Acts 7:59-60 >**59** And they went on stoning Stephen as he called upon the Lord and said, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit! **60** And falling on his knees, he cried out with a loud voice, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them!" And having said this, he fell asleep. Why did not Stephen call upon the "only true God?" It's interesting that Stephen's confession and Jesus' confession (Luke 23:34), there is a striking contrast; Jesus "commended" His spirit to the Father but Stephen, to the Lord Jesus Christ, why?

I have learnt that some of the Jews linked to the early Jewish council stoned St. Stephen to death and Paul as a witness. But I have a bit of confusion that who ordered the decree of Stephan's death.

Concerning the Book of Acts, Chapter 7, I would like to know if all Christians should accept that everything that Stephen had said about Jewish history in his speech before the Sanhedrin, particularly about how the past generations of Jews had dealt with God's prophets, was correct or are there any discrepancies in what he had said. Was Stephen correct in his historical summation of Jewish history in the Book of Acts, Chapter 7?

Why was saint Stephen canonized? I know that you have to perform three miracles to be canonized, but I don't know what his were.

I was told that St. Stephen was the first saint but read that Ulrich of Augsburg was the first to be officially canonized. Chronologically, however, shouldn't Joseph or John the Baptist be the first saint? The penitent thief is also a saint, St. Dismas, and he was the first saint to die after Jesus. 1. Does Stephen get honored as the "first saint," and if so, why? 2. Did the rules for becoming a saint change, and if so, how?