Stephen is the first Christian martyr; martyrs, that is, witnesses, are those who suffer death for the sake of Christ.
[102. Cornelius]
Our Savior had said: Go and make disciples of all nations. Still the apostles from the beginning preached only to the Jews; for it was not yet clear to them that heathens had the same access to the kingdom of God as the Jews.
One day, as Peter was sitting on the flat roof of a house, praying, he saw a vision: He saw a vessel, like a great sheet, come down from heaven, and in the sheet were all kinds of unclean animals, and a voice said to him: Rise, Peter; kill and eat. But Peter answered: Not so, Lord, for I have never eaten anything unclean. The voice said: What God hath cleansed, make not thou unclean. And this was done thrice, and the vessel was taken up to heaven.
While Peter was perplexed what the vision might mean, messengers came from a heathen, Cornelius by name. And Peter went with them, and preached to Cornelius and his household. And while he was preaching, the Holy Spirit fell upon all who heard the word. Then Peter said: Can any man forbid the water that these should not be baptized that have received the Holy Spirit, as well as we? And he commanded that they be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. When the brethren in Jerusalem heard this, they said: Then unto the gentiles also hath God granted repentance unto life. (Acts 10, 11:1-18.)
[103. Paul]
Saul was breathing threatening and slaughter against the Christians, and received from the high priest letters to go to Damascus and seize all them that were of the Christian faith, both men and women, and bring them bound to Jerusalem. When he drew nigh unto Damascus, there suddenly shone round about him a light from heaven. He fell upon the earth and heard a voice, saying: Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? I am Jesus, whom thou persecutest. It is hard for thee to kick against the goad! Saul asked: What wilt thou, Lord, that I should do? The Lord answered: Arise, and enter into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do. Saul rose up; he was blind, and had to be led by the hand.
There was in Damascus a Christian named Ananias. The Lord said to him in a vision: Go to Saul that he may receive his sight. Ananias answered: I have heard of this man, how much evil he did to Thy saints at Jerusalem, and to all that call upon Thy name. The Lord said: Go; for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. And Ananias went, and laid his hands upon him. And straightway there fell as it were scales from his eyes, and he received his sight and was baptized. And straightway in the synagogues he proclaimed Jesus, that He is the Son of God. Later on he was called Paul, and was acknowledged by the other apostles as a fellow-apostle; and by the grace of God he labored more than the other apostles.
He made three great journeys, going far abroad, and is called the Apostle of the Gentiles. At Antioch in Syria he preached for a whole year, and it was here the believers were first called Christians. He proceeded to Greece, Europe, and the Word made good progress, and he strengthened the converts by the letters he wrote to the churches.
But the Jews persecuted him in every place, and when he, after his third journey, came to Jerusalem, they laid hold on him and would kill him; but the Roman governor sent him to Rome to be judged by the emperor, to whom Paul had appealed; for he was a Roman citizen. The emperor Nero acquitted him, and it is told that he undertook a fourth missionary journey. During his absence Nero began the first great persecution against the Christians. When Paul came back from his last journey, he was beheaded at Rome, at the same time that Peter was crucified (about sixty-seven years after the birth of Christ.) (Acts 9, 13-28.)