Stephen was the first disciple of Jesus to receive the martyr’s crown and was a deacon in the early Christian Church. The apostles had found that they needed helpers to look after the care of the widows and the poor. So they ordained seven deacons, and Stephen is the most famous of these.
God worked many miracles through Stephen; many of his hearers became followers of Jesus. The enemies of the Church of Jesus were furious to see how successful Stephen's preaching was. At last, they laid a plot for him. They could not answer his wise argument, so they got men to lie about him, saying that he had spoken sinfully against God. Stephen faced that great assembly of enemies without fear. In fact, the Bible says that his face looked like the face of an angel.
Enemies of Jesus and his teachings were cross at the number of followers Stephen had and plotted to get rid of him. They were unable to convince his followers that he spoke sinfully against God. He was dragged outside the city of Jerusalem and stoned to death. With his dying words he asked God to forgive his enemies for killing him. We celebrate his feast day on December 26th, a day more commonly known as Boxing Day.
The Guild of St Stephen is an International Organisation of Altar Servers founded in England in 1904 by Father Hamilton McDonald when he formed a Society of Altar Servers at the Convent of the Sacred Heart in London. In 1905, Pope Pius X approved the establishment of the Guild at Westminster Cathedral and in 1906 the Sacred Congregation of Rites made the Guild an Archconfraternity prima primaria enabling all the parish branches to be linked with it. The Guild spread, and in 1934, Pope Pius XI enabled all Guilds of Altar Servers throughout the British Commonwealth to be affiliated with the Archconfraternity at Westminster.
The objectives of the Guild of Saint Stephen are:
The Guild Medal, presented to all the Altar Servers, has at its centre the letters XP, the first two letters of the name ‘Christ’ in Greek. At the top is the crown of victory given by God to everyone who overcomes evil, especially those who die for him. At the bottom are the palm branches, traditional signs of martyrs who died for Christ. Around the edge are the Latin words of the Guild motto: CVI SERVIRE REGNARE EST - TO SERVE CHRIST IS TO REIGN
(Source: guildofststephen.all-catholic.net)
As all our Altar Servers have served regularly and diligently for at least one year they wear their medals on red cords, trainee MCs wear a green cord and MCs wear gold cords. New servers wear white cords.
Bev Charman-Gay