today lay princes, who have the right of patronage of benefices, choose someone whom they present to the Bishop, that he may confer the benefice on him and create and institute him as Canon or Pastor, etc. Furthermore St. Epiphanius, heresy 21, holds that these Deacons were chosen from the number of the 72 disciples of Christ. But St. Augustine, sermon 94 On Diverse Subjects, doubts whether Stephen was converted to Christ after His ascension.
STEPHEN. — "Stephen" is a Greek name, meaning crown, from στεφανόω, that is, I crown: although Bede thinks it is Hebrew, and means "your rule," because he first underwent martyrdom and gave to the other Martyrs an example of suffering and dying for Christ: but I do not see from what Hebrew root or etymology. Hence Pagninus and others commonly hold that Stephen, as well as the other names of these Deacons, are Greek. Whence it seems that they, although they were Hebrews by race, were yet Greeks by country. They therefore chose Greeks, not Hebrews, in order more to satisfy the murmuring of the Greeks, by setting Greek Deacons over the tables and the alms. So Lucius Dexter in his Chronicle, in the year of Christ 34, expressly asserts that all these Deacons were Greeks. This is favored by the opinion of many, that St. Stephen was a kinsman of St. Paul: now Paul was a Cilician, namely a Tarsian: for "Greek" here is the same as one born or brought up among the Gentiles.
Note: The first and as it were chief of the Deacons was St. Stephen. For he excelled the rest in fullness of grace, faith, and spirit, likewise in power of disputing and efficacy of preaching. Hence he was also the first to undergo combat for Christ and became the Proto-martyr. Hence Lucian, in his epistle On the Discovery of St. Stephen, calls him the primicerius of the others and Archdeacon. Damascene, in book IV On the Faith, chap. 16, calls him the first Deacon, that is the minister of Christ: in the same place he calls him an Apostle. And St. Augustine, sermon 94 On Diverse Subjects, says that among the Deacons he was "first, as Peter among the Apostles." And Nicetas in Metaphrastes: "He was," he says, "an Apostle among Apostles, a Prophet among Prophets, a Doctor among Doctors." St. Augustine adds, sermon 2 On the Saints, that St. Stephen was a handsome young man, and a virgin: whence also he had the face of an angel, verse 15. Damascene asserts that he was of outstanding character, and that in him the Holy Spirit caused the rays of grace to shine more brightly. St. Jerome, book I Against Jovinian, and Nyssen, oration On St. Stephen, deny that he was inferior to the Apostles in grace: for in office, namely the Diaconate, he is known to have been inferior to them. St. Augustine, sermon 5 On the Saints, says that he excelled in chastity: "In this matter," he says, "that he was set over women (widows), he merited the testimony of the most sincere chastity." And sermon 6: "To Stephen the martyr there was beauty of body, and the flower of youth, and eloquence of speech, and the wisdom of a most holy mind, and the operation of divinity."
FULL OF FAITH. — First, the Christian faith: whence he defended it unto death. Second, "faith," that is fidelity: for this is most required in a dispenser of alms. Third, "faith," that is Christian wisdom: for this is required in the diaconate and the dispensation of Church goods. Fourth, "faith," that is trust in God, that He would supply what was needed to feed so many widows and poor. Fifth, "faith," that is strength of faith, to overcome not only the murmurings of the poor, but also the stones and torments of the Jews. Sixth, "faith," that is such excellence of faith as even to work miracles, which is the faith of miracles, the same as the Catholic faith but excelling, and having joined to it immense trust in God, e.g., to work a miracle here and now, as I said in the Gospels.
AND OF THE HOLY SPIRIT, — namely the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, and all the virtues and graces, both sanctifying and freely given, and especially charity and zeal. Hence Nicetas, in Metaphrastes, says of St. Stephen, "that he burned with charity more than all the Saints of his time," that is, the rest of the faithful: for the Apostles are excepted, who in fullness of the Spirit, as also in the apostolate, surpassed the rest.
