De sancto Sebastiano
The Meaning of the Name
The name Sebastian is interpreted through various allegories of holiness and service to Christ.
The name Sebastian comes from 'sequens' (following) and 'beatitudo' (blessedness), along with 'astim' (meaning city) and 'ana' (meaning above), as if to say 'following the blessedness of the highest and heavenly city,' which means to possess and attain it. According to Augustine, this is achieved through the five-fold denarius: through poverty, the kingdom; through sorrow, joy; through labor, rest; through ignominy, glory; and through death, life. Alternatively, Sebastian is derived from 'basto'. For 'miles' means Christ, 'equus' means the Church, and 'bastum' or 'sella' means Sebastian, through whom Christ campaigned in the Church and won victory over many martyrs. Or, Sebastian is interpreted as 'fenced in' or 'going about': 'fenced in' because he was surrounded by arrows like a hedgehog, and 'going about' because he went around to all the martyrs to comfort them.
The Courage of the Martyrs
Sebastian encourages Marcellianus and Marcus to remain steadfast in their faith despite the desperate pleas of their grieving family.
A. Sebastian was a deeply Christian man, born in Narbonne and a citizen of Milan. He was so dear to the emperors Diocletian and Maximian that they gave him command of the first cohort and ordered him to stay by their side at all times. He wore his military cloak only for this purpose: to strengthen the souls of Christians whom he saw failing under torture. While the distinguished men Marcellianus and Marcus, twin brothers, were about to be beheaded for their faith in Christ, their parents arrived to try and turn their hearts away from their purpose. Their mother arrived with her hair disheveled and her clothes torn; exposing her breasts, she cried out, "O my dearest sons, an unheard-of misery and unbearable grief surrounds me." "Woe to me in my misery; I am losing my sons who are rushing headlong toward death. If enemies had taken them from me, I would have followed the kidnappers through the midst of battle; if violent judges had locked them in prison, I would have broken in, ready to die." This is a strange new way to die, where the executioner is asked to strike, life is desired so that it may perish, and death is invited to come. This is a new grief, a new misery, in which the youth of children is willingly lost and the pitiful old age of parents is forced to live. As their mother said this, their elderly father was brought in by servants, his head sprinkled with dust, and he raised these cries to heaven: "I have come to say goodbye to my sons who are rushing headlong toward death, so that I, in my unhappiness, might spend on my children's burials what I had prepared for my own." “My sons, the staff of my old age and the twin light of my heart, why do you love death like this?” “Come here, you young men, and weep for these young men who are dying of their own free will.” “Come here, old men, and mourn with me over my sons; come here, fathers, and stop them, so you don't have to suffer things like this.” “Stop weeping, my eyes, so I don't have to watch my sons cut down by the sword.” As the father said this, their wives arrived, offering their own children to their sight and crying out with wailing: “To whom are you abandoning us? Who will be the masters of these infants? Who will divide your vast estates?” “Alas, what iron hearts! Because you despise your parents, reject your friends, cast off your wives, abandon your children, and offer yourselves up to the executioners of your own free will.” In the midst of this, however, the men's hearts began to soften. Then Saint Sebastian, who was there, stepped into the middle and said: “O most courageous soldiers of Christ, do not throw away your eternal crown for the sake of miserable flattery.”
The Power of the Word
Sebastian preaches the vanity of the world and the glory of martyrdom, leading to the conversion and healing of Zoe and her household.
