St Stephen

Stephen was a brave and fearless man. He had to be, to do the work God wanted him to do.

He lived in those early days of the Church just after Jesus had returned to his Father and the Holy Spirit had come upon the Apostles at the first Pentecost.

Perhaps Stephen had actually met Jesus, heard him teaching, seen some of his miracles, even spoken to him. It is possible, but we do not know.

What we do know is that Stephen was a friend of the Apostles.

While he was doing his work of service he worked great signs and miracles. This made the enemies of the Christians very angry.

Stephen was accused of wanting to bring an end to all the ancient customs of the Jews. He denied this, and in their anger, condemned him to death.

Now Stephen showed what a great and good man he was. He had complete faith in Jesus. As the stones came crashing down on him he shouted out, ’Lord Jesus, receive my spirit’. He knew Jesus would welcome him into the Kingdom.

And as he died, Stephen did not think just of himself. He fell on his knees and prayed for those who were killing him. ‘Lord, do not blame them for doing this’, he prayed. Then he died.

Stephen is our patron. His courage and love can work on us too. He showed what real serving is all about. It is about working for other people, living for them. Even dying for them, in Stephen’s case.

As altar servers, we serve the whole Church. Together with everybody else we use the gifts God has given us to spread the Good News. And to pray to God as one family. That is what serving is about.

A big job, but we have Stephen as our patron and our guide. We therefore pray to him to help us be good servers.

History Of The Guild

The Guild of St Stephen was founded at the beginning of the century, about the year 1901. We do not know the exact date.

Its founder was Father Hamilton MacDonald, who was chaplain at the Sacred Heart Convent at Hammersmith, in London.

Like so many of these things, the Guild started because it was needed. Father Macdonald wanted to raise the standard of altar serving, so he started regular classes for altar servers at the convent. The idea caught on, and soon he was holding meetings every month at the local parish church, Holy Trinity, Brook Green. It was a great success. The Archbishop of Westminster, Francis Bourne (later Cardinal) was so impressed that he decided to start the Guild at Westminster Cathedral

It was not long before Pope Pius X (later Saint) came to hear of it. He gave the Guild his official approval in November 1905.

In 1906, the Guild of Westminster Cathedral was promoted to “Arch confraternity”. This meant that branches of the Guild in other parishes could be linked with the one at Westminster Cathedral. In that way they could use the rules and wear the medal of the Guild. From that time on, the Guild of St Stephen began to spread very quickly.

In 1914 the great war exploded in Europe and raged until 1918. Millions of men joined the army and navy. Some of these were senior servers from the parishes. The result was that the Guild declined. In fact, it remained active in only one or two parishes.

But after the war, a few of Father MacDonald’s “boys” came to the rescue. They worked hard at building up the Guild again.

In 1925 Cardinal Bourne gave his approval to a new constitution for the Guild. A Central Council and an executive were established. Slowly but surely the Guild grew in numbers and in strength. Father MacDonald died in 1933; he had lived to see it firmly established.

Affiliate your parish or school

Every parish should be affiliated to the Guild, giving access to our programmes, events and resources and support. There is no cost to affiliate your parish or school, to find out more and to apply online, see our About Affiliation page.

The Guild Medal

The letters XP are the first two letters of the name ‘Christ’ in Greek. At the top is the crown of victory given by God to everyone who overcomes evil, especially those who die for him. At the bottom are the palm branches, traditional sign of martyrs who died for Christ.

The Latin words are the Guild motto: they declare that to serve at the altar is to serve Christ himself. And the reward of all good and faithful serving is a share in his kingdom.

Cui servire regnare est - To serve Christ is to reign.

Meet The Central Council

  • Paul Briers KCHS

    President

    Diocese: Lancaster

  • Catherine Burns

    Vice-President

    Diocese: Brentwood

  • Fr Dennis Touw

    National Director

    Diocese: Westminster

  • Fr Kieth Stokes

    Diocese Director

    Diocese: Westminster

  • Paul Woodhouse

    Communications Officer

    Diocese: Lancaster

  • Ian Mulholland

    Elected Member

    Diocese: Lancaster

  • Nicola Chrismas

    Safeguarding Officer
    Goods Manager
    Director of the Guild for the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham

    Diocese: Brentwood

  • Anthony Ogunseitan

    Elected member

    Diocese: Westminster

  • Liz Woodhouse

    Elected Member

    Diocese: Southwark

  • Michael O’Leary

    Elected Member

    Diocese: Westminster

  • Vincent Shalvey

    Diocese: Westminster

  • Nicholas Tilbury

    Honorary Councillor

    Diocese: Westminster

  • Michael Moriarty

    Honorary Councillor

  • Rose Curry

    Honorary Councillor

    Diocese: Liverpool

  • Deacon Owen Gesty

    Appointed Representative

    Archdiocese: Birmingham

  • Rick Hodgkiss

    Appointed Member Diocesan Representative

    Archdiocese of Cardiff

  • Michael Chute KSG

    Honorary Councillor

    Diocese: Westminster

  • Quoc Van-Tran

    Treasurer

  • Secretary

    Vacant

  • Stefan Wiecek

    Webmaster

  • Philip Prior

    Co-opted

    Diocese: Westminster

Catholic Youth Ministry Federation

The Guild is a proud member of CYMFed, the Catholic youth organisation of the Catholic Bishops Conference of England and Wales. Read more on our CYMFed page.