Saint Sebastian

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
(Redirected from
St Sebastian
)
"Martyrdom of Saint Sebastian" redirects here. For other uses, see The Martyrdom of St Sebastian.
Not to be confused with Saint-Sébastien.
"Sebastián" redirects here. For other uses, see Sebastian (name).

Old Catholicism
Major shrineSan Sebastiano fuori le mura Italy
Feast20 January (Roman Catholic), and (Oriental Orthodox)
18 December (Eastern Orthodox) 14/15 February (Ethiopian Orthodox church)
Lumban, Laguna, Philippines; Borbon, Cebu, Philippines; Pucallpa, Peru; Taquaritinga, Brazil; Ribeirão Preto, Brazil; Győr, Hungary; Cusco, Peru; Loja, Ecuador; Rome
, Italy

Sebastian (

Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church
.

The oldest record of the details of Sebastian's martyrdom is found in the Chronograph of 354, which mentions him as a martyr, venerated on January 20. He is also mentioned in a sermon on Psalm 118 by 4th-century bishop Ambrose of Milan: in his sermon, Ambrose stated that Sebastian came from Milan and that he was already venerated there at that time. The full account of his martyrdom comes from the Passio Sancti Sebastiani, a 5th-century text written by an anonymous author, possibly Arnobius the Younger.

Sebastian is a popular male saint, especially today among athletes.[3][4] In medieval times, he was regarded as a saint with a special ability to intercede to protect from plague, and devotion to him greatly increased when plague was active.

Life

There is not much known about Saint Sebastian's early life, but the ancient source mentioning Sebastian is found in the Chronograph of 354, a compilation of chronological and calendrical texts produced in 354 AD by the calligrapher and illustrator Furius Dionysius Filocalus, which mentions him as a martyr who was venerated on January 20. His cult is also mentioned by Ambrose of Milan in his Expositio in Psalmum CXVIII, a theological and exegetical commentary of Psalm 118 dated to 386–390 AD; Ambrose states that Sebastian came from Milan and that he was venerated as a saint there.[5]

The first surviving account of Sebastian's life and death is the Passio Sancti Sebastiani, long thought to have been written by Ambrose in the 4th century, but now regarded as a 5th-century account by an unknown author (possibly Arnobius the Younger). This includes the "two martyrdoms", and the care by Irene in between, and other details that remained part of the story.[6]

St Sebastian (Sebianus) in the Nuremberg Chronicle

According to Sebastian's 18th-century entry in

martyrs. Because of his courage he became one of the captains of the Praetorian Guards under Diocletian and Maximian, who were unaware that he was a Christian.[2]

According to tradition, Marcus and Marcellianus were twin brothers from a distinguished family and were deacons. Both brothers married, and they resided in Rome with 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 attempted to persuade them to renounce Christianity. Sebastian succeeded in converting Tranquillinus and Martia, as well as Tiburtius, the son of Chromatius, the local prefect. Another official, Nicostratus, and his wife Zoe were also converted. It has been said that Zoe had been a mute for six years; however, she made known to Sebastian her desire to be converted to Christianity. As soon as she had, her speech returned to her. Nicostratus then brought the rest of the prisoners; these 16 persons were converted by Sebastian.[8]

Chromatius and Tiburtius converted; Chromatius set all of his prisoners free from jail, resigned his position, and retired to the country in Campania. Marcus and Marcellianus, after being concealed by a Christian named Castulus, were later martyred, as were Nicostratus, Zoe, and Tiburtius.[9]

Martyrdom

Reliquary of Saint Sebastian, c. 1497[10] (Victoria and Albert Museum, London)
Lodovico Carracci painted St Sebastian Thrown into the Cloaca Maxima
for the church at the place where his body was found (1612). The subject is virtually unique.
Martyrdom of Saint Sebastian, from a 1699 engraving by N. Dorigny.

