Saint of the Week Series Feast Day: January 20 Symbol: arrows Patronage: Athletes, Soldiers, and Plague Victims Death: 288 CE Saint Sebastian Not much known about Sebastian’s birth or early childhood. What we do know about Sebastian comes from Saint Ambrose of Milan, the city that he allegedly came from, whether that be by birth or in his military training. He was recorded as joining the Roman Army from there in 283 CE as a practicing, but secret, Christian, as Christianity was illegal at this time. He served in the Proletarian Guard under Emperor Diocletian, a notorious anti-Christian. In his time serving in the army, Sebastian helped many Christians who were being persecuted. Notably, during his time serving on the Proletarian Guard, Marcus and Marcellian were revealed to be Christian deacons when they refused to make sacrifices to the Roman Gods. Their parents came to visit them as they awaited execution to convince them to renounce their Christian God in order to save their own lives. Rather than the two giving into temptation, Sebastian converted the parents to Christianity. Three years into his service in the military, Sebastian was discovered to be a Christian by the Emperor. Emperor Diocletian immediately ordered his arrest and for him to be murdered by being tied to a stake and used for target practice. Though he was hit with many, many arrows and assumed to be dead, he was covered by Irene of Rome, who hid him while he recovered from his many wounds. Eventually, Sebastian was well enough to leave, and he set out to find the Emperor in order to criticize him for his anti-Christian practices. After being chastised by the saint and surprised that he was still alive, Emperor Diocletian ordered for his execution yet again, this time to be beaten to death with clubs and then thrown into the sewer. Sebastian died at this time in 288 CE, and his body was buried with many other martyrs in the catacombs beneath Rome. After being invoked to protect Rome against the plague in 680 CE, many years after his death, he became known as a protector against plagues. Many Romans who invoked his name during the Bubonic plague were miraculously healed or spared all together. This reputation can also be traced to symbology surrounding the arrows he was shot with, as the people of the time considered plagues to be “arrows of pestilence shot from the gods”. He is also known as the patron saint of soldiers, athletes, and martyrs due to his courage and resilience facing both battle and the Emperor to confront him. Biographical Information gathered from CatholicOnline.com Photo from https://wp.en.aleteia.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/02/web3-saint-sebastian-of-vienna-andrea-mantegna- wiki.jpg?quality=100&strip=all .