I add porch lights to brick houses pretty often, and I think that either the box is inside the house/walls, with just the wiring being drilled through the brick, or else they have to rout out a large hole for a light that requires a seating right there. The former seems preferable with a surface that would be hard to replace. That might or might not constrain your choice of fixture.

thank you acm. The lanterns ive seen for sale have a box cover behind them that also acts as the support for the lantern, so how would the lantern be affixed or hung if the box is inside the house?

oh, I thought you meant a junction box. I think you're right that any light has to be bolted to the surface in some way, there's no getting around that...

Did you end up drilling into the stone? We are wanting to also put up lights on the side of the garage but not sure how we should go about drilling into it and also what risks for the stone there might be.