Sebastian had prudently concealed his faith, but in 286 it was detected. Diocletian reproached him for his supposed betrayal, and he commanded him to be led to a field and there to be bound to a stake so that the chosen archers from Mauretania would shoot arrows at him. "And the archers shot at him till he was as full of arrows as an urchin[Note 1] is full of pricks, and thus left him there for dead."[14] Miraculously, the arrows did not kill him. The widow of Castulus, Irene of Rome, went to retrieve his body to bury it, and discovered he was still alive. She brought him back to her house and nursed him back to health.[2]

Sebastian later stood by a staircase where the emperor was to pass and harangued Diocletian for his cruelties against Christians. This freedom of speech, and from a person whom he supposed to have been dead, greatly astonished the emperor; but recovering from his surprise, he gave orders for Sebastian to be seized and beaten to death with

cudgels, and his body thrown into the common sewer. A holy lady named Lucina, admonished by the martyr in a vision, privately removed the body and buried it in the catacombs at the entrance of the cemetery of Calixtus,[9] where now stands the Basilica of St. Sebastian.[2]

Location of remains

Musée du Louvre
, Paris

Remains reputed to be those of Sebastian are housed in Rome in the Basilica Apostolorum, built by Pope Damasus I in 367 on the site of the provisional tomb of Saints Peter and Paul. The church, today called San Sebastiano fuori le mura, was rebuilt in the 1610s under the patronage of Scipione Borghese.

Ado, Eginard, Sigebert, and other contemporary authors relate that, in the reign of

Saint Medard Abbey, at Soissons, on 8 December, in 826.[9]

Sebastian's

Blessed Sacrament to the faithful during the feast of Saint Sebastian.[16]

As protector against plague

The Walters Art Museum

The belief that Saint Sebastian was a defense against

Molanus put it.[19]

The

chronicler Paul the Deacon relates that, in 680, Rome was freed from a raging pestilence by him. 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
.

In art and literature

Art

Mosaic in San Pietro in Vincoli, ?682
Print of Saint Sebastian. Made in the sixteenth century.[20]

The earliest known representation of Sebastian is a mosaic in the Basilica of Sant'Apollinare Nuovo (Ravenna, Italy) dated between 527 and 565.[21] The right lateral wall of the basilica 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 all have identical expressions.

Another early representation is in a mosaic in the Church of San Pietro in Vincoli in Rome, probably made in the year 682. It shows a grown, bearded man in court dress but contains no trace of an arrow.[22] The archers and arrows begin to appear by 1000, and ever since have been far more commonly shown than the actual moment of his death by clubbing, so that there is a popular misperception that this is how he died.[23]

As protector of potential plague victims (a connection popularized by the Golden Legend

Saint Sebastian
.

The saint is ordinarily depicted as a handsome youth pierced by arrows. Predella scenes when required often 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.

Saint Sebastian Tended by Saint Irene (Georges de La Tour, Louvre), c. 1645

Hans Holbein the Elder created a statuette of Saint Sebastian "in silver and parcel-gilt", now in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.[27]

A mainly 17th-century subject, though found in

San Sebastiano, Acireale in Sicily painted by Pietro Paolo Vasta.[31]

Egon Schiele, an Austrian Expressionist artist, painted a self-portrait as Saint Sebastian in 1915.[32]

Literature, fiction, and music

Woodblock of St. Sebastian from South Germany, c. 1470–1475

In 1911, the Italian playwright

Gabriele d'Annunzio in conjunction with Claude Debussy produced Le Martyre de saint Sébastien. The American composer Gian Carlo Menotti composed a ballet score for a Ballets Russes production which was first given in 1944. In his novella Death in Venice, Thomas Mann hails the "Sebastian-Figure" as the supreme emblem of Apollonian beauty, that is, the artistry of differentiated forms; beauty as measured by discipline, proportion, and luminous distinctions. This allusion to Sebastian's suffering, associated with the writerly professionalism of the novella's protagonist, Gustav Aschenbach, provides a model for the "heroism born of weakness", which characterizes poise amidst agonizing torment and plain acceptance of one's fate as, beyond mere patience and passivity, a stylized achievement and artistic triumph.[33]

Sebastian's death was depicted in the 1949 film

homosexual icon", according to a number of critics reflecting a subtext perceptible in the imagery since the Renaissance.[1] Also in 1976, in the American horror film Carrie, a figure of Saint Sebastian (commonly misconstrued as a figure of the crucified Christ) appears in Carrie's prayer closet.[35]

Boxer

Esquire Magazine. The image was created by photographer George Lois
and art director Carl Fischer.