He also told their parents, "Don't be afraid; they won't be separated from you, but are going to heaven to prepare starry mansions for you." For from the beginning of the world, this life has deceived those who hoped in it, misled those who expected things from it, and mocked those who presumed upon it; it has made nothing certain at all, so that it is proven to everyone to be a lie. This life warns the angry man to rage, the hot-tempered man to be cruel, and the liar to deceive. It commands crimes, orders wicked deeds, and persuades people to commit injustice. But the persecution we suffer here flares up today and vanishes tomorrow; it burns hot today and cools down tomorrow; it is brought on in an hour and cast out in an hour. Eternal pain, however, is renewed so that it may rage, increased so that it may burn, and inflamed so that it may punish. Let us therefore stir up our affections in the love of martyrdom. For there the devil thinks he is winning, but while he captures, he is captured; while he holds, he is held; while he conquers, he is conquered; and while he tortures, he is tortured; while he kills, he is killed; and while he insults, he is mocked. As the blessed Sebastian was saying these things, he was suddenly illuminated for nearly an hour by an intense splendor descending from heaven. Under that light, he was clothed in a very white robe and surrounded by seven brilliant angels. A young man also appeared beside him, offering him peace and saying, "You will always be with me." While the blessed Sebastian was preaching these things and others like them, Zoe—the wife of Nicostratus, in whose house the saints were being kept—having lost her speech, threw herself at his feet and asked for forgiveness through gestures. Then Sebastian said, "If I am a servant of Christ, and if everything this woman has heard from my mouth and believed is true, then may He who opened the mouth of His prophet Zechariah open hers." At this, the woman cried out, "Blessed is the word of your mouth, and blessed are those who believe everything you have said." For I saw an angel holding a book before you, in which everything you said was written. When her husband heard this, he fell at the feet of Saint Sebastian, begging for forgiveness; he immediately released the martyrs and asked that they be allowed to go free. They replied that they would by no means abandon the victory they had won. The Lord had bestowed such grace and power upon the words of Saint Sebastian that he not only strengthened Marcellianus and Marcus in the constancy of their martyrdom, but also converted their father, Tranquillinus, and their mother, along with many others, to the faith, all of whom the priest Polycarp baptized.
The Conversion of Chromatius
Through the destruction of idols and the grace of baptism, the prefect Chromatius and his household are healed and brought to the faith.
Tranquillinus, however, was suffering from a very serious illness, but as soon as he was baptized, he was restored to health. The prefect of the city of Rome, who was himself suffering from a very serious illness, asked Tranquillinus to bring to him the one who had given him his health. When Polycarp the priest and Sebastian arrived, and the prefect asked them to restore his health as well, Sebastian told him that he must first renounce his idols, hand over the power to break them, and only then would he receive his health. When the prefect Chromatius said that his servants should do this and not he himself, Sebastian replied, "The fearful are afraid to break their own gods; but even if the devil were to harm them on this account, they would say that the unbelievers were being punished because they broke their gods." And so, Polycarp and Sebastian, girded for the task, broke more than two hundred idols. After this, they said to Chromatius, "Since you should have received your health while we were breaking the idols, but did not, it is certain that you have either not yet cast off your unbelief or you have kept some idols back." Then he revealed that he had a chamber containing all the knowledge of the stars, for which his father had spent more than two hundred pounds of gold, and through which he used to foresee all future events. Sebastian told him, "As long as you keep this intact, you won't be whole yourself." When he agreed to this, his son Tiburtius, a remarkable young man, said, "I will not allow such a magnificent work to be destroyed; but so that I do not seem opposed to my father's health, let two furnaces be lit, so that if my father does not receive his health after the work is destroyed, we may both be burned alive." Sebastian replied, "Let it be as you've said." While those idols were being destroyed, an angel appeared to the prefect and announced that he had been restored to health by the Lord Jesus; immediately, he was made whole and ran after him to kiss his feet. Sebastian held him back because he had not yet received baptism, and so he, his son Tiburtius, and fourteen hundred of his household were baptized. Zoe, however, was seized by the unbelievers and, after being tortured for a long time, gave up her spirit. When Tranquillinus heard this, he burst out, "Women are going before us to the crown; why are we still living?" A few days later, he himself was stoned to death.
The Final Victory
Tiburtius, Marcellianus, and Marcus are martyred, followed by the final testimony and death of Saint Sebastian himself.
