Today we celebrate a very beloved martyr and saint in the early Church by the name of Sebastian, Saint Sebastian. He lived during the reign of the Roman Emperors Diocletian and Maximian during the late third century, meaning the late two hundreds. This was a period marked by systematic persecution of Christians.
According to tradition, Sebastian was born in Narbonne, Gaul, and raised in Milan before eventually travelling to Rome. He became an officer in the Praetorian Guard, the elite unit responsible for the personal protection of the emperor—something similar to the Secret Service of the President of the United States, those who closely guard him. Crucially, Sebastian concealed his Christian faith. He could have used his position as part of the Praetorian Guard to further his career, but instead he was more concerned about helping the Christians who were being persecuted. In order to do this, he had to conceal his own belief and his own conviction that Jesus Christ is in fact Lord, because the emperor in those days believed himself to be God and Lord. To call anyone else God or Lord was tantamount to treason and a betrayal of the respect owed to the emperor alone.
Sebastian’s faith was eventually revealed when he openly supported two imprisoned Christians, Marcus and Marceline, who were wavering under pressure. What Sebastian would do was strengthen the imprisoned Christians through his preaching and encourage the martyrs who were facing death. We are told through tradition that Sebastian exhorted these two men, Marcus and Marceline, to persevere, and he spoke so convincingly about Christ and eternal life that others who were present converted on the spot.
When this became known, Sebastian was denounced to Emperor Diocletian, who had previously esteemed him as a loyal officer. Imagine Diocletian, who was protected by Sebastian. Sebastian did his job faithfully, but he would not speak a falsity in declaring the emperor God. He would not bow down and worship a mere mortal. Imagine Diocletian’s reaction when he discovered that Sebastian was subject to one Lord and God alone, Jesus Christ. Diocletian ordered Sebastian to be executed as a traitor to the gods of Rome.
He was taken to a field, traditionally on the Palatine Hill here in Rome. He was bound to a tree or post and shot by archers until he was presumed dead, his body riddled with arrows. He was then left for dead. This scene became the defining image of Sebastian in Christian art. Whenever we see Saint Sebastian the Martyr, we see him with arrows driven into his body while he is suspended from a pillar.
A Christian widow named Irene, often identified as the widow of Saint Castulus, came to retrieve his body for burial. Yet she discovered, amazingly and miraculously, that he was still alive. She took him into her home and nursed him back to health. This recovery was not instantaneous, but a real bodily healing, underscoring both his humanity and his resolve.
The second confrontation and final martyrdom of Saint Sebastian occurred because, rather than fleeing Rome once he had recovered, Sebastian made a deliberate and extraordinary choice. He sought out Diocletian and publicly rebuked the emperor for persecuting Christians. He denounced the cruelty and injustice of the persecutions. This direct confrontation enraged the emperor, and Sebastian was ordered to be beaten to death with clubs, a more certain form of execution. His body was thrown into the Cloaca Maxima, Rome’s great sewer, to prevent veneration.
Saint Sebastian then appeared in a vision to a Christian woman named Lucina, revealing where his body could be found. His remains were recovered and buried in the catacombs along the Via Appia, where the Basilica of Saint Sebastiano fuori le mura now stands.
My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, if only we could be soldiers who serve Christ above the Caesars of the world, the emperors of the world. If only we could survive one attack after another and still choose to remain faithful to Christ. Saint Sebastian teaches us what it means to be faithful and what it means to heed the words of our Lord in today’s Gospel: “Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather, be afraid of the one who can destroy both body and soul in Gehenna” (Mt 10:28). And again, “Whoever denies me before others, I will deny before my heavenly Father” (Mt 10:33).
My brothers and sisters, let us remember that our connection to Jesus needs to be real, authentic, deepened, and cultivated. It does not come automatically. We need to ask for assistance. Yes, the Holy Spirit works within us, but we ourselves need to make time—put time aside—to spend with our Lord Jesus, so that we may have the heart of the saints, the heart of a martyr, the heart of Sebastian. Through his intercession, and through the intercession of the Queen of Martyrs, may Almighty God bless you and fortify you this day in your faith and in your love for Jesus. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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