St Sebastian: The Undercover Christian

St Sebastian painted by Pietro Perugino
Name at birth: Sebastianus
Born: c.255 AD in Narbo Martius, Gaul (today Narbonne, France)
Died: c.288 in Rome
Feast: January 20
Patronages: Soldiers; plagues; archers; athletes; disabled people.
In the 3rd century, St Sebastian joined the Roman army to covertly help persecuted Christians. When his cover was blown, he survived an execution.
In Church history, few saints have inspired as much devotion as St Sebastian, a soldier in the Roman army whose body, mind and, above all, faith were so strong as to withstand many threats. His firm faith in the face of persecution and his ultimate martyrdom have made him an enduring symbol of courage, strength and resilience.
Sebastinanus was born around 255 AD in Narbo Martius, in Roman-occupied Gaul. Today his birthplace is known as Narbonne in southern France. He was raised in a Christian family and was probably educated in Milan. From a young age, he showed remarkable piety and dedication to his faith, and this led him to join the occupying Roman army — with the sole purpose of covertly aiding fellow Christians who were being persecuted.
Joining the army
In 283, when he was about 28, Sebastian went to Rome to join the army of the notorious Emperor Carinus. He proved himself to be a fine soldier, and for his courage he soon became a captain in the Praetorian Guards — the personal bodyguards and intelligence agents of the Roman emperors — under Carinus’ successor, Diocletian.
Naturally, Sebastian kept his faith a secret. Christians were regarded with suspicion and even antagonism, because they refused to submit to pagan practices. For the Roman rulers, that was a rebellion against the state’s values and, indeed, its national security and welfare, which the Romans entrusted to the pagan gods. Diocletian felt strongly about that and sought to eradicate the influence of Christians from society by launching a large-scale persecution, one of the worst in Christian history.
As a soldier and undercover Christian, Sebastian used his position within the Roman army to aid imprisoned Christians. He became known for his compassion and, among Christians, for his resolute commitment to Christ, even in the face of danger. By his words and example, he converted many people who, in turn, converted others. According to tradition, these included the local prefect Chromatius, father of the later martyr St Tiburtius, who went on to release all his Christian prisoners from jail, resigned his position, and retired.

St Sebastian Thrown into the Cloaca Maxima by Lodovico Carracci (1612)
Condemned to death
By 286, Sebastian’s covert activities were discovered. Betrayed by one of his fellow soldiers, he was brought before Diocletian himself for interrogation and punishment. The emperor was shocked to find that a ranking member of his own guard had actively supported those considered to be enemies of the state. Sebastian was condemned to death by execution at the hands of archers — an ironic fate for a member of the imperial guard.
Bound naked to a tree or column (accounts differ) in the centre of Rome’s Circus Maximus, a hail of arrows hit Sebastian. Looking like a hedgehog, as one chronicler put it, Sebastian was left for dead. But he defied death. Instead of dying instantly, as would be expected, the athletic victim miraculously survived the execution, as a Christian woman, Irene, found when she came to retrieve his body. For Christians, Sebastian’s survival was a sign of divine intervention and a testament to his steadfast faith.
Sebastian was nursed back to health by Irene and recovered, living among the Christian community. One day in 288, he heard of a procession which would be led by Diocletian. On the route, he scouted a well-placed staircase and positioned himself there. As the emperor passed, Sebastian loudly berated him for the persecution of Christians.
Diocletian was astonished to find that the soldier whom he had condemned to death two years earlier was still alive. Enraged, the emperor ordered Sebastian to be seized and beaten to death with clubs, and that his body be then thrown into the common sewer. As the lethal blows rained down upon him, Sebastian remained resolute until his last breath, refusing to renounce Christ.
A Christian named Lucina, to whom Sebastian had appeared in a vision, retrieved the martyr’s body from the sewer and buried it in the catacombs of Calixtus, on top of which the present basilica of St Sebastian Outside the Walls now stands.
News of Sebastian’s martyrdom quickly spread throughout Rome and beyond, inspiring many others to stand strong in their faith during times of brutal and relentless persecution.

A sculpture made by Giuseppe Giorgetti in 1671 at the tomb of St Sebastian inside the 17th-century basilica of St Sebastian Outside the Walls in Rome. (Photo: Günther Simmermacher)
Places of burial
Eighty years after his death, St Sebastian’s remains were transferred to the newly-built church of the Apostles. The basilica of St Sebastian Outside the Walls, which now stands on the same spot, would be built in the early 17th century. For several centuries, until the Jubilee Year 2000, it was one of Rome’s Seven Pilgrim Churches.
The reputed bones of the martyr were taken to St Peter’s basilica for safekeeping in 826, and later returned to the basilica of St Sebastian, where they are today. His cranium is believed to have been brought to the Benedictine abbey of Ebersberg in southern Germany in 934. Some relics seem to have been taken to France.
Patron against plague
In the late Middle Ages, St Sebastian became popularly invoked against the bubonic plague, with his miraculous survival from the archers’ arrows giving hope that certain death from the plague might likewise be averted through his intercession.
St Sebastian is also the patron saint of athletes, soldiers, archers, and those suffering from diseases or sudden illness. In iconography and art, he is often depicted as bound to a tree or column, riddled with arrows but wearing an expression of serene determination. His feast day has always been January 20, though the Orthodox Church marks it on December 18.
Unlike many of his contemporary martyrs, the existence of St Sebastian is not disputed by historians. The earliest source mentioning Sebastian is in the Chronograph of 354, which lists him as a martyr venerated on January 20. St Ambrose, the bishop of Milan, mentions him in around 386-390. The earliest surviving account of Sebastian’s life and martyrdom is the Passio Sancti Sebastiani from the 4th or 5th century.
Published in the January 2024 issue of The Southern Cross magazine
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