Saint Tiburtius, however, was ordered to either place incense before the gods on the coals that had been brought in, or to walk over them barefoot. He made the sign of the cross over himself and stepped onto them with bare feet, saying, "It seems to me that I am walking on rose petals in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ." To this, the prefect Fabian said, "Who doesn't know that Christ taught you this magic art?" Tiburtius replied, "Be quiet, you wretch, for you aren't worthy to speak a name so holy and so sweet." Then the angry prefect ordered him to be beheaded. Marcellianus and Marcus, however, were fastened to a stake, and once they were fixed there, they sang, "Look how good and how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell in unity," and so on. The prefect said to them, "Wretches, put aside your madness and set yourselves free." They answered him, "We have never feasted so well; if only you would let us remain this way for as long as we are covered by the garment of the body." Then the prefect ordered them to be pierced through the sides with spears, and thus they completed their martyrdom. After this, the prefect reported Sebastian to the Emperor Diocletian, who called him and said, "I have always kept you among the first in my palace, yet you have been hiding your opposition to my safety and your injury to the gods all this time." Sebastian replied, "For your safety, I have always worshipped Christ, and for the stability of the Roman Empire, I have always worshipped the God who is in heaven." Then Diocletian ordered him to be tied in the middle of the field and shot by soldiers, who filled him with so many arrows that he looked like a hedgehog; thinking he was dead, they left. But he was freed within a few days, and standing on the steps of the palace, he sternly rebuked the emperors as they arrived for the evils they were inflicting on the Christians. The emperors asked, "Is this Sebastian, whom we ordered to be killed with arrows so long ago?" Sebastian answered them, "The Lord has seen fit to raise me up for this purpose: that I might confront you and rebuke you for the evils you inflict upon the servants of Christ." Then the emperor ordered him to be beaten until he breathed his last, and he had his body thrown into a sewer so that he wouldn't be venerated by the Christians as a martyr. However, Saint Sebastian appeared to Saint Lucy the following night, revealed his body to her, and commanded her to bury it near the footprints of the apostles, which she did. He suffered, however, under the emperors Diocletian and Maximian, who began their reign around the year of our Lord 287.
Miracles and Intercession
Posthumous miracles, including the healing of a possessed woman and the cessation of a plague in Italy, demonstrate the saint's ongoing intercession.
In the first book of his Dialogues, Gregory reports that a newly married woman in Tuscany was invited to the dedication of Saint Sebastian’s church; yet, on the very night before she was to go, she was stirred by physical desire and couldn't abstain from her husband. When morning came, however, she went there, blushing more for the face of men than for the face of God. But as soon as she entered the oratory where the relics of Saint Sebastian were kept, the devil seized her and began to torment her in front of everyone; then the priest of that church grabbed the altar cloth to cover her, but the devil immediately attacked the priest himself. Her friends then took her to some sorcerers, hoping they would drive out the devil with their incantations. But soon, while she was being charmed, by the judgment of God a legion of demons—that is, 6,666 of them—entered her and began to torment her even more fiercely. However, a man named Fortunatus, who was known for his holiness, healed her through his prayers. It is also read in the deeds of the Lombards that during the time of King Gumbert, all of Italy was struck by such a plague that hardly anyone was left to bury another, and this plague raged most severely in Rome and Pavia. Then a good angel appeared visibly to many, followed by an evil angel carrying a hunting spear, and commanded him to strike and cause slaughter. Whenever he struck a house, however, as many people were carried out dead from it. Then it was revealed by God to a certain person that this plague would by no means cease until an altar to Saint Sebastian was built in Pavia. This was built in the church of Saint Peter, known as 'in Chains'; once it was finished, the destruction stopped immediately. And the relics of Saint Sebastian were brought there from Rome. Ambrose says in the preface: 'The blood of the blessed martyr Sebastian, poured out for the confession of your name, O venerable Lord, manifests both your wonders—that you perfect power in weakness—and gives progress to your efforts, and provides help to the infirm through prayer.'
Read the original Latin
Sebastianus dictus est a sequens et beatitudo, et astim, quod est civitas, et ana, quod est sursum, quasi sequens beatitudinem civitatis summae et supernae gloriae, hoc est, eam possidens et aequirens: et hoc quintuplici denario secundum Augustinum, pauperlate regnum, dolore gaudium, labore requiem, ignominia gloriam, morte vitam. Vel dicitur Sebastianus a basto. Nam miles Christus, equus ecclesia, bastum sive sella Sebastianus, quo mediante Christus in ecclesia militavit et de multis martiribus victoriam obtinuit. Vel Sebastianus interpretatur vallatus vel circumiens: vallatus, quia sagittis tamquam hericius fuit cireumdatus, circumiens, quia omnes martires circumibat et omnes confortabat.