A depiction of Saint Sebastian in a fresco restoration in an isolated Italian village is the central motif and cryptic mystery of the 1976 giallo horror film The House with Laughing Windows.[36]

In her 1965 story "Everything That Rises Must Converge", Flannery O'Connor's character Julian feels as if he were the martyr while taking his mother to "reducing" classes at the Y.

In 1997, the

second season of the television series Millennium, the protagonists search for the hand of Saint Sebastian.[37]

In 2007, artist Damien Hirst presented Saint Sebastian, Exquisite Pain from his Natural History series. The piece depicts a cow in formaldehyde, bound in metal cable and shot with arrows.[38]

British pop band Alt-J's video for "Hunger of the Pine" contains references to the story of Saint Sebastian's death, adapted to fit the lyrics of the song. Tarsem Singh's video for the R.E.M. song "Losing My Religion" makes use of imagery of Saint Sebastian, drawing particular inspiration from paintings by Guido Reni[39] and Caravaggio.[40] The indie folk band the Mountain Goats have a song called "Hail, St. Sebastian" that makes reference to his life.[41] Scottish musician Momus has a song "Lucky like St Sebastian", featuring on his 1986 debut album Circus Maximus.

Madonna's song "I'm a Sinner" from her 2012 album MDNA has a segment resembling a litany, with one line saying, "St. Sebastian, don't you cry; let those poisoned arrows fly."

The 2013–2018 Canadian drama series Forgive Me centres on a priest haunted by recurring visions of Saint Sebastian.[42]

The look of the character Gemino in the popular action-platform videogame Blasphemous is clearly inspired by Saint Sebastian.[43]

The family del Valle in Isabel Allende's novel "House of the Spirits" attends Sunday mass in the Church of Saint Sebastian.

Patronage

Saint Sebastian by Peter Paul Rubens (1604), oil on canvas, 120 x 100 cm, Antwerp
St Sebastian by Glyn Philpot (1932), oil on canvas, 36 x 28½

In the

Roman Catholic Church, Sebastian is commemorated by an optional memorial on 20 January. In the Church of Greece
, Sebastian's feast day is on 18 December.

As a protector from the bubonic plague, Sebastian was formerly one of the Fourteen Holy Helpers. In Catholicism, Sebastian is the patron saint of archers, pin-makers, athletes (a modern association) and of a holy death.

Saint Sebastian by El Greco (1578) in Cathedral of San Antolín, Palencia

Sebastian is one of the

Oxossi, especially in the state of Rio de Janeiro itself.[33]
In Lubrín, every year on 20 January, there is a festival in honor of Saint Sebastian. A statue of Saint Sebastian leads a procession around the village, and people hurl bread rolls from their balconies to the crowds following the saint in the streets below. The rolls have a hole in the middle and some people string them on a rope around their body. The festival is thought to have originated in the 14th century, after a plague of cholera hit the area. At this time, the wealthy were said to have thrown bread and money to the poor on the streets below, so as to avoid catching the disease.[45] The San Sebastian 'bread festival' is so unusual that it has been declared a Fiesta of National Tourist Interest in Andalusia.[46]

King

Sebastian I of Portugal
, the only King to ever have this name, was so named for having been born on this saint's feast day.

The Feast of St. Sebastian is celebrated among

Catholic communities of Kerala in India. Churches are illuminated and decorated, with fireworks being a main event in Catholic homes to commemorate the saint.[47] Every parish has its own date of celebration, especially in the districts of Thrissur, Ernakulam, St. Andrew's Basilica, Arthunkal and Kottayam. In Kanjoor Syro Malabar Church the feast is celebrated with the largest procession of golden crosses and decorated umbrellas in Asia.[47]
Besides this, many pilgrim centres, churches, shrines and many educational institutions too, throughout Kerala, bear the name of the saint.

