(A.D. 1124.)
[Roman Martyrology. Authority: a life by Gerald Itherius, prior of
Grandmont.]
S. Stephen was born in the year 1046, in the castle of Thiers, in
Auvergne, belonging to his father, the Viscount de Thiers. At an early
age of twelve he was taken by his pious father a pilgrimage into
Italy. On their return, the lad fell ill at Benevento, and the father
was obliged to leave him in the charge of Milo, archbishop of that
city, a native of Auvergne. This prelate took the greatest care of the
young Stephen and reared him in all holy lore; and as he grew up
intent on serving God in a spiritual and ecclesiastical state, he
ordained him, first sub-deacon, and afterwards deacon.
After the death of the archbishop, Stephen, being then twenty-four
years old, went to Rome and remained there four years. There the
vocation to the religious life growing stronger in him, he formed the
resolution of imitating certain monks of Calabria, living in great
holiness, of whom he had heard Milo speak, and whom he had once
visited. He therefore asked permission of Pope Gregory VII. to live
apart in some solitude, following the rule of the Calabrian hermits.
The pope hesitated for some while, thinking him too delicate of
constitution, but at length yielded to his pressing solicitations in
1073. Stephen then returned to France, and resided at Thiers for a
short time with his parents; and then, departing, established himself
at Aureille or Soviat, a few leagues from Limoges, where he placed
himself under the direction of S. Gaucher, who had built a monastery
of regular Canons, called S. Jean d'Aureille. But S. Gaucher having
erected a nunnery in the neighbourhood, S. Stephen disliking the
proximity to women, left Aureille, and retired to Muret, in 1076. This
is a mountain near Limoges, where, amongst the rocks and trees, he
built a small cabin, and vowed himself to Jesus Christ in a very
special manner. Having retained a ring, the only thing belonging to
his father and home, that he had not given away or refused, he placed
it on his finger saying, "I, Stephen, renounce the devil and all his
pomps, and offer myself to God the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, the One
true God in Three Persons." Then having written these words, he placed
them on his head, and added, "O God Almighty, who livest eternally,
and reignest One in Three Persons, I promise to serve Thee in this
hermitage in the Catholic faith; in sign whereof I place this writing
on my head, and place this ring on my finger, that at the hour of my
death this promise may serve as my defence against my enemies." Then
addressing himself to the Holy Virgin he said, "Holy Mary, Mother of
God, I commend my body, soul, and senses to thy Son and to thee."
In this wild solitude, amidst rocks and trees, Stephen passed
forty-six years in prayer, and the practice of such austerities as
almost surpassed the strength of a human body. He lived at first on
wild herbs and roots. In the second summer he was discovered by
certain shepherds who brought him a little coarse bread; which some
country people from that time continued to do as long as he lived. He
always wore next his skin a hair-cloth with iron plates and hoops
studded with sharp spikes, over which his only garment, made of the
coarsest stuff, was the same both in summer and winter. When overcome
by sleep, he took a short rest on rough boards, laid in the form of a
coffin. By degrees, disciples gathered about him, and placed
themselves under his rule. He would not suffer them to call him abbot
or master, but only corrector. To them he was ever compassionate,
urging them not to discipline their bodies by excessive fasting, but
with himself he was never lenient.
Gregory de Papercesis and Pierre de Léon, two legates of the Holy
Father, having visited him in his retreat, asked him what he was, a
monk, a hermit, or a canon. "I am a sinner," was his answer.
Eight days after their departure, he knew that his end was nigh. He
therefore called his disciples about him, and said to them, "My sons,
I leave you only God, to whom all things belong, and for whom you have
renounced all things, and your own selves. If you love poverty, and
cleave to God constantly, He will give you all things that you shall
need." Five days after he was carried into the chapel, where, having
heard Mass, and received extreme Unction and the Holy Viaticum, he
died on Friday, February 8th, 1124, at the age of nearly eighty.