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The saints

St. Sebastian

The soldier shot full of arrows, who survived, and went back to face the emperor.

Feast: 20 January · died about 288 · The early Church · Rome

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Painting of St. Sebastian tied to a column, pierced by arrows.

Marco Palmezzano, 1515. Wikimedia Commons, Public domain.

Home / The saints / St. Sebastian

Rome, under Diocletian

Sebastian was very likely a Christian martyr in Rome, buried on the Appian Way.1

Legend made him an officer in the emperor’s guard who secretly encouraged Christians in prison.1

When he was discovered, the story goes, he was tied up and shot with arrows, and left for dead.

Patron of athletes1

01St. Sebastian

Shot, and back again

A Christian widow named Irene came to bury him and found him alive, and nursed him back to health.1

He went back to confront the emperor, and was clubbed to death.1

02St. Sebastian

Athletes’ saint

Artists loved to paint him, and his endurance made him a patron of athletes.1

Live it this week

Train your body for God

Sebastian’s endurance made him the patron of athletes. This week, do a real workout three times, and offer each one for someone who is sick and can’t move the way you can.

Notes

How we know · 1 source for this page
  1. Franciscan Media, Saint of the Day: “Saint Sebastian”. franciscanmedia.org. franciscanmedia.org

The Catholic Encyclopedia (1913) is in the public domain; we quote the New Advent edition. Texts of the Holy See are quoted briefly from vatican.va. Scripture: World English Bible, Catholic edition (public domain); Verse numbers are modern, with Douay-Rheims numbers in brackets where they differ. Photographs: Wikimedia Commons, credited under each image; full list on the photo credits page.

Lines in the narrator’s voice, without a note, are our reflection, not a historical claim. Stone & Incense restates Church teaching in plain words; our wording is not an official Church text. Report an errorCorrections.