St. Paul and St. Stephen are portrayed here as greeting one another. Both were martyred for the faith thus both are wearing red.
There was once a time when they were enemies but now they are certainly reconciled in heaven.
Stephen, a deacon and first martyr of the church, is seen on the right. The stones that pelted him to death are at his feet.
The responsibility of the crime fell upon Paul, then known as Saul, for it was at Saul’s feet that the executioners laid down their mantles.
The test of heroic love is whether we can forgive our enemies as Stephen did. And the fruit of heroic love was to change a terrorist like Saul into the great apostle, St Paul.
It often takes forgiveness offered by one member to procure the grace needed for enemies to be reconciled.
The idea of St Stephen and St Paul reconciling was given to me by Harry D’Agostino from the band, Upstate.