A. Sebastianus vir christianissimus, Narbonensis genere, civis Mediolanensis Dyocletiano et Maximiano imperatoribus adeo carus erat, ut principatum ci primae cohortis traderent et suo adspectui juberent semper adstare, Hic militarem chlamidem ad hoc tantum ferebat, ut christianorum animas, quas in tormentis videbat deficere, confortaret. Dum antem praeclarissimi viri Marcellianus et Marcus gemini fratres pro fide Christi decollari deberent, ad eos parentes adveniunt, ut ipsorum animos a suo proposito revocarent. Advenit ergo mater et soluto capite scissisque vestibus uberibusque ostensis ajebat: o perdulces filii, circumdat me inaudita miseria et intolerabilis luctus. Heu me miseram, amitto filios meos ad mortem ultro tendentes, quos si mihi hostes auferrent, per media sequerer bella raptores, si violenta judicia concluderent carcere, irrumperem moritura. Novum hoc pereundi genus est, in quo carnifex rogatur, ut feriat; vita optatur, ut pereat; mors invitatür, ut veniat. Novus hic luctus, nova miseria, in qua natorum juventus sponte amittitur et parentum miseranda cogitur senectus, ut vivat. Haec dicente matre pater senior manibus adducitur servorum et capite adsperso pulvere hujusmodi voces dabat ad coelum: ad mortem ultro proficiscentihus filiis valedicturus adveni, ut quae meae sepulturae paraveram, filiorum sepulturis infelix expendam.
O filii mei, baculus senectulis et geminum meorum viscerum lumen cur sic mortem diligitis? Venite hic, juvenes, flete super juvenes sponte pereuntes. Venite huc senes et mecum super filios meos plangite, accedite huc patres et prohibete, ne talia patiamini. Deficite plorando oculi mei, ne videam filios meos gladio caedi. Haec dicente patre adveniunt conjuges adspectibus eorum proprios filios offerentes atque ejulando clamantes: quibus nos dimittitis, qui erunt horum infantium domini, quis vestras largas dividet possessiones? Heu quam ferrea pectora, quia parentes despicitis , amicos respuitis, uxores abjicitis, filios abdicatis et vos carnificibus spontaneos exhibetis. Inter hoc autem coeperunt virorum corda mollescere. Tunc sanctus Sebastianus, qui ibi aderat, erumpens in medium dixit: o fortissimi milites Christi nolite per misera blandimenta coronam deponere sempiternam.
Sed et parentibus dixit: nolite timere, non separabuntur a vobis, sed vadunt in coelum vobis parare sydereas mansiones. Nam ab initio mundi haec vita in se sperantes fefellit, se exspectantes decepit, de se praesumentes irrisit et ita nullum omnino certum reddidit, ut omnibus probetur esse mentita, Vita haec admonet farem ut rapiat, iracundum ut saeviat, mendacem ut fallat. Ipsa imperat crimina, jubet facinora, suadet injusta, haec autem persecutio, quam hic patimur, hodie excandescit et cras evanescit, hodie exardescit et cras refrigescit, sub una hora inducitur et sub una hora excluditur. Dolor autem aeternus renovatur, ut saeviat, augmentatur, ut exurat, inflammatur ut pnniat. In amore ergo martirii nostros jam suscitemus affectus. — Ibi enim dyabolus se vincere existimat, qui dum capit, captus est, dum tenet, tentus est, dum vincit, victus est, et dum torquet, torquetur, dum jugulat, occisus est, et dum insultat, irrisus est. Igitur dum beatus Sebastianus haec ex ore proferret, subito per unam fere horam a splendore nimio de coelo descendente illuminatus est et sub illo splendore pallio candidissimo amictus et: ab angelis septem clarissimis circumdatus. Juvenis etiam apparuit juxta eum dans ei pacem et dicens: tu semper mecum eris, Cum autem beatas Sebastianus haec et his similia praedicaret, Zoe uxor Nicostrati, in cujus domo sancti custodiebantur, quae loquelam amiserat, pedibus ejus provoluta nutibus veniam postulabat.
