This sermon by Saint Fulgentius of Ruspe for the feast of St. Stephen (Sermo 3, 1-3, 5-6: CCL 91A, 905-909) dates from around the year 500 AD and demonstrates the ancient tradition in the West of remembering the first martyr on the day immediately following the solemn celebration of the nativity of Christ. This ancient tradition is still practiced in the…

What is happening on earth? These angels, whose eternal mission is to praise God, are not turned toward him in the highest heavens, but toward the lowest point on earth, plainly contemplating the smallest, most helpless, most naked of the children of men! And on earth, she who is blessed among all women, far from raising her eyes toward heaven, is devoted…