PHILIP. — He, being a Deacon, is other than Philip the Apostle. Yet by Eusebius, book III of the History, last chapter; by Tertullian, book On Baptism, chap. VIII; by Isidore of Pelusium, book I, epistle 147 and following, he is called an Apostle, not that he was one of the twelve Apostles, as some have falsely supposed, but an Apostle, that is, an Apostolic man. Whence the same Philip, in chap. XXI, verse 8, is called Evangelist, namely because like an Apostle he preached the Gospel, as will be plain in chap. VIII. He had four daughters who were Prophetesses, chap. XXI, verse 9. Of him we read thus in the Roman Martyrology, on June 6: "At Caesarea in Palestine, the birthday of Blessed Philip, who was one of the first seven Deacons. He, illustrious for signs and wonders, converted Samaria to the faith of Christ, and baptized the eunuch of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, and at last reposed at Caesarea: beside whom lie buried his three virgin daughters who were Prophetesses: for his fourth daughter, full of the Holy Spirit, died at Ephesus." Even in the time of St. Jerome, Philip's chapel at Caesarea and the cells of his daughters remained intact, all of which St. Paula visited when she was about to set out for Jerusalem, as the same Jerome writes, epistle 27 to Eustochium.
PROCHORUS. — He is recorded among the saints in the Roman Martyrology, on April 9, where it is said thus: "At Antioch, St. Prochorus, who was one of the first seven Deacons, and famous in faith and miracles, was crowned with martyrdom." There is in volume VII of the Library of the Holy Fathers a Life of St. John written by Prochorus, but it contains much that is unworthy of him and fabulous. Wherefore the author, to gain credit for himself, falsely used the name of Prochorus. Otherwise the ancients testify that Prochorus wrote the Acts of St. John, among whom Lucius Dexter, in his Chronicle, at the year of the Lord 94, speaks thus: "Prochorus, one of the seven Deacons, wrote the deeds of St. John." But this work of Prochorus has perished, nor has it hitherto come to light.
NICANOR. — Of him we read thus in the Roman Martyrology, on January 10: "In Cyprus, Blessed Nicanor, Deacon of the first seven, who, admirable in the grace of faith and in virtue, was most gloriously crowned."
TIMON. — Of him, on April 19 in the Roman Martyrology, these things are recorded: "The birthday of St. Timon, Deacon of the first seven, who first sat as Teacher at Beroea, and then sowing the word of the Lord came to Corinth, where (as it is handed down) he was cast into the flames by Jews and Greeks; but suffering no harm, was at last fixed to a cross and fulfilled his martyrdom."
PARMENAS. — Of him on January 23 the Roman Martyrology writes: "At Philippi in Macedonia, St. Parmenas, who was one of the first seven Deacons. He, delivered to the grace of God, fulfilling with full faith the office of preaching enjoined upon him by the brethren, attained the glory of martyrdom under Trajan."
NICOLAUS. — He was the cause and author, as Irenaeus relates, book I, chap. 27; Epiphanius, heresy 25; Tertullian, book On Prescription, chap. 46, and others, or at least the occasion, as others would have it, of the heresy of the Nicolaitans, which teaches that it is lawful to fornicate, of which I have spoken in Apocalypse chap. II, verses 6 and 15; see what is said there. For Clement of Alexandria, book III of the Stromata, chap. III; Eusebius, book III of the History, chap. 23; Augustine, book On Heresies, chap. V, Baronius and others, excuse Nicolaus from this baseness and heresy: on account of this doubt, Nicolaus alone of the seven Deacons is not enrolled in the catalogue of Saints in the Martyrology.
A STRANGER, — προσήλυτον, that is a proselyte. This Nicolaus therefore was a gentile, but converted to Judaism, for such a one was called in Greek a proselyte, in Latin advena (newcomer).
OF ANTIOCH, — originating from Antioch.
Verse 6: Praying, They Imposed Hands Upon Them
6. PRAYING. — Under "prayer" he includes the sacrifice of the Eucharist, as St. Clement indicates, book VIII of the Constitutions, last chapter. Whence even now Deacons are ordained only within the sacrifice. St. Chrysostom adds fasting, of which express mention is made in the Ordination of Saul and Barnabas, chap. XIII, verse 3. Whence even now the Church always premises a public and solemn fast to ordination.
