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Saint Sebastian Saint Sebastian This article is about the Christian saint and martyr. For the United States Navy ship, see USS St. Sebastian (SP-470). “Saint Sebastien” redirects here. For other uses, see Saint-Sébastien (disambiguation). Saint Sebastian (died c. 288) was an early Christian saint and martyr. He was killed during the Roman em- peror Diocletian's persecution of Christians. He is com- monly depicted in art and literature tied to a post or tree and shot with arrows. Despite this being the most com- mon artistic depiction of Sebastian, he was, according to legend, rescued and healed by Irene of Rome. Shortly af- terwards he criticized Diocletian in person and as a result was clubbed to death.[1] He is venerated in the Catholic and Orthodox Churches. The details of Saint Sebastian’s martyrdom were first spoken of by 4th-century bishop Ambrose of Milan (Saint Ambrose), in his sermon (number 22) on Psalm 118. Ambrose stated that Sebastian came from Milan and that he was already venerated there at that time. Saint Sebastian is a popular male saint, especially among soldiers.[2][3] 1 Life Saint Sebastian Interceding for the Plague Stricken,[4] Josse Lieferinxe, 1497–1499, The Walters Art Museum According to Sebastian’s 18th century entry in Acta Sanc- torum,[5] still attributed to Ambrose by the 17th century hagiographer Jean Bolland, and the briefer account in the then brought the rest of the prisoners; these 16 persons 14th century Legenda Aurea, he was a man of Gallia Nar- were also converted by Sebastian.[6] bonensis who was taught in Milan and appointed a captain Chromatius and Tiburtius converted; Chromatius set all of the Praetorian Guard under Diocletian and Maximian, of his prisoners free from jail, resigned his position, and who were unaware that he was a Christian. retired to the country in Campania. Mark and Marcellian, According to tradition, Mark and Marcellian were twin after being concealed by a Christian named Castulus, brothers from a distinguished family and were deacons. were later martyred, as were Nicostratus, Zoe, and Tibur- Both brothers married, and they resided in Rome with tius. their wives and children. The brothers refused to sacrifice to the Roman gods and were arrested. They were visited by their parents Tranquillinus and Martia in prison, who 1.1 Martyrdom attempted to persuade them to renounce Christianity. Sebastian succeeded in converting Tranquillinus and Diocletian reproached Sebastian for his supposed be- Martia, as well as Saint Tiburtius, the son of Chromatius, trayal, and he commanded him to be led to a field and the local prefect. Another official, Nicostratus, and his there to be bound to a stake so that archers would shoot wife Zoe were also converted. It has been said that Zoe arrows at him. “And the archers shot at him till he was as had been a mute for six years; however, she made known full of arrows as an urchin,”[8] leaving him there for dead. to Sebastian her desire to be converted to Christianity. As Miraculously, the arrows did not kill him. The widow of soon as she had, her speech returned to her. Nicostratus Castulus, Irene of Rome, went to retrieve his body to bury 1 2 1 LIFE the people. Sebastian was also said to be a defense against the plague. The Golden Legend transmits the episode of a great plague that afflicted the Lombards in the time of King Gumburt, which was stopped by the erection of an altar in honor of Sebastian in the Church of Saint Peter in the Province of Pavia. 1.2 Location of remains Reliquary of St Sebastian, around 1497[7] (Victoria and Albert Museum, London) it, and she discovered he was still alive. She brought him back to her house and nursed him back to health. The other residents of the house doubted he was a Christian. One of those was a girl who was blind. Sebastian asked her “Do you wish to be with God?", and made the sign of the Cross on her head. “Yes”, she replied, and immedi- ately regained her sight. Sebastian later stood on a step and harangued Diocle- tian as he passed by; the emperor had Sebastian beaten St. Sebastian (detail), Andrea Mantegna, 1480, Musée du Lou- to death, and his body was thrown into a privy. But in vre, Paris an apparition, Sebastian told a Christian widow where they might find his body undefiled and bury it “at the Remains reputed to be those of Sebastian are housed in catacombs by the apostles.” Because of this, Sebastian is Rome in the Basilica Apostolorum, built by Pope Dama- sometimes known as the saint who was martyred twice. sus I in 367 on the site of the provisional tomb of Saints Peter and Paul. The church, today called San Sebastiano Of the miraculous effect of the example of Sebastian, the fuori le mura, was rebuilt in the 1610s under the pa- Golden Legend reports, tronage of Scipione Borghese. Others sources assert that his body would have been carried from Rome to Saint ... Saint Gregory telleth in the first book of Medard Abbey in Soissons, France. his Dialogues that a woman of Tuscany which Sebastian’s cranium was brought to the town of Ebersberg was new wedded was prayed for to go with (Germany) in 934. A Benedictine abbey was founded other women to the dedication of the church there and became one of the most important pilgrimage of Sebastian, and the night tofore she was so sites in southern Germany.