07 — The Finding of the Relics
For nearly four centuries after his death, Stephen’s burial place was forgotten. Then, in December AD 415, a priest of Caphar Gamala near Jerusalem named Lucian reported a series of visions in which the rabban Gamaliel revealed the location of the protomartyr’s relics; the bones were uncovered, translated to Jerusalem with great solemnity, and within a few years fragments had spread across the Mediterranean, working — according to those who reported them — a flood of miracles. These files set out the inventio of 415 and the cult and miracles that followed, pinned to their earliest sources.
Tradition: Pan-Orthodox (Protomartyr)
This section is the source-critical centerpiece for the post-biblical Stephen. The whole relic-tradition rests on a single document — the Epistola Luciani, Lucian’s own account, translated into Latin by the presbyter Avitus of Braga — and its rapid spread is attested above all by Augustine, who records the miracles at the shrines of Africa in City of God 22.8. Per METHODOLOGY §3.5, the discovery and the miracles are reported as the claims of their sources, named and dated, not as independently established history. The two files treat the finding of 415 itself and the cult and miracles that followed.
Files in This Section
| File | Description |
|---|---|
| The Finding of 415 | The inventio of December 415: Lucian’s visions of Gamaliel at Caphar Gamala; the uncovering of the relics; the Epistola Luciani and its translation by Avitus of Braga; the role of Orosius in carrying relics westward; the translation to Jerusalem and the dating of the event; pinned to the Epistola Luciani as its source’s own report. |
| The Cult and the Miracles | The rapid diffusion of the relics across the empire; the shrines (memoriae) of Africa — Uzalis and Hippo; Augustine’s record of the miracles at the relics in City of God 22.8, reported as what he attests; the August 2 commemoration of the translation; the Orthodox theology of relics. |
See Also
- The Seed of the Church — the protomartyr whose relics are now found
- The Feast and the Nativity Octave — the August 2 translation feast
- The Historical Questions — the historical assessment of the relic-narrative
- The Church Fathers — Augustine on the miracles at the shrines
References
- Epistola Luciani (Revelatio Sancti Stephani), trans. Avitus of Braga. PL 41:807–818.
- Augustine of Hippo. City of God 22.8. Trans. Marcus Dods, in Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Series I, Vol. 2.
- Hunt, E. D. Holy Land Pilgrimage in the Later Roman Empire, AD 312–460. Oxford: Clarendon, 1982.
- Clark, Elizabeth A. “Claims on the Bones of Saint Stephen: The Partisans of Melania and Eudocia.” Church History 51 (1982): 141–156.