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No not two turtle doves but a saint, St Stephen whose feast day is today. His date is probably one of the most well known saints day due in part to the Carol ‘Good King Wenceslas’.
After the resurrection the apostles ordained seven deacons, to help look after the widows, orphans and poor; Stephen was one of those deacons. The Bible says that his face looked like the face of an angel and not only did he help care for those less fortunate but also preached, he became the first Martyr of the Church, the tale of it goes something like this.
He was preaching in public one day chastising those who didn’t believe in Christ for being blind, they became angry and he looked up to heaven for inspiration and saw Jesus standing at the right hand of God. On telling those watching of the vision they refused to listen to any more and dragged St. Stephen outside the city of Jerusalem and stoned him to death. As he was being stoned he prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!” Then he fell to his knees and begged God not to punish his enemies for killing him.
