Guild of St Stephen Mass

Today in both the old and new breviaries, we have the Sermon by St Fulgentius of Ruspe about St Stephen.
Yesterday our king, clothed in his robe of flesh, left his place in the virgin’s womb and graciously visited the world. Today his soldier leaves the tabernacle of his body and goes triumphantly to heaven.
At our Mass on Boxing Day, we invite all the altar servers to come since it is their patronal feast day: they belong to the Archconfraternity of St Stephen. There is an enrolment ceremony for new servers who have served regularly for some time at which they receive their medal, to be worn whenever they serve Mass.

Here is a photo of the medal. The Chi-Rho emblem, representing Christ, is surrounded by the legend "CUI SERVIRE REGNARE EST" (to serve whom is to reign).

While giving a brief summary of St Fulgentius' sermon, I suggested to the altar servers that they might like to choose St Fulgentius for their Confirmation patron. Admitting that this was unlikely at the moment, I said that if any of the older servers got to sing in a rap band or star in a soap opera, they could do us a favour by taking the stage name Fulgentius. That would ensure that St Fulgentius gained the same popularity that St Anastasia recently gained among confirmandi.

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