THEY LAID HANDS UPON THEM. — Hence it is clear that the Diaconate is an Order and a sacred ordination. For to lay hands on, among the Apostles, is to ordain. Whence ordination is called by the Greeks χειροτονία, that is, the imposition of hands. Therefore these Deacons were principally ordained not to minister at tables (for this no solemn ordination is required, as is plain in stewards and other ministers of tables), but to minister to the Church and to the Apostles at Mass, in preaching, and in other sacred ministries, as is plain from the usage and tradition of all antiquity. Secondly, hence it seems that the imposition of hands is not something accidental, but the essential matter of the sacrament of Orders, as Bellarmine rightly teaches against D. Soto, book I On Ordination, chap. IX. Indeed there could be no other matter here: for the book of the Gospels, which is now given to Deacons in ordination, and is the matter of the Order of the diaconate, as the Council of Florence defines in the Bull of Union, did not then exist, because it had not yet been written. Hence St. Paul, I Tim. chap. IV, verse 14, and elsewhere, teaches that grace is given through the imposition of the hand; and God showed this by a visible sign of a dove, or something similar, in the ordination of St. Chrysostom and other holy Bishops. And the Council of Trent, session XXIII, chap. IV, teaches that grace is given when the Bishop says over the one to be ordained (certainly while imposing hands): "Receive the Holy Spirit." The cause is that the imposition of the hand represents the descent of the Holy Spirit, and His overshadowing and fullness, which is required in those who are being ordained, and therefore is asked for and given in ordination, namely that the Spirit may strengthen, enlighten, and direct him in all his ministries, which look to the common good of the Church. Thus, from St. Dionysius, Amalarius, book I On Ecclesiastical Offices, chap. I, verse 12.
Mystically, it is signified that the one to be ordained is offered to God as a victim and holocaust: for to this in the old law hands were imposed according to the law, Leviticus chap. I, verse 4, that those to be ordained may be admonished that they ought, as victims, to consecrate and spend themselves and all their possessions for God's service and worship. I have said more about the imposition of hands in ordination at I Timothy chap. IV, verse 14.
Furthermore these widows, removed from the tables and yielding to the Deacons, were assigned to other lesser offices, and were made Deaconesses, of whom there were three principal offices: first, to disrobe women for baptism and the sacred unction; second, to guard the women's doors and to preside over the women in the temple; third, in time of persecution, they were sent by the Bishop or Pastor to the faithful, especially those in prison, to help and encourage them. See what is said at I Tim. chap. V, verse 9.
Verse 7: And the Word of the Lord Was Increasing
7. AND THE WORD OF THE LORD WAS INCREASING, — in number, as also in faith and the works of believers, says the Gloss: because the Apostles, freed from the care of the tables, gave themselves more wholly to prayer and preaching, just as when farming, watering, and the husbandman's care increase, the harvest in the field grows. He alludes to the parable of the seed and the sower, to which the word of God is compared by Christ, Mark chap. IV, verse 26.
AND ALSO A GREAT MULTITUDE OF PRIESTS, — common and lesser ones (for these are called "a multitude"), not the highest and the chief priests, as St. Chrysostom seems to mean, who here also marvels at the grace of the Holy Spirit and the clemency of Christ, that He brought to the faith and salvation those who a little before had blasphemed Christ on the cross saying: "He saved others, He cannot save Himself," — He led them to faith and salvation.
WAS OBEDIENT TO THE FAITH. — The Syriac: was hearkening, that is, was assenting to the faith, namely, was believing in Christ. For faith, a pious inclination of the will is more required than a propensity of the intellect; for matters of faith are obscure and beyond the grasp of reason. Hence to believe them, a pious will moves the intellect, here blind, and subjects it and as it were leads it captive into the obedience of faith, as the Apostle says, II Cor. chap. X, verse 5.
Tropologically, the Christian obeys the faith who does those things which the faith dictates and commands to be done, who namely lives justly, piously, and soberly: piously toward God, soberly toward himself, justly toward his neighbor; whose life accordingly corresponds to his faith, and whose morals are equal to his profession: for thus he lives as he believes.
Verse 8: Stephen, Full of Grace and Fortitude
8. FULL OF GRACE. — The Syriac: ܛܒܘܬܐ tabuta, that is, of goodness. The Greek now has πίστεως, that is, of faith, of which I spoke at verse 5.
AND OF FORTITUDE. — Lyranus takes "grace" as the doing of many heroic things; "fortitude," as the suffering of many hard things. But I say that by "grace" we understand any charism and all virtues, as the companions and as it were daughters of grace (for all these are graces, because freely infused by God), and consequently fortitude itself also; but because St. Stephen excelled in it, hence he says, "and of fortitude," as if to say: He was full of every grace, but especially of fortitude, both for acting, especially for preaching boldly, disputing, and convincing the Jews; and for offering himself to threats, dangers, torments, stoning, and martyrdom; and for working signs and wonders, by which he confirmed his faith and doctrine about Christ, as follows.
