Saint of the Day – 13 February – Saint Stephen of Rieti (Died c590) Abbot

Saint of the Day – 13 February – Saint Stephen of Rieti (Died c590) Abbot
Died in c590 of natural causes. Also known as – Stefano, Stfan, Stefanus.

The Roman Martyrology reads: “At Rieti, the Abbot St Stephen, a man of wonderful patience, at whose death, as is related by the blessed Pope, St Gregory, the holy Angels were present and visible to all.”

We know almost nothing about Stephen of Rieti. The only sources in which the Saint is mentioned, are the “Dialogues” and a sermon of Saint Gregory the Great.

In this last text Stephen is indicated as an example of perfect patience, a contemporary of St Egli (?) and originally from Rieti.

He was the Abbot in the Monastery of San Eleuterius of Rieti which was founded by St Equitius (5th-6th Century).

Tradition has it that St Stephen was a man of “rude (plain) manners” of a holy life and who loved to spend long periods in prayer. Furthermore, his patience was proverbial, so much so that, Saint Gregory mentions it in an episode when an evil man set fire to the wheat on the threshing floor of the Monastery.

Even for those who harassed him, he always had a good word, considering him a friend and collaborator.