The feast of St. Sebastian, the martyr was celebrated on the 20th of January by the Catholic Church. Saint Sebastian born in Narbonne, Gaul, which is now France was raised in Milan, Italy. In the early years of St. Sebastian’s life, there wasn’t much Christian persecution because it was temporarily suspended, but it started up again when he was an adolescent. He was a devout Christian who wanted to help others who were being persecuted because of their faith. Sebastian joined the Roman army under Emperor Carinus in 283 with the aim of helping those who were to be persecuted. He hid his Christian beliefs in order to gain access to imprisoned Christians.
Not knowing that Sebastian was a Christian, Diocletian appointed Sebastian as one of his bodyguards and intelligence operatives when he became Emperor in 284. Sebastian soon learnt that the two brothers, Marcus and Marcellianus, had been imprisoned for their religion and that their pagan family and friends were pressuring them to abandon Christ in order to save their lives. For the sake of protecting their twin sons from persecution, even their pagan parents begged them to reject Christ.
Sebastian revealed his Christian faith to everyone jailed. He convinced the imprisoned brothers to hold fast to their religion, even if it meant their deaths. Sebastian’s sermons were so powerful that sixteen other inmates including the jailer, the brothers’ parents and over sixty additional relatives and friends were converted, baptised and two of them experienced miraculous healings. Chromatius, the sick governor of Rome, dispatched Sebastian after learning of these healings. The governor was subsequently healed by Sebastian, who also converted him to Christianity. Chromatius quit his position as governor and helped convert numerous people to Christianity when he and his son were baptised by the priest Polycarp, who would go on to become a saint and martyr.
Sebastian and Polycarp decided that one of them would stay in Rome to help the persecuted Christians, while the other would flee with Chromatius and several new converts for protection. It was decided that Sebastian would stay in Rome as the “Defender of the Church” since he was trusted by the emperor. Several of Sebastian’s converts including the twin brothers Marcus and Marcellianus, were martyred over the course of the next two years despite Sebastian’s access to the emperor.
In 286, Sebastian’s Christian faith was discovered by Emperor Diocletian. He ordered to kill Sebastian because he was deceived. The execution was to be severe and public in an effort to scare other Christians. Sebastian was blindfolded, restrained and strapped to a pole while archers were instructed to fill him with as many arrows. They left his pierced body for dead after piercing his chest and limbs with arrows. Sebastian, however, survived, as he was saved by a saintly woman named Irene who came to bury his remains. She was the wife of Saint Castulus, an officer in the Diocletian’s household, who had been martyred earlier that year. Irene carefully removed Sebastian’s arrows, took him to her home and nursed him back to health.
Once he had recovered, many encouraged Sebastian to flee for his life but Sebastian confronted the emperor and strongly criticised him for his mistreatment of Christians. Angered by Sebastian’s statements, the emperor once more gave the order to execute him. Sebastian was thrown into a sewer after being beaten to death with clubs.
It is said that Saint Sebastian asked Lucina, a holy lady, to remove his remains from the sewer and bury him in the Callixtus tombs after he passed away. Later a basilica was constructed there in his honour. Today, this is an important place of pilgrimage. Saint Sebastian gained popularity in the years after his martyrdom for his ability to intercede, particularly in the fourteenth-century fight against the bubonic plague. Because of his constant perseverance, he has also recently been recognised as the patron saint of athletes.