Note here the power and effect of the Sacrament of ordination; for before it, Stephen was neither full of grace, nor did he preach, nor did he work miracles; but after it, indeed through it, he performed all these things, as St. Chrysostom observes.
Verse 9: Of the Synagogue of the Libertines
9. OF THE SYNAGOGUE. — Not that there was one Synagogue of all those that follow, as Cajetan would have it, but "of the Synagogue," that is, of the Synagogues. It is an enallage of number. For the Alexandrian Jews had their synagogue at Jerusalem, the Cyrenians theirs, the Cilicians theirs, etc.: so Chrysostom; just as at Rome the Germans have their college, the English theirs, the Scots theirs, the Maronites theirs, the Greeks theirs. For as Rome is now, so then Jerusalem was the metropolis of the faith, religion, and wisdom, to which therefore the Jews scattered through the world sent their sons, that they might be imbued with the law and wisdom of God; and for this reason colleges of various nations, which they called synagogues, were established.
WHICH IS CALLED THE SYNAGOGUE OF THE LIBERTINES, — that is, of the sons born from parents brought in slavery to Rome or elsewhere by Pompey and others, but afterwards granted liberty. So St. Chrysostom, Bede, Cajetan, and others. For these, born from a servile race, seem to have been rejected by the others as it were free-born, and therefore to have established a peculiar synagogue. Others think that the Libertines are so called as originating from Libya. So Oecumenius, the Gloss, Gagneius, Hugo, and Lyranus. Hence some suspect that "Libertinorum" is read corruptly for "Libyrtinorum," or rather "Libystinorum," as if to say Libyans, who dwell between Cyrenaica and Egypt, and who had their synagogue in Jerusalem, which from the people and region was called "Libystinorum." But all Greek and Latin copies have Libertinorum, not Libystinorum. Therefore the former exposition is truer, which is confirmed from the fact that at Rome those Jews were called Libertines who, granted liberty, dwelt in the Trans-Tiberine region; for of them Philo writes thus in his Legation to Caius, near the middle: "Augustus would not have permitted a good part of the city across the Tiber to be held by Jews, most of whom were Libertines: indeed those who, reduced to subjection by the right of war, had been manumitted by their masters, and were permitted to live according to the rite of their forefathers: he knew that they had their own places of prayer (proseuchae), in which they held their assemblies, especially on the Sabbaths."
Cyrene was one in Syria, another in Media, another in Africa. Chrysostom, Oecumenius, and Gagneius think that the third is meant here: because the Cyrenians are joined here with the Alexandrians, who likewise are Africans. Thus then the fame of Stephen spread through the three parts of the world. For he disputed with the Roman Libertines, who are in Europe; with the Cilicians, who are in Asia; with the Cyrenians and Alexandrians, who are in Africa.
OF THE ALEXANDRIANS, — who originated from Alexandria, the metropolis of Egypt, of which I have spoken at Nahum chap. III, verse 8.
OF THOSE WHO WERE FROM CILICIA, — which today is called Caramania, as is plain from Ortelius' Theater of the World, in Turkey. From this synagogue St. Paul seems to have come, as also St. Stephen, being a cousin of Paul, as Sanchez, Salmeron, and others judge. For St. Paul was a Cilician, namely a Tarsian; and therefore he set himself against St. Stephen with words and blows, even unto death, as is plain in chap. VII. For he himself was of fiery temperament, and a zealot of the old law, and therefore with his colleagues he rose more sharply against Stephen, as his kinsman and of the same school and synagogue, as it were against an Apostate. For the hatreds of brothers, and kinsmen, and colleagues are most bitter; for love sharpens wrath.
AND OF ASIA, — the Lesser, which adjoins Cilicia: this is now commonly called Turkey. Hence learn how great were the grace, virtue, efficacy, wisdom, wonders, and brilliance of St. Stephen, which turned the eyes of all the synagogues upon himself, and armed their minds and tongues, as those who envied his glory.
Verse 10: They Could Not Resist the Wisdom and the Spirit
10. AND THEY COULD NOT RESIST THE WISDOM — divine, with which St. Stephen was full. For with this he convinced them, and from the holy Scriptures and other marks and signs demonstrated that Jesus Christ is the Messiah and Savior of the world.