He is the patron of San Sebastian College – Recoletos in Manila, Philippines, which is adjacent to the Minor Basilica of San Sebastian, the all-steel church in the Philippines and in Asia administered by the Order of Augustinian Recollect (OAR). At the Catholic Newman Community at the University of Rochester, the St. Sebastian Society is an organization of campus-wide Christian athletes that works to serve the greater Rochester, New York, area through methods of restorative justice, special needs fundraising and community service.[48]

Sebastian is the patron saint of the

Lipa City in Batangas, Philippines. Also, Sebastian is the patron saint of Leon City Mexico
. A representation of the Saint in his martyrdom is present in the upper left corner of the city coat of arms.

Sebastian is the patron of

Roman Catholic Diocese of San Jose in California, serving the cities of Mountain View and Los Altos. Sebastian is the patron saint of the Catholic War Veterans
of the United States of America. The highest award given by the CWV is the Honor Legion of the Order of St. Sebastian.

In his 1906 Reminiscences,

Liblar (de), sponsored by the Saint Sebastian Society, a club of sharpshooters and their sponsors to which nearly every adult member of the town belonged.[49]

The St. Sebastian River in the American state of Florida is named after him. The river is a tributary of the Indian River Lagoon and comprises part of the boundary between Indian River County and Brevard County. The adjacent city of Sebastian, Florida, and St. Sebastian River Preserve State Park are also named for Saint Sebastian.[50] Within the Diocese of Central Florida, the nearby Episcopal Church on Melbourne Beaches is named St Sebastian-by-the-Sea.

LGBT association

Guido Reni's depiction of Saint Sebastian
See also:
closet case."[51][52]

Some religious images depicting Saint Sebastian have been adopted by the LGBT community.[53] A combination of his strong, shirtless physique, the symbolism of the arrows penetrating his body, and the countenance of rapturous pain have intrigued artists (gay or otherwise) for centuries.[53]

In Yukio Mishima's novel Confessions of a Mask, the protagonist Kochan has his first gay sexual experience while looking at a reproduction of Guido Reni's Saint Sebastian. Kochan remarks: "It is an interesting coincidence that Hirschfeld should place 'pictures of St. Sebastian' in the first rank of those kinds of art works in which the invert takes special delight," referencing Magnus Hirschfeld's belief that gay men have an inclination towards certain artistic subjects including Saint Sebastian.[54]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ "Urchin" here is the archaic English word for hedgehog, not a sea urchin. The original Latin uses the word "hericius",[11][12] not "echinus".[13]