Tunc Sebastianus ait: si ego Christi servus sum et si vera sunt omnia, quae ex ore meo haec mulier audivit et credidit, aperiat os ejus, qui aperuit og Zachariae prophetae sui. Ad hanc vocem mulier exclamavit: benedictus sermo oris tui et benedicti qui omnibus, quae locutus es, credunt. Vidi enim angelum librum tenentem ante te, ubi omnia, quae dixisti, script erant. Vir autem ejus hoc audiens procidit ad pedes sancti Sebastiani sibi postulans indulgeri statimque absolvens martires rogabat, ut liberi abirent. Qui dixerunt, nullatenus se deserturos victoriam, quam cepissent. Tantam igitur gratiam et virtutem verbis sancti Sebastiani dominus contulerat, quod non solum Marcellianum et Marcum in martirii constantia roboravit, sed etiam patrem eorum nomine Tranquillinum et matrem cum multis aliis ad fidem convertit, quos omnes Policarpus presbiter baptizavit.
Tranquillinus autem morbo gravissimo laborans mox ut baptizaius est, sanitatem recepit. Praefectus autem urbis Romae, qui et ipse morbo gravissimo laborabat, rogavit Tranquilinum, ut ad se adduceret eum, qui sibi sanitatem dederat. Gum ergo ad eum venissent Policarpus presbiter et Sebastianus et ipse eos rogaret, ut eliam sanitatem reciperet, dixit ei Sebastianus, ut prius ydola abnegaret et confringendi ca sibi potestatem traderet et sic sanitatem reciperet. Cul quum Chromatius praefectus diceret, quod servi sui hoc facerent et non ipse, dixit Sebastianus: timidi Deos suos confringere formidant, sed et si dyabolus hac occasione eos laederet, dicerent eos infideles esse ob hoc laesos, quod Deos suos confringerent, Sicque Policarpus et Sebastianus accincti plas quam CC ydola confregerunt. Post hoc autem dixerunt Chromatio: cum nobis ydola confringentibus sanitatem recipere debuisti nec recepisti, certum est, quia aut infidelitatem nondum abjecisti aut aliqua ydola reservasti. Tunc indicavit se habere thalamum, in quo erat omnis disciplina stellaram, pro quo pater suus plus quam ducenta pondera auri expenderat et per quem futura omnia praevidebat. Cui Sebastianus: quamdiu hoc integrum habueris, te ipsum integrum non habebis. Cumque ad hoc ille assentiret, Tiburtius ejus filius, juvenis egregius dixit: non patiar opus destrui tam praeclarum, sed ne paternae sanitati videar esse contrarius, duo clibani accendantur, ut, si destructo opere pater meus sanitatem non receperit, ambo vivi concrementur.
Cui Sebastianus: sic fiat, ut locutus es. Dum igitur illa confringerentur, angelus praefecto apparuit et sibi à domino Jesu sanitatem redditam nuntiavit statimque sanus effectus cucurrit post eum, ut ejus pedes oscularetur. Qui eum prohibuit ex eo, quod baptismum nondum receperat, sicque ipse et Tiburtius filius ejus et mille CCCC de ejus familia baptizati sunt. Zoe autem ab infidelibus tenta et diu cruciata emisit spiritum. Quod cum audiisset Tranquillinus, prorupit et dixit: feminae nos ad coronam praecedunt, ut quid vivimus? Ipse autem post paucos dies lapidatus est,
Sanctus autem Tiburtius super prunas allatas jubetur aut incensum Diis imponere aut super istas nudis plantis incedere. Qui sibi signum crucis faciens constanter super ipsas nudis ingressus est plantis dicens: videtur mihi, quod super roseos flores incedam in nomine domini nostri Jesu Christi, Cui Fabianus praefectus dixit: quis ignorat magicam artem Christum vos docuisse? Cui Tiburtius: obmutesce infelix, quia non es dignus nomen tam sanctum et tam melliluum nominare. Tunc iratus praefectus jussit eum decollari. Marcellianus autem et Marcus stipiti affiguntur, cumque fuissent affixi, psallentes dicebant: ecce quam bonum et quam jucundum habere fratres in unum etc. Qnibus praefectus: infelices deponite amentiam et vos ipsos liberate. Cui illi: nunquam tam bene epulati sumus, utinam tamdiu sic nos esse permittas, quamdiu corporis tegimur indumento. Tunc praefectus jussit eos lanceis: per latera transverberari et sic martirium consummaverunt.