AND THE SPIRIT, WHO WAS SPEAKING. — The Interpreter reads, ᾧ ἐλάλει; now they read ὃ ἐλάλει, that is, by which, or through whom He was speaking. The Gloss adds, with all confidence and without fear. Behold, in Stephen is fulfilled that promise of Christ: "For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you," Matt. chap. X, verse 20. And: "I will give you a mouth and wisdom which all your adversaries shall not be able to resist nor gainsay," Luke chap. XXI, verse 15.
Verse 11: Then They Suborned Men
11. THEN THEY SUBORNED, — ὑπέβαλον, that is, says the Tigurine version, suborned; Pagninus, secretly received men who would say, etc.
WORDS OF BLASPHEMY; — βλασφημία in Greek is the same as δυσφημία, that is, evil report spread by another, vituperation, calumny, evil-speaking: but in ecclesiastical usage it signifies an injury, or reproach cast against God and the Saints, as here against Moses and his law.
For they bring this accusation against St. Stephen, namely that he had spoken against Moses, that the law of Moses has now been abolished by Christ, and therefore was not from God; and consequently that Moses lied when he said it to be divine and to be everlasting: but that he blasphemed against God, in that he had said that God willed through Christ to abolish the old law, as if it had not been given by the true and eternal God, and that God pretended to have given it to Moses and falsely promised that it would be perpetual.
St. Augustine notes, sermon 93 On the Saints, that these false witnesses lay almost the same calumny against St. Stephen which the Scribes a little before had laid against Christ. For explaining this false testimony of theirs at verse 13, they say: "This man does not cease to speak against the holy place and the law; for we have heard him saying that this Jesus of Nazareth shall destroy this place, and shall change the traditions which Moses delivered to us." But against Christ they said: "This man said: I can destroy the temple of God, and after three days build it up again," Matt. chap. XXVI, verse 60.
Again St. Augustine notes that this accusation of theirs was a true oracle, just as was the sentence of Caiaphas against Christ, John XI, 50. Furthermore that they were lying and slandering St. Stephen is plain, because Stephen had said nothing against the holy place, that is against the temple, or Jerusalem, which was the holy city, nor against the law: for Christ also had said of Himself: "I have not come to destroy the law, but to fulfill," indeed to perfect it, Matt. V, 17; nor had he said that Jesus would destroy the temple, or Jerusalem; or that He would change the traditions, τὰ ἔθη, that is the rites, ceremonies, worship, and laws and institutions handed down by Moses. And even if he had said this, if to change the law was a crime, they ought to attack not Stephen as one prophesying it, but Jesus as one doing it. Whence St. Gregory Nazianzen exclaims, oration On St. Stephen: "O unjust judgment of the hearers! For, they say, Jesus has changed the laws — let Stephen be stoned."
The sum, then, of the accusation and crime they bring against Stephen is this: Stephen said that our law shall pass into the Gospel, Judaism into Christianity, Moses into Christ, who is the Son of God: therefore he blasphemed our law and God, by giving His divinity to Jesus Christ, whom we know to have been a mere man. They speak truly in their judgment, namely in their perfidy and Judaism, and Stephen truly preached these things, and thus truly before the Jewish council they declared him guilty of capital crime, as they had condemned Christ; but they mix in other falsehoods: for they impute to Stephen many things which he himself had not said, as I have already said. Furthermore they allude to what Christ had said, that the temple together with the city would be destroyed by the Romans, Luke XIX, 44. But of their own they lyingly add that Jesus would do this, since Jesus did not say this (much less Stephen), but rather said that the Gentiles, namely the Romans, would do it. Finally, Stephen is a martyr because he died for the preaching of Christ and the Gospel: for that the old law would pass over into it, Moses and the Prophets had predicted; but these oracles of theirs the Jews refused to understand, and even now refuse.
Verse 15: They Saw His Face as the Face of an Angel
15. THEY SAW HIS FACE AS THE FACE OF AN ANGEL. — Stephen was by natural appearance and countenance most handsome, says St. Augustine, sermon 6 On the Saints; but above nature, beauty was added to him here. For "the face of an angel" signifies something excellent, august, and heavenly in the countenance, namely angelic appearance and majesty. This is plain from that passage of Esther, chap. XV, 16, to King Ahasuerus: "I saw thee, lord," she said, "as an angel of God, and my heart was troubled for fear of thy glory. For thou art very wonderful, lord, and thy face is full of graces."
