STENO
286
STEPHEN
into New York, but of his priestly labours in the lat-
ter state prior to the close of the Revolution we have
no written record. This absence of written evidence
is easily accounted for by the fact that a priest ren-
dered himself liable to the death penalty for attempt-
ing to enter New York while it remained under
British rule. There can be little doubt, however, that
Father Farmer on his journeys through Northern
New Jersey crossed over into New York and attended
to the Catholics there, even venturing into the city
itself, where he kept the faith alive and practically
founded St. Peter's Church. With all his missionary
work he found time to take an active interest in
public and literary affairs. In 1779 he was appointed
one of the first trustees of the University of Penn-
sylvania, while as a philosopher and astronomer his
reputation had reached the learned societies of Europe
with whom he corresponded. He died at Phila-
delphia a few months after returning from a mission-
ary trip to New York. His funeral was held at St.
Mary's Church, but the remains were interred in old
St. Joseph's.
Gbiffin, Am. Cath. Hist. Researches (Philadelphia. Jan., 1888; July. 1890; Jan., 1897; Jan. and July, 1900!; Records .4m. Cath. Hist. Soci II. Ill, IV, V and VI (Philadelphia. June. 1900; Dec., 1908; Dec. 1909). passim; Shea, Life and Times of .irch- bishop Carroll (New York, 1888); KiRUN, Catholicity in Phila- delphia (Philadelphia. 1909).
H. C. Schuyler.
Steno, NicoLAUS (Niels Steensen), an eminent Danish anatomist and geologist, convert and saintly bishop, b. at Copenhagen, 1 Jan., 1638; d. at Schwerin in Germany, 25 Nov., 1686. For many years the name of Steno was almost forgotten; in science he was centu- ries in advance of his time. During the last thirty years justice has been done to his merits as a scientist. When a young man of twenty-two years he went to the Netherlands to proceed with his anatomic studies; there he discovered, among other things, the excretory duct of the parotid glands (ductus Stetionianus) and the circulation of tlie blood in the human body. In spite of his achievements his countrymen failed to appoint him professor at the University of Copenha- gen, in consequence of which he went to Florence, where he was cordially received by the Grand Duke of Tuscany. He was appointed anatomist at the Hospi- tal of .Santa Maria Nuova and continued his re- searches. Even while residing in the Netherlands he had begun to doubt the truth of the Lutheran doc- trines. At Cologne he conferred with a Jesuit, and at Florence he became convinced of the truth of Catholi- cism. After many struggles he entered the Church on 4 November, 1667. Shortly after a royal letter came from Denmark, that called him home and offered him a high annual salary. But it was too late; as a Catholic he could not return to Denmark. He re- mained in Italy and made many geological discoveries, which were not apjireciated until our time. He was also the first who gave a scientific explanation of the many petrifactions which are found in the earth. In Denmark men began to regret Steno's loss, and through the influence of Griffenfeldt he w\as nominated, not professor — for a Catholic could not hold that position — but analomicus regius in his native city, but he re- mained there only two years, as he was exposed to narrow-minded treatment.
Feeling a higher call, he returned to Italy, where he received Holy orders in 1675, and two years after was consecrated a bishop. As such, he lived a most self- denying and mortified life, giving all he had to the poor. He was made vicar Apostolic for the northern missions and worked nine years .as an apostle in the north of Germany. He died, worn out by his labours, at the early age of forty-eight. His remains were brought to Florence and deposited in a vault in the Basilica of 8t. Lawrence. He wrote several ascetic works. Of his sixteim theological works the more interesting are bis "Epistola de propria conversione" (Florence,
1677), and "Defensio et plenior elucidatio epistolse
de propria conversione " (Hanover, 1680). His scien-
tific writings were published recently bj- Maar, " Nico-
lai .Stenonis opera jjhilosophica" (2 vols., Copenhagen,
1910), a very fine work in quarto, containing his thirty-
two anatomical dissertations, with introduction and
notes in English. A facsimile edition of his "De
solido intra solidum naturaliter contento disserta-
tionis prodromus" appeared at Berlin in 1904.
Maar. To uitdgivne Arbejder af Nicolaus Hleno fra Bibliotsca Laurentiajia (Copenhagen, 1910) ; Ple.nkers, Der Dane Niels Stensen (Freiburg. 1884); Jorgensen, Nils Steensen (Copenhagen, 1884) ; Rose, Nicolaus Stenos Liv og Dod. Oversat af V. Maar (Copenhagen. 1906) ; Metzler, Nikolaus Steno in Pastor boniiSf XXIII (Trier. 1911).
Niels Hansen.
Stephen, Saint, one of the first deacons and the first Christian martjT; feast on 26 December. In the Acts of the Apostles the name of St. Stephen occurs for the first time on the occasion of the appointment of the first deacons (Acts, vi, 5). Dissatisfaction concern- ing the distribution of alms from the community's fund having arisen in the Church, seven men were se- lected and specially ordained by the Apostles to take care of the temporal rehef of the poorer members. Of these seven, Stephen, is the first mentioned and the best known.
Stephen's hfe previous to this appointment remains for us almost entirely in the dark. His name is Greek and suggests he was a Hellenist, i. e., one of those Jews who had been born in some foreign land and whose native tongue was Greek; however, according to a fifth-century tradition, the name Stephanos was only a Greek equivalent for the Aramaic Kelil (S>T. kelild, crown), which may be the protomartjT's original name and was inscribed on a slab found in his tomb. It seems that Stephen was not a proselyte, for the fact that Nicolas is the only one of the seven designated as such makes it almost certain that the others were Jews by birt'i. That Stephen was a pupil of GamaUel is sometimes inferred from his able defence before the Sanhedrin; but this has not been proved. Neither do we know when and in what circumstances he became a Christian; it is doubtful whether the statement of St. Epiphanius (Haer., xx, 4) numbering Stephen among the seventy disciples is deserving of any credence. His ministry as deacon appears to have been mostly among the Hellenist converts with whom the Apostles were at first less familiar; and the fact that the oppo- sition he met with sprang up in the sjTiagogues of the "Libertines" (probably the children of Jews taken captive to Rome by Pompey in 63 b. c. and freed — hence the name Libertini), and "of the C\Tenians, and of the Alexandrians, and of them that were of Cihcia and Asia" shows that he usually preached among the Hellenist Jews. That he was pre-eminently fitted for that work, his abilities and character, which the au- thor of the Acts dwells upon so fervently, are the best indication. The Church had, by selecting him for a deacon, publicly acknowledged him as a man "of good reputation, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom" (Acts, vi, 3). He was "a man fuU of faith, and of the Holy Ghost" (vi, 5), "full of grace and fortitude" (vi, 8); his uncommon oratorical powers and unim- peachable logic no one Wius able to resist, so much so that to his arguments replete with the Divine energy of the Scriptural authorities God added the weight of "great wonders and signs" (vi, S). Great as was tlie efficacy of "the wisdom and the spirit that spoke" (vi, 10), still it could not bend the minds of the un- willing; to these the forceful preacher wjis fatally soon to become an enemy.
The conflict broke out when the cavillers of the synagogues "of the Libertines, and of tb.e CjTeneans, and of the Alexandrians, and of them that were of Cilicia and Asia", who had challengcil Stei)lien to a dispute, came out completely discomfited (vi, 9-10); wounded pride so inflamed their hatred that they
