[5] The original red brick church and rectory were designed by Adolf Cluss, one of the most important architects working in the District of Columbia in the mid-1800s.

Father McNally's advanced age left him somewhat unable to attend to the church's finances as well as he might have, and St. Stephe Martyr had incurred a significant amount of debt.

In October 1894, the congregation celebrated the installation of a large new marble altar, a gift provided by Father Gloyd and John G. Schwind of Baltimore.

Each chapel had a decorative stone arch over its entrance, and two windows (set aside for stained glass memorials to parishioners) which provided natural lighting.

The mass was celebrated by Monsignor William T. Russell of St. Patrick's Catholic Church, and the sermon preached by the Right Reverend Charles Warren Currier, Bishop of Matanzas, Cuba.

[33][34] Father Cassidy had two goals he wished to accomplish at Saint Stephen Martyr: The addition of a parochial school and the founding of a convent.

Designed by the local architectural firm of Pierson & Wilson and built by the Schneider-Spleidt Co. of D.C., the limestone and red brick building had eight classrooms, cloakrooms, and an assembly hall with balcony which sat 600.

[37] Father Cassidy was made a monsignor by Pope Pius XI on September 8, 1924, for having rendered valuable service to the Catholic Church.

He was invested with the honor at a ceremony presided over by Michael Joseph Curley, Archbishop of Baltimore, on the same day that the new $200,000 ($3,555,728) St. Stephen's School opened.

[35][36] Father Vincent Fitzgerald, assistant rector at Saint Stephen Martyr, led the congregation for 10 months as interim pastor.

[52] Father Denges was named head of the 1954 and 1956 war victims' fund-raising drive for the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington which had been formed in 1947.

Immaculate Conception Academy, a Catholic school for girls administered by the Daughters of Charity, began operating in the building in the fall of 1954.

[58][59] With membership in Saint Stephen's parish having grown significantly to 2,500 members,[5] the decision was made in July to replace the worn brick church with a modern structure.

[5] The façade of the church has a 10-foot tall porcelain statue of Saint Stephen by Felix de Weldon, designed in 1960 and installed and dedicated in 1961.

It's a minor piece, to be sure, taking a little of this and that from here and there—the engineering expressionism of Pier Luigi Nervi and others, the 'brutalism' of late Le Corbusier, the simple asymmetries of 1950s commercial modernism.

Duffy, assistant pastor at Saint Stephen Martyr, led a service of Bible readings at 4 p.m. Monsignor Denges announced that a regularly scheduled mass, set for 6:30 that evening, would be offered for the repose of the President's soul.

Father Wintermyer approved the loan of four large wooden candlesticks, which were placed at the four corners of Kennedy's coffin while he lay in the East Room.

[70] In January 1964, the White House contributed six small bronze plaques to affix to the items in commemoration of their role in President Kennedy's state funeral.

On February 2, 1964, the Catholic War Veterans of the District of Columbia unveiled a bronze plaque affixed to the pew President Kennedy used when attending services at Saint Stephen Martyr.

Father Edward J. O'Brien, Denges' successor, resigned due to ill health in November 1970 after just two and a half years as pastor.

Michael J. Farrell, pastor at Holy Redeemer Catholic Church in College Park, Maryland, was named his successor at Saint Stephen Martyr.

[73][c] His successor was Father Thomas Sheehan, an Irish priest who had long served at St. Mary of the Mills Catholic Church in Laurel, Maryland (and briefly as an administrator at Saint Martin of Tours Catholic Church in D.C.)[75] Father Sheehan's appointment as pastor ended the rapid turnover of priests at Saint Stephen Martyr.

Monsignor Roeltgen also deepened and expanded the church's relationship with the Catholic community at George Washington University, whose campus bordered the parish.

[78] Monsignor Hill left Saint Stephen Martyr in July 2005 to take up a position as pastor of Holy Cross Catholic Church in Garrett Park, Maryland.

[79] He was succeeded by Monsignor Edward Filardi, who at the time was serving both as priest-secretary to Cardinal Theodore E. McCarrick and as assistant director of priest vocations for the Archdiocese of Washington.

Monsignor Filardi's tenure at Saint Stephen Martyr was short, and he was transferred to the pastorate of Our Lady of Lourdes Parish in Bethesda, Maryland, in June 2009.

Designed by Anthony Visco, an artist and sculptor in Philadelphia specializing in religious art, the doors were blessed on November 20, 2011, during their installation by Auxiliary Bishop Barry Knestout.

[1] Monsignor Langsfeld spent just two and a half years at Saint Stephen Martyr before being called to the pastorate at St. Rose of Lima Catholic Church in Gaithersburg, Maryland.

Monsignor Robert Panke was appointed the temporary administrator of the church in June 2009, while continuing to serve as archdiocesan Director of Priest Vocations and Formation.

[81] In October 2013, Monsignor Paul M. Dudziak, former pastor at St. Rose of Lima Catholic Church,[79] became parish priest at Saint Stephen Martyr.