God therefore conferred upon Stephen a new and wondrous splendor, and as it were the rays of a glorious body, such as He conferred upon Moses, Exodus XXXIV, 1, and upon St. Anthony, St. Francis, and our own St. Ignatius. Whence St. Augustine, sermon 99 On Diverse Subjects, says, "The face of Stephen shone like the sun;" and this, first, that the outer brightness of his countenance might indicate the inner brightness and beauty of his mind. For, as St. Hilary of Arles says, homily On St. Stephen: "the abundance of his heart had passed over into the beauty of his body, and into the beauty of his face the brightness and splendor of his soul overflowed, and the hidden ornaments of his breast shone forth in the mirror of his brow, and since he had within himself the Holy Spirit, he bore an angelic countenance before himself." Second, because St. Stephen in morals and doctrine, namely in disputing and preaching, emulated angelic purity, innocence, freedom, fortitude, wisdom, zeal and holiness: wherefore in this friend and emulator of the angels the Evangelical likeness appeared, says St. Augustine, sermon 6 On the Saints. Third, that by the glory of his body he might represent to unbelievers Christ's resurrection already accomplished, and our own to come; for he had disputed about this with the Jews, and they heard it with difficulty, especially the Sadducees. Whence St. Augustine, in the place already cited, says that St. Stephen "to their confusion, with face unveiled gazing into heaven at the glory of the Son of God, was announcing the Sacrament of the resurrection." Fourth, St. Hilary of Arles, in the homily already cited: "The face of Stephen," he says, "took on the appearance of one rising again, to his adversaries for the punishment of their sin, and the torment of envy, and the reproach of impiety, and the testimony of their crime." To the Jews therefore the face of Stephen seemed dreadful, but to Christians lovable and admirable. Fifth, because St. Stephen was already as it were a candidate for martyrdom, and for triumph and heavenly glory: whence he flashed forth some of its illustrious rays. Hence, as one about to fly forth to heaven, he exclaimed: "Behold, I see the heavens opened, and Jesus standing at the right hand of the power of God." Let all therefore stand astonished in the face of Stephen at the glory of one triumphing, says Peter Damian, sermon On St. Stephen. Hence also Tertullian, book On the Resurrection of the Flesh, chap. LV, says that St. Stephen, like Christ in the Transfiguration, put on an angelic loftiness.
Allegorically: To the Doctors of the New Testament, such as St. Stephen was, it was said by Christ: "You are the light of the world," Matt. V, 14. Hence also the face of Christ, as the Teacher of the world, shone like the sun, Matt. XVII, 2. For, as the Apostle says, II Corinthians III, 9: "If the ministration of condemnation (that is, of the Mosaic law, which threatens death and condemnation) is glory, much more does the ministry of justice (in the Gospel) abound in glory."
Anagogically: "Those who are learned shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, and those who instruct many unto justice, as stars for everlasting eternities," Daniel chap. XII, 3.
Tropologically: The mind and face of the impious grows black like a pot; that of the pious is serene and shines like the radiance of dawn; for the beauty or disgrace of the mind shines forth in the countenance. Hence the Chaldee, Canticles I, verse 5, adds these words paraphrastically: "When the Israelites made the calf, their faces were blackened like those of the Ethiopians, who dwell in the tents of Kedar; and when they did penance, and the sin was forgiven them, the splendor of the glory of their face was multiplied as the face of angels." Lastly, St. Chrysostom, commenting on chap. VII, verse 55, holds that Stephen put on his angelic face from the sight of the glory of God and Christ; for he says at verse 55: "Behold, I see the heavens opened, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God." For he had had this vision from the beginning, but prudently kept silent, lest he offend the Jews with this apparition. So upon Moses, from the sight and companionship of God, rays were breathed, and as it were horns of light, Exodus XXXIV, verse 29. For God, as the most brilliant sun, breathes upon His own His own light: for the angelic face of Stephen consisted chiefly in rays of light and angelic splendor. The same is the view of St. Augustine, sermon 6 On St. Stephen: "Stephen," he says, "with face unveiled, gazed into heaven at the glory of the Son of God, therefore the Jews saw his countenance as the countenance of an angel of God. And now, blessed martyr Stephen, despise only the earth, behold heaven; spurn the high priest, attend to the Father."
