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The Martyrdom of Saint Sebastian
1995
| SAINT SEBASTIAN - C.300 According to his legend, Sebastian was born in Gaul (France), but was raised in Milan. A Christian and pacifist, he nevertheless joined the Roman army in the year 283 and lived in Diocletian's palace. Diocletian, unaware of Sebastian's faith, promoted the young saint to captain of the elite Praetorian Guards. It is here Sebastian was secretly converting and baptizing other soldiers and civilians, conducting miraculous healings, and strengthening Christian confessors in prison. As the persecution of Christians intensified, Sebastian arranged for the pope, Caius, to be safely hidden within the imperial palace. Eventually, Sebastian was betrayed to the authorities and the enraged Emperor sentenced him to death by bow and arrow firing squad. Left for dead, his body was claimed by a Christian widow, Irene, who discovered he was still alive. She had no sooner nursed him back to health when Sebastian returned to the palace, there to confront Diocletian for his pagan policies and cruelty to Christians. The Emperor was astonished at the sight of seeing a man he believed dead and briefly considered becoming a Christian himself. On second thought, he had our saint beaten to death with clubs and thrown into a common sewer. Yet, few actual facts are known other than a connection of unknown nature with Milan, his martyrdom in Rome at a date unknown is written in the Depositio Martyrum (c. 354), and he was buried in a cemetery on the Appian Way close to the basilica which bears his name. Noted as one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers, representations of Sebastian being pierced with arrows was extremely popular in the 15th century, supposedly because it provided Renaissance artists the opportunity to portray a young, handsome, often times effeminate, male nude in an ecclesiastical context. Invoked against the plague, he is the patron saint of the police, doctors, athletes, archers and soldiers. Feast day January 20 |
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