References

  1. ^ a b "How did St Sebastian become an enduring, homo-erotic icon?". The Independent. UK. 10 February 2008..
  2. ^
    ISBN 971-91595-4-5
    .
  3. ^ "About St Sebastian – Associated & Catholic Colleges of WA". www.accsport.asn.au. Retrieved 3 December 2017.
  4. ^ White, Jackie. "The Patron Saint of Sports". Archived from the original on 4 August 2017. Retrieved 3 December 2017.
  5. ^ "Saint Sebastian". New Daily Compass. Retrieved 20 January 2022.
  6. ISBN 0870993488, 9780870993480, google books
  7. Legenda Aurea
    .
  8. ^ Brewer, Ebenezer Cobham. A Dictionary of Miracles: Imitative, Realistic, and Dogmatic (Chatto and Windus, 1901), p.11.
  9. ^ a b c Butler, Alban. Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs and Other Principal Saints, Vol.I
  10. ^ "Reliquary of St Sebastian". Metalwork. Victoria and Albert Museum. 2 August 1497. Retrieved 17 August 2007.
  11. ^ "Iacobus de Voragine: Historia de Sancto Sebastiano". Retrieved 3 June 2016.
  12. ^ "hericius definition | Latin Dictionary". Retrieved 3 June 2016.
  13. ^ "echinus definition | Latin Dictionary". Retrieved 3 June 2016.
  14. ^ "Internet History Sourcebooks: Medieval Sourcebook: The Golden Legend: Volume II: The Life of Sebastian". Retrieved 3 June 2016.
  15. ^ City of Ebersberg website: Kloster Ebersberg Archived 10 July 2014 at archive.today (German)
  16. ^ Thomas Foster Earle, K. J. P. Lowe: Black Africans in Renaissance Europe, p. 191, Cambridge University Press, 2005.
  17. The Walters Art Museum
    .
  18. ^ "FEAST OF SAINTS FABIAN AND SEBASTIAN, MARTYRS – 20th JANUARY". Prayers and Petitions. 20 January 2022. Retrieved 20 August 2022.
  19. ^ Mitchell
  20. ^ "Heilige Sebastiaan vastgebonden aan een boom". lib.ugent.be. Retrieved 2 October 2020.
  21. ^ The Iconography of Saint Sebastian: https://www.alessandro-giua.it/SEBASTIAN/
  22. ^ Löffler, Klemens (1913). "St. Sebastian" . Catholic Encyclopedia.
  23. ^ Barker, 94–95
  24. ^ Barker, 96–97
  25. ^ Boeckl, 76–80
  26. ^ Barker, 114–7,Google books.
  27. ^ Moyle, Franny, The King's Painter: The Life and Times of Hans Holbein, New York: Abrams Press, 2021, p. 19.
  28. ^ Boeckl, p. 77
  29. ISBN 0300074514
    , p.22
  30. ^ Barker, 117
  31. ^ Giornale arcadico di scienze, lettere ed arti, Volume 167, page 209-211.
  32. ISBN 9781780421957
    .
  33. ^ a b "Art in Tuscany: Martyrdom of Saint Sebastian". Traveling in Tuscany. Retrieved 20 August 2022.
  34. ^ "Fabiola (1949)". BFI. Archived from the original on 4 December 2017. Retrieved 3 December 2017.
  35. ^ "Stephen King movies revisited: looking back at Carrie". Den of Geek. 12 August 2019. Retrieved 2 October 2023.
  36. ^ "A Brutal Nobility: Painting Death in The House with Laughing Windows (Pupi Avati, 1976)". 30 June 2014. Retrieved 21 September 2016.
  37. ^ "Episode Synopsis". millennium-thisiswhoweare.net. Retrieved 6 April 2020.
  38. ^ "Damien Hirst". MCA Denver. Archived from the original on 23 April 2010..
  39. ^ Buchanan, Matthew. "Losing My Religion". Music Videos Love Movies. Retrieved 3 December 2017.
  40. ISBN 978-1-85227-927-1
    .
  41. ^ notasfarwest (7 September 2015), The Mountain Goats - Hail St. Sebastian, archived from the original on 8 November 2021, retrieved 25 June 2017
  42. ^ Doyle, John (4 September 2013). "Forgive Me: A fine, fraught new series about sinners". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 22 September 2013.
  43. ^ Porfiri, Steven (26 October 2019). "Gaming Features: BLASPHEMOUS Isn't". Merry-Go-Round Magazine. Retrieved 20 August 2022.
  44. ^ "Merħba – Parroċċa San Sebastjan". Parroċċa San Sebastjan. Retrieved 3 December 2017.
  45. ^ "Municipio de Lubrin". www.puerta.lubrin.net. Retrieved 14 July 2019.
  46. ^ "San Sebastián - Bread Festival - Official tourism website of Andalucía". www.andalucia.org. Retrieved 14 July 2019.
  47. ^ a b "Kerala: Devotion to St. Sebastian as a powerful intercessor". Catholics & Cultures. 3 April 2018. Retrieved 20 August 2022.
  48. ^ St. Sebastian Society web page: http://urnewman.org/groups/st-sebastian
  49. ^ Carl Schurz, Reminiscences (3 vols.), New York: McClure Publ., 1907, vol. 1, chap. 2, pp. 46–8; chap. 3, pp. 81–3.
  50. ^ Sebastian Tales
  51. S2CID 241421117
    .
  52. ^ "Arrows of desire: How did St Sebastian become an enduring, homo-erotic icon? – Features, Art". The Independent. 10 February 2008. Retrieved 16 July 2009.
  53. ^ a b "Subjects of the Visual Arts: St. Sebastian". glbtq.com. 2002. Archived from the original on 1 September 2007. Retrieved 1 August 2007.
  54. ISSN 0004-3079
    .

Sources

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Saint Sebastian.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Saint_Sebastian&oldid=1220620019"