And this seems to have been the proper and literal cause of the angelic face in St. Stephen. In a similar way Christ in the Transfiguration breathed the rays of His splendor and glory upon Moses and Elijah, who likewise were seen in glory and majesty, as Luke says, Gospel chap. IX, 31.
St. Chrysostom adds that on account of this angelic beauty of countenance the Jews, though most hostile enemies of Stephen, nevertheless permitted him to preach freely longer, that they might feast their eyes on so great a beauty. But persistent in their perfidy, not inwardly illumined by this splendor but rather more blinded, they hardened, and therefore strove to obscure his face as well as his doctrine and to crush them with stones.
In a similar way St. John the Baptist was angelic in chastity, life, speech, zeal, and countenance, and therefore was called an angel by Christ, Matt. XI, 20.
The prophet Malachi from his morals, preaching, and sweet speech was called Malachi, that is, angel of the Lord; nay, Origen judged him, as also John the Baptist, to have been truly an angel, not a man, as I said at the beginning of Malachi.
St. Cecilia, conversing familiarly with the angel guardian of her virginity, put on angelic purity, alacrity, efficacy, grace, and appearance: whence she converted to Christ her bridegroom Valerian, and his brother Tiburtius, and 400 others. Wherefore the Church sings of her in the Ecclesiastical office: "O blessed Cecilia, who didst convert two brothers, didst overcome the judge Almachius, didst show Urban the Bishop in an angelic countenance."
St. Basil, by gravity, devotion, hierarchical order, and angelic countenance struck the Emperor Valens, and restrained him as he raged against the Catholics, and almost left him lifeless. For, as St. Gregory Nazianzen relates, oration On the Praises of St. Basil, when Valens, surrounded by many attendants, entered the temple on the feast of Epiphany, he "heard the psalmody resounding like thunder, and saw the sea of people, and the whole order and harmony, angelic rather than human; and Basil himself standing before the people upright in body, moving neither in eye nor in mind, just as if nothing new had happened, in any direction, but fastened to God and the altar; and those by whom he was surrounded, standing with a certain fear and reverence: he suffered something human, and was wholly filled with dizziness of eyes and darkness, etc. For he began to totter so that, unless one of the ministers of the sanctuary had supported him as he wavered with a steadying hand, he would surely have fallen miserably and lamentably." He adds that Basil spoke with such wisdom and grace to Valens, that they seemed to be the voices of God, by which therefore he bent and calmed the wrath of Valens. Amphilochius, in the Life of St. Basil, adds that while he was sacrificing, Eubulus saw him surrounded by a most clear light and by angels.
So St. Zosimas, when he had heard of the angelic life of St. Mary of Egypt, and had seen her walking above the river Jordan and rapt in prayer into the air, returning and seeking her, prayed saying: "Show me, Lord, the hidden treasure, which Thou hast deigned to manifest to me, a sinner. Show me, I beseech Thee, Lord, the angel in the body, to whom the whole world is unworthy to be compared," as he himself relates in her Life. For truly Anastasius of Nicaea to Antiochus, Question XXX, defines an angel thus: "What is an angel? It is a rational living being, hymn-singing, immortal."
St. Thomas Aquinas, from his baptismal innocence and chastity, which he preserved throughout his whole life, so that he never felt the sting of the flesh from that time when angels girded his loins with the cincture of chastity; and besides, from his eminence of intellect, wisdom, and doctrine, was called the Angelic Doctor.
St. Mechtild, says Engelhardus in her Life, chap. V, "had imposed upon herself such silence, that you would believe her dumb: but if she did speak, you would think you were conversing with an angel;" who therefore, when on a certain occasion an idle word had inadvertently escaped her, chastised it long with many tears and voluntary penances. Therefore angelic silence teaches us to speak angelically with angels, and from angels with men. Whence also of St. Thomas Aquinas, whom his fellow students because of his constant silence called "the mute ox," his master Albert the Great said: "This mute ox will shortly give such a voice, that the whole world will hear it," indeed all ages will admire it as an angelic voice.
Our Blessed Aloysius Gonzaga, in virginity, modesty, gentleness, sweetness of speech, modesty, prayer, contemplation, and countenance, was angelic: whence by his mother, the Countess of Castiglione, he was called by no other name than "my angel." Indeed even the Auditors of the Rota in the process of his Canonization, of their own accord and on their own motion, gave him the title "Angelic."