[9] It is said the silver-encased moved in her flesh that she might not abstain cranium was used as a cup in which to present wine to the from her husband, and on the morn, she hav- faithful during the feast of Saint Sebastian.[10] ing greater shame of men than of God, went thither, and anon as she was entered into the or- • Reliquary of Saint Sebastian in Ebersberg atory where the relics of Saint Sebastian were, the fiend took her and tormented her before all • Silver sculpture from 1450 3 • arrows was the subject of the largest engraving by the Master of the Playing Cards in the 1430s, when there were • few other current subjects with male nudes other than • The cranium Christ. Sebastian appears in many other prints and paint- ings, although this was also due to his popularity with the faithful. Among many others, Botticelli, Perugino, 2 In art and literature Titian, Pollaiuolo, Giovanni Bellini, Guido Reni (who painted the subject seven times), Mantegna (three times), Hans Memling, Gerrit van Honthorst, Luca Signorelli, El Greco, Honoré Daumier, John Singer Sargent and Louise Bourgeois all painted Saint Sebastians. An early work by the sculptor Gianlorenzo Bernini is also of Saint Sebas- tian. The saint is ordinarily depicted as a handsome youth pierced by arrows. Predella scenes when required, of- ten depicted his arrest, confrontation with the Emperor, and final beheading. The illustration in the infobox is the Saint Sebastian of Il Sodoma, at the Pitti Palace, Florence. St. Sebastian tended by Saint Irene, Georges de La Tour c 1645 The earliest representation of Sebastian is a mosaic in the Basilica of Sant'Apollinare Nuovo (Ravenna, Italy) dated between 527 and 565. The right lateral wall of the basil- ica contains large mosaics representing a procession of 26 martyrs, led by Saint Martin and including Sebastian. The martyrs are represented in Byzantine style, lacking any individuality, and have all identical expressions. Another early representation is in a mosaic[11] in the Church of San Pietro in Vincoli (Rome, Italy), proba- bly made in the year 682. It shows a grown, bearded Woodblock of St Sebastian from South Germany, circa 1470– man in court dress but contains no trace of an arrow.[12] 1475 The archers and arrows begin to appear by 1000, and ever since have been far more commonly shown than the ac- A mainly 17th-century subject, though found in predella tual moment of his death by clubbing, so that there is a [17] [13] scenes as early as the 15th century, was St Sebas- popular misperception that this is how he died. tian tended by St Irene, painted by Georges de La As protector of potential plague victims (a connection Tour, Trophime Bigot (four times), Jusepe de Ribera,[18] popularized by the Golden Legend[14]) and soldiers, Se- Hendrick ter Brugghen and others. This may have been bastian occupied an important place in the popular me- a deliberate attempt by the Church to get away from the dieval mind. He was among the most frequently depicted single nude subject, which is already recorded in Vasari of all saints by Late Gothic and Renaissance artists, in as sometimes arousing inappropriate thoughts among fe- the period after the Black Death.[15] The opportunity to male churchgoers.[19] The Baroque artists usually treated show a semi-nude male, often in a contorted pose, also it as a nocturnal chiaroscuro scene, illuminated by a sin- made Sebastian a favourite subject.[16] His shooting with gle candle, torch or lantern, in the style fashionable in the 4 3 PATRONAGE first half of the 17th century. There exist several cycles 3 Patronage depicting the life of Saint Sebastian. Among them are the frescos in the “Basilica di San Sebastiano” of Acireale (Italy) with paintings by Pietro Paolo Vasta. Egon Schiele, an Austrian Expressionist artist, painted a self-portrait as Saint Sebastian in 1915.[20] During Salvador Dalí's “Lorca (Federico García Lorca) Period”, he painted Sebastian several times, most notably in his “Neo-Cubist Academy”. For reasons unknown, the left vein of Sebastian is always exposed.
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