St. Stephen Intercedes from Heaven.       To those who say miracles do not happen, and did not happen beyond Apostolic (New Testament) times, St. Augustine  (354-430)  of Hippo in North Africa (today's  Annaba, Algeria) , would reply, “It is sometimes objected that the miracles which Christians claim, no longer happen.... However, the malice of the objection is in the insinuation that not even the earlier miracles ought to be believed.” Isn’t that certainly true with the Modernist scholars and atheists! Basilica of St. Augustine at Annaba (Hippo)       St. Augustine gives us accounts of many miracles in his time, including four dead being raised through contact with a relic of St. Stephen, the Deacon, whose martyrdom is related at the end of chapter 7 of the book of Acts in the Bible. St. Stephen's tomb was re-discovered in 415 about 20 miles outside of Jerusalem, and relics of his then disbursed to churches all over the Cath...

St. Barnabas 8. Early Evangelist.       Last week we talked about St. Barnabas being introduced in the Acts of the Apostles as an example of charity. A couple of years will have passed before Barnabas is again named in Acts, but we can surmise what he might have been doing from the story of the early Church told in Acts.       In the chronology of Acts, the Apostles performed many healing miracles, suffered an arrest but also enjoyed a miraculous release, were re-arrested, testified before the Sanhedrin  Council, again released at the urging of Rabban Gamaliel, and continued preaching undaunted ( Ac 5:12-42 ). The first Deacons were appointed, and eventually St. Stephen the Deacon was martyred ( Ac 6-7 ), and thereafter “a great persecution arose against the Church in Jerusalem,” instigated by Saul ( Ac 8:1, 3 ).       As both Barnabas and Stephen are traditionally considered among the 70 ( Lk 10:1-20 ), they surely w...