Pope Saint Stephen I served as Bishop of Rome from May 12, 254 to August 2, 257.
Of Roman birth but of Greek ancestry, he became bishop of Rome in 254, having served as archdeacon of Pope Lucius I, who appointed Stephen his successor.
At the time, internal disputes racking the Church were as much a threat as the external persecutions: following the "Decian persecution" of 250-251, there was disagreement about how to treat those who had lapsed from the faith, and Stephen was urged by Faustinus, Bishop of Lyon, to take action against Marcian, Bishop of Arles, who denied penance and communion to the lapsed who repented, the position called Novatianism, after Novatian, later declared a heretic, who held for the strictest approach.
This led to controversy over whether to accept as a valid sacrament baptism by splinter Christian groups. Stephen held that converts from such groups did not need rebaptism, while Cyprian and certain bishops of the Roman province of Africa held rebaptism necessary for admission to the Eucharist. Stephen's view eventually won broad acceptance.
He is also mentioned as having insisted on the restoration of the bishops of León and Astorga, who had been deposed for unfaithfulness during the persecution but afterwards had repented.
The Deposition Episcoporum of 354 speaks of Pope Stephen I as not a martyr.[1] Probably because of a conflation with his successor Pope Sixtus II, who was one of the first victims of Valerian's 258 persecution, it has been said that, as he was sitting on his pontifical throne in the catacombs, celebrating Mass for his congregation the emperor's men came and beheaded him on 2 August 257. As late as the 18th century, the chair was preserved, still stained with blood. But Valerian's original persecution in 257 did not order summary execution of bishops.
