Stephen
Saint Stephen is the patron of stonemasons and bricklayers for the plainest reason of all: he was the first martyr, stoned to death (Acts 7:58-60), and those who labor with stone took the saint killed by stones as their own. From that same stoning comes his patronage against headaches: the blows that crushed his head made him, by sympathetic devotion, the saint to invoke against headaches and head pain. And because he was the first and chief of the seven deacons the apostles appointed to serve at table (Acts 6:5), he is naturally the patron of deacons. The wider Christian tradition reveres him simply as the protomartyr, the first to die for Christ while praying for his killers as his Master had.
Saint Stephen was the first Christian martyr, one of the seven deacons appointed by the apostles to care for the poor. Known for his wisdom and faith, he was accused of blasphemy and stoned to death while praying for the forgiveness of his persecutors, echoing Christ’s words on the cross.
