MEMORIAL


Saint Stanislaus


“Now Stephen, filled with grace and power, was working great wonders and signs among the people...” (Acts 6:8.)

In commenting on these verses from today’s First Reading, Saint John Chrysostom writes:

“See how even among the seven there was one who was preeminent and who won the first prize. For although the ordination was common to all seven, he drew upon himself greater grace. And notice how he worked no [signs and wonders] before this, but only when he became publicly known. This was to show that the gift of preaching alone is not sufficient and that there is also need of the ordination. Thus was the assistance of the Spirit gained. For if they were full of the Spirit, clearly it came from the bath of baptism.” (Homilies On the Acts of the Apostles, 15.)



Collect
O God, for whose honor the Bishop Saint Stanislaus
fell beneath the swords of his persecutors,
grant, we pray,
that we may persevere
strong in faith even until death.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son
Who lives and reigns with You
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever. Amen.



Glory to the Father
and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit:
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and will be forever. Amen