Post hoc praefectus Dyocletiano imperatori de Sebastiano suggessit, quem ad se vocans dixit: ego te inter primos in palatio meo semper habui et tu contra salutem meam et Deorum injuriam hactenus latuisti. Cui Sebastianus: pro salute tua Christum semper colui et pro statu Romani imperii Deum, qui in coelis est, semper adoravi. Tunc Dyocletianus jussit eum in medium campum ligari et a militibus sagittari, qui ita eum sagittis impleverunt, ut quasi hericius videretur, et aestimantes illum mortuum abierunt, qui intra paucos dies liberatus, stans super gradum palatii imperatores venientes de malis, quae christianis inferebant, dure redarguit. Dixerunt imperatores: istene est Sebastianus, quem diu sagittis interfici jusseramus? Cui Sebastianus: ad hoc me dominus resuscitare dignatus est, ut conveniam vos et redarguam vos de malis, quae Christi famulis irrogatis. Tunc imperator tamdiu eum fustigari jussit, donec spiritum exhalaret, fecitque corpus ejus in cloacam projici, ne a christianis pro martire coleretur. Sanctus antem Sebastianus sequenti nocte sanctae Luciae apparuit et corpus ejus sibi revelavit et, ut juxta vestigia apostolorum illud sepeliret, praecepit, quod et factum est. Passus est autem sub Dyocletiano et Maximiano imperatoribus, qui coeperunt circa annos domini CLXXXVII.
Refert Gregorius in primo libro dialogorum, quod quaedam mulier in Tuscia nuper nupta cum ad dedicationem ecclesiae sancti Sebastiani ab aliis invitata esset, in ipsa nocte, qua sequenti die ire debebat, carnis voluptate stimulata a viro suo se abstinere non potuit. Facto autem mane magis erubescens vultum hominum quam Dei illuc profecta est. Mox autem ut oratorium, ubi erant reliquiae sancti Sebastiani, ingressa est, dyabolus eam arripuit et coram omnibus vexare coepit, Tunc presbiter illius ecclesiae pallium altaris arripiens inde eam operuit, sed dyabolus statim ipsum preshiterum invasit. —Duxerunt autem eam amici sui ad incantatores, ut suis incantationibus dyabolum effugarent. Sed mox, dum incantaretur, judicio Dei legio daemonum, id est VI millia sexcenti et LXVI in eam ingressi ipsam acrius vexare coeperunt. Quidam antem vir, nomine Fortunatus sanctitate conspicuus suis precibus eam sanavit,
Legitur quoque in gestis Longobardorum, quod tempore Gumberti regis Italia tota tanta peste percussa est, ut vix nnus alterum sufficeret sepelire, et haec pestis maxime Romae ac Papiae grassabatur. Tunc visibiliter bonus angelus multis apparuit malo angelo sequente et venabulum ferenti praecipiens, ut percuteret ac caedem faceret. Quotiens autem aliquam domum percutiebat, tot inde mortui efferebantur. Tunc cuidam divinitus revelatum est, quod nequaquam haec pestis cessaret, donec sancto Sebastiano altare Papiae construeretur. Quod quidem constructum est in ecclesia sancti Petri, qui dicitur ad vincula; quo facto statim cessavit illa quassatio. Et illuc a Roma reliquiae sancti Sebastiani sunt delatae. Ambrosius in praefatione sic ait: beati martiris Sebastiani pro confessione nominis tui, domine venerabilis, sanguis effusus simul et tua mirabilia manifestat, quod perficis in infirmitate virtutem, et vestris studiis das profectum et infirmis a prece praestas auxilium.
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