St Stephen's Parish

O glorious St. Stephen, first Martyr for the Faith, filled with compassion for those who invoke you, with love for those who suffer, heavily laden with the weight of my troubles. I kneel at your feet and humbly beg you to take my present need under your special protection ...(mention here). Vouchsafe to recommend it to our Lord Jesus. Cease not to... intercede for me until my request is granted. Above all, obtain for me the grace to one day meet God face to face, and with you and Mary and all the angels and saints praise Him through all eternity. O most powerful Saint Stephen, Deacon and martyr, do not let me lose my soul, but obtain for me the grace of winning my way to heaven, forever and ever. St. Stephen was a deacon and the first martyr of the Church. We read about him in Chapters Six and Seven of the Acts of the Apostles. As a deacon, he was one of seven chosen by the apostles for the specific ministry of distribution of food to widows and the poor. The scriptures refer to him as a man filled with faith and the Holy Spirit, Acts 6:5. Stephen was well versed in the Hebrew Scriptures. He used them to try to convince others that Jesus was the Messiah but his efforts were rejected. The result was the stoning of Stephen by an angry crowd. We honor Stephen for his courage, his wisdom and his love of God and of the poor. As a Church community named after St. Stephen, we are challenged to proclaim the Good News and to help the poor in spirit of this good saint. His feast day is celebrated on December 26th. The earliest beginnings of Saint Stephen's date back to 1841. In 1836, Mr. Stephen J. Raphel purchased two hundred and fifty acres of land near McCubbinsville, now known as Upper Falls. Starting in 1841, priests from Saint Ignatius Church in Hickory began celebrating Mass in the Raphel home three times a year. Gradually this home acquired the dignity of a mission chapel and was served by Father Birch from Saint John's, Long Green in Baltimore County on the fourth Sunday of each month until 1866 when he became ...Read More