Novena to Deacon Saints, Day 1: St. Stephen

As ordination draws nearer, I want to offer a novena to all of my brothers and sisters that are in the Joyful Servants diaconate formation class.  Each day I will post an intentional prayer to a Deacon saint, and I hope you will join me in offering the novena for all of us being ordained.  Joe G. sent me a novena prayer to Saint Stephen, deacon and first martyr.  I think it's appropriate that we begin Day 1 with a prayer to the first deacon and martyr.

St. Stephen, by Deacon Lawrence Klimecki
(used without permission, forgive us our trespasses)

O glorious St. Stephen, first Martyr for the Faith, filled with compassion for those who invoke you, with love for those who suffer, heavily laden with the weight of my troubles. I kneel at your feet and humbly beg you to take my present need under your special protection the Joyful Servants, that they may serve faithfully in your love to all. Vouchsafe to recommend it to our Lord Jesus. Cease not to intercede for me until my request is granted. Above all, obtain for me the grace to one day meet God face to face, and with you and Mary and all the angels and saints praise Him through all eternity.


O most powerful Saint Stephen, Deacon and martyr, do not let me lose my soul, but obtain for me the grace of entering heaven, forever and ever.

Oh, most holy Saint Stephen,
Pray for us, so that we may be worthy of Christ.

Here is a little history of him.
St. Stephen was a deacon and the first martyr of the Church.  We read about him in Chapters Six and Seven of the Acts of the Apostles.  As a deacon, he was one of the seven chosen by the apostles for the specific ministry of distribution of food to widows and the poor.  The scriptures refer to him as a man filled with faith and the Holy Spirit, Acts 6:5.  Stephen was well versed in the Hebrew Scriptures.  He used them to try to convince others that Jesus was the Messiah but his efforts were rejected.  The result was the stoning of Stephen by an angry crowd.

About Deacon Lawrence Klimecki

I was searching for deacon saints when I came across this website The Books of Saints.  What got me hooked was that the first volume was on Deacon Saints!  I'm definitely getting the first volume.  I wanted to know more about the artist/writer, but there was no bio about him on the website.  So I went and google for "Lawrence Klimecki" and found that he has another blog devoted to religious and liturgical arts called Gryphon Rampant.  Beautiful artworks!  I'm more intrigued as well as inspired.  Again, there was no "about" page that I could find.  This is like searching for Waldo--mystery man.  I went back to the Google results page, and near the bottom, I almost exclaimed "No Way!"  Lawrence Klimecki turns out to be a Deacon for Presentation of Blessed Mary Parish in Sacramento, CA.  I'm thinking a road trip to Sacramento is in the near future for me.