The Stoning of Saint Stephen by Adam Elsheimer

St Stephen
—Malcolm Guite.

Witness for Jesus, man of fruitful blood,
Your martyrdom begins and stands for all.
They saw the stones, you saw the face of God,
And sowed a seed that blossomed in St. Paul.
When Saul departed breathing threats and slaughter
He had to pass through that Damascus gate
Where he had held the coats and heard the laughter
As Christ, alive in you, forgave his hate,
And showed him the same light you saw from heaven
And taught him, through his blindness, how to see;
Christ did not ask 'Why were you stoning Stephen?'
But 'Saul, why are you persecuting me?'
Each martyr after you adds to his story,
As clouds of witness shine through clouds of glory.
—from Sounding the Seasons; Seventy Sonnets for the Christian Year. Norwich: Canterbury Press, 2012.

Claudio Monteverdi. Lapidabant Stephanum [The Stoning of Stephen] Motet for three voices, SV 207; published in Sacrae cantiunculae tribus vocibus, Venice: Angelo Gardano, 1582. Gérard Lesne, Josep Benet, and Josep Cabré.

Lapidabant [Lapidaverunt] Stephanum invocantem et dicentem: Domine Jesu Christe, suscipe [accipe] spiritum meum.. Positis autem genibus clamavit voce magna dicens: et ne statuas illis hoc peccatum. Et cum hoc dixisset, obdormivit in Domino.

And they stoned Stephen who, calling upon God and saying: Lord Jesus Christ, receive my spirit. And he knelt down, and cried with a loud voice, saying: do not lay this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he slept in the Lord.