"This, surely, is the true life, my brothers!"

     "[3.] And so the love that brought Christ from heaven to earth raised Stephen from earth to heaven; shown first in the king [(Rege)], it later shone forth in his soldier [(milite)]. . . . Love was Stephen’s weapon [(armis)] by which he gained every battle, and so won the crown [(coronam)] signified by his name. His love of God kept him from yielding to the ferocious mob; his love for his neighbour made him pray for those who were stoning him. Love inspired him to reprove those who erred, to make them amend [(Per caritatem arguebat, ut corrigerentur)]; love led him to pray for those who stoned him, to save them from punishment. Strengthened by the power of his love, he overcame the raging cruelty of Saul and won his persecutor on earth as his companion in heaven [(et quem habuit in terra persecutorem, in coelo meruit habere consortem)]. In his holy and tireless love he longed to gain by prayer those whom he could not convert by admonition. . . .
     "[5.] . . . Now at last, Paul rejoices with Stephen, with Stephen he delights in the glory of Christ, with Stephen he exults, with Stephen he reigns [(Et ecce nunc Paulus cum Stephano laetatur, cum Stephano Christi claritate perfruitur, cum Stephano exsultat, cum Stephano regnat)]. Stephen went first, slain by the stones thrown by Paul [(trucidatus lapidibus Pauli)], but Paul followed after, helped by the prayer[s] of Stephen. [6.] This, surely, is the true life, my brothers, a life in which Paul feels no shame [(non confunditur)] because of Stephen’s death [(occisione)], and Stephen delights [(gratulatur)] in Paul’s companionship [(consortio)], for love fills them both with joy. It was Stephen’s love that prevailed over the cruelty of the mob, and it was Paul’s love that covered the multitude of his sins; it was love that won for both of them the kingdom of heaven.
     "Love, indeed, is the source of all good things; it is an impregnable defence, and the way that leads to heaven. He who walks in love can neither go astray nor be afraid: love guides him, protects him, and brings him to his journey’s end [(perducit)].
     "My brothers, Christ made love the stairway [(scalam)] that would enable all Christians to climb to heaven. Hold fast to it, therefore, in all sincerity, give one another practical proof of it, and by your progress in it, make your ascent together. . . ."

     St. Fulgentius of Ruspe (462/468-527/533), Sermon no. 3, secs. 3 and 5-6 on St. Stephen the Protomartyr and the Conversion of St. Paul, as translated for the Liturgy of the hours, but with ellipses re-inserted by me.  Latin from PL 65, cols. 729-732, not yet CCSL 91A (1968), ed. Fraipont, 905-909.  At some point I'm going to have to translate the whole thing.