Stefanitag

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St. Stephen by Hans Memling

The Boxing Day , Boxing Day , Boxing Day , Boxing Day , rare Stephanustag or day of Erzmärtyrers Stephen is on December 26 as a solid (lat. Festum Sancti Stephani Protomartyris or) Commemoration of St. deacon Stephen celebrated. He is considered the first Christian martyr , which is why his day of remembrance is usually celebrated in the liturgical color red .

distribution

The feast of the first Christian martyr Stephen ( Acts 6.1–8.2  EU ) on December 26th is attested in the east as early as the 4th century and spread between the 5th and 7th centuries in the Eastern and Western churches . In the liturgy, Christmas was only given an octave later, from the 8th century at the earliest , in which, however, the holy feasts of this time, the Comites Christi ( Latin: "companion of Christ"), were retained: Stephanus, Johannes der Evangelist ( December 27th) and the Innocent Children (December 28th).

In Protestant congregations in Germany, Stephen is remembered in some church services on this day, because “the memory of the arch-martyr Stephen [...] has a longer tradition than Christmas. It should not be completely suppressed on Boxing Day, but if possible in a service on that day (possibly in the evening). ”Other agendas such as those in Baden (1995), in the Palatinate (2006) or the Reformed Liturgy (1999) do not specifically provide for this. In the Evangelical Church in Württemberg , the “Day of Prayer for Persecuted Christians” has been celebrated since 2007 on the day of the Arch-Martyr Stephen. Since 2012, St. Stephen's Day has also been celebrated in the German Roman Catholic dioceses as a “day of prayer for persecuted and oppressed Christians”.

In Swiss cantons in which German is the only official language or one of the official languages, with the exception of Valais and Ticino , St. Stephen's Day is either a public holiday or work is off. Exceptions to this are special regulations in a few cantons for otherwise three consecutive days off. In the other cantons, St. Stephen's Day is a normal working day (see public holidays in Switzerland ).

liturgy

The liturgy of the Roman Catholic and Protestant churches reads from the Acts of the Apostles about the ministry and martyrdom of Stephen (Catholic: Acts 6,8–10  EU , Acts 7,54–60  EU ; Protestant: Acts 6,8–15  LUT , Acts 7.55–60  LUT ) as well as the gospel from Matthew (Catholic: Mt 10.17-22  EU , Protestant: Mt 10.16-22  LUT ).

regional customs

In Roman Catholic areas, numerous customs existed well into the 20th century, which on December 26th refer to the person of the saint, his (traditional) biography and especially the circumstances of his death. For example, “Stephanus-Steinigen”, which describes certain drinking rituals, especially of the male population after going to church. Some of these customs are still being cultivated in a reduced form in the 21st century.

St. Stephen's Day is celebrated in the liturgy of the Roman Catholic Church , the Old Catholic Church , the Anglican Church , the Evangelical Church in Germany and the Independent Evangelical Lutheran Church as the day of commemoration of the martyrdom of St. Stephen , the deacon . The liturgical color of the day is accordingly red.

If December 26th falls on a Sunday, the feast of St. Stephen is replaced by the feast of the Holy Family in the Roman Catholic Church , except in the Archdiocese of Vienna , where the feast of the diocesan patron Stephanus is always celebrated (→ St. Stephen's Cathedral ).

In the Greek Orthodox Church and the Bulgarian Orthodox Church St. Stephen's Day is celebrated on December 27th, in the Serbian Orthodox Church on January 9th.

More day names

In Germany, St. Stephen's Day is known as Christmas Day , in the Commonwealth of Nations as Boxing Day .

In Austria only the term St. Stephen's Day is used, while in Switzerland the form St. Stephen's Day is common.

The Netherlands call the festival St. Stephen , in Italy it is called Santo Stefano . December 26th is a public holiday in Ireland and is called St Stephen's Day in English . In Irish it is called either Lá Fhéile Stiofáin (St. Stephen's Day) or Lá an Dreoilín (Day of the Wren / Snow King ).

See also

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b United Evangelical Lutheran Church of Germany and Evangelical Church of the Union (ed.): Evangelisches Gottesdienstbuch, Agende for the Evangelical Church of the Union and for the United Evangelical Lutheran Church of Germany , 5th edition, Berlin: Verlagsgem. Evang. Church service book 2012., ISBN 978-3-7859-0933-1 , p. 416
  2. ↑ a b Bieritz, Karl-Heinrich: The church year: festivals, commemorative and public holidays in the past and present , 2nd edition, Berlin: Union-Verlag 1988, ISBN 978-3-372-00012-0 , p. 190.
  3. ^ Hans J. Limburg: Stephanus. III. Adoration u. Customs . In: Walter Kasper (Ed.): Lexicon for Theology and Church . 3. Edition. tape 9 . Herder, Freiburg im Breisgau 2000.
  4. ↑ Philipp Harnoncourt: Christmas Octave . In: Walter Kasper (Ed.): Lexicon for Theology and Church . 3. Edition. tape 10 . Herder, Freiburg im Breisgau 2001.
  5. ↑ Day of Prayer for Persecuted Christians. In: elk-wue.de. Ev. Regional Church in Württemberg, accessed on May 16, 2019 .
  6. ^ Day of prayer for persecuted and oppressed Christians. In: dbk.de. German Bishops' Conference, accessed on May 16, 2019 .
  7. ↑ "I see heaven open": The first martyr of Christianity, Stephanus , contribution from December 26, 2011 in Deutschlandfunk Kultur
  8. ↑ Customs in Upper Austria
  9. ↑ Public holidays and days that are treated like public holidays in Switzerland / Jours fériés légaux ou considérés comme tels en Suisse / Giorni festivi legali o considerati tali in Svizzera , as of January 1, 2011, Federal Office of Justice FOJ, Eidgenössisches Justiz- und Police Department FDJP - on admin.ch