Everyone thought he was dead, and a pious woman named Irene gave orders that his body should be taken away during the night and buried. But she, finding him to be still alive, had him taken to her house where she took care of him. Not long after, having quite recovered, he went before Diocletian, and boldly chided him for his wickedness. At first the Emperor was struck dumb with astonishment at the sight, for he had been told that Sebastian was dead. But, at length, the strange event and the Martyr’s sharp rebuke so inflamed him with rage that he ordered him to be scourged to death with rods. His body was thrown into a sewer, but Lucina was instructed by Sebastian, in her sleep, both as to where his body was, and where he wished to be buried. Accordingly, she buried him at the Catacombs where afterwards a celebrated Church was built called Saint Sebastian’s.
Dom Prosper Gueranger:
At the head of her list of heroes, after the two glorious Apostles Peter and Paul who form her chief glory, Rome puts her two most valiant Martyrs, Laurence and Sebastian, and her two most illustrious Virgins, Caecilia and Agnes. Of these four, two are given us by the Calendar of Christmastide as attendants in the court of the infant Jesus at Bethlehem. Laurence and Caecilia will come to us further on in our year when other Mysteries will be filling our hearts and the Liturgy: but Christmas calls forth Sebastian and Agnes. Today it is the brave soldier of the Praetorian band, Sebastian, who stands by the crib of our Emmanuel. Tomorrow we will see Agnes, gentle as a lamb, yet fearless as a lion, inviting us to love the sweet babe whom she chose for her only one Spouse.
The chivalrous spirit of Sebastian reminds us of the great Archdeacon: both of them, one in the sanctuary, and the other in the world, defied the tortures of death. Burnt on one side, Laurence bids the tyrant roast the other. Sebastian, pierced with his arrows, waits till the gaping wounds are closed and then runs to his persecutor Diocletian, asking for a second martyrdom. But we must forget Laurence today to think of Sebastian. We must picture to ourselves a young soldier who tears himself away from all the ties of his home at Milan because the persecution there was too tame, whereas, at Rome, it was raging in wildest fierceness. He trembles with anxiety at the thought that perhaps some of the Christians in the Capital may be losing courage. He has been told that, at times, some of the Emperor’s soldiers who were soldiers also of Christ, have gained admission into the prisons and have roused up the sinking courage of the confessors. He is resolved to go on the like mission and, who knows? he may come within reach of a palm himself. He reaches Rome, he is admitted into the prisons and encourages to martyrdom such as had been shaken by the tears of those who were dear to them. Some of the gaolers, converted by witnessing his faith and his miracles, became martyrs themselves. And one of the Roman Magistrates asks to be instructed in a religion which can produce such men as this Sebastian. He has won the esteem of the Emperors Diocletian and Maximian-Hercules for his fidelity and courage as a soldier. They have loaded him with favours, and this gives him an influence in Rome which he so zealously turns to the advantage of the Christian religion that the holy Pope Caius calls him the Defender of the Church.
After sending innumerable martyrs to Heaven, Sebastian at length wins the crown he had so ardently ambitioned. He incurs the displeasure of Diocletian by confessing himself a Christian. The heavenly King, for whose sake alone he had put on the helmet and soldier’s cloak, was to him above all emperors and princes. He is handed over to the archers of Mauritania who strip him, bind him and wound him, from head to foot, with their arrows. They left him for dead but a pious woman named Irene took care of him, and his wounds were healed. Sebastian again approaches the Emperor who orders him to be beaten to death in the circus, near the imperial palace.
Such are the soldiers of our new-born King! But how richly does He repay them for their service! Rome, the capital of his Church, is founded on seven Basilicas, as the ancient city was on its seven hills, and the name and tomb of Sebastian grace one of these seven sanctuaries. The Basilica of Sebastian stands in a sort of solitude on the Appian Way outside the walls of the Eternal City. It is enriched with the relics of the holy Pope and Martyr Fabian. But Sebastian, the valiant leader of the Praetorian guard, is the patron and, as it were, the Prince of the holy temple. It was here that he wished to be buried as a faithful guardian near the well in which the bodies of the holy Apostles had been concealed, lest they should be desecrated by the persecutors. In return for the zeal of Saint Sebastian for the souls of his Christian brethren whom he preserved from the contagion of paganism, God has made him the Protector of the Faithful against pestilence. A signal proof of this power granted to the holy Martyr was given at Rome in the year 680 under the Pontificate of Saint Agatho.
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Brave soldier of our Emmanuel, you are now sweetly reposing at the foot of His throne. Your wounds are closed and your rich palm branch delights all Heaven by the freshness of its unfading beauty. Look down on the Church on Earth that tires not in singing your praise. Each Christmas we find you near the crib of the Divine Babe, its brave and faithful sentinel. The office you once filled in an earthly prince’s court is still yours, but it is in the palace of the King of kings. Into that palace, we beseech you, lead us by your prayers and gain a favourable hearing to our own unworthy petitions. With what a favourable ear must not our Jesus receive all your requests, who loved Him with such a brave love! Thirsting to shed your blood in His service, you scorned a battlefield where danger was not sure and Rome, that Babylon which, as Saint John says, was “drunk with the blood of the Martyrs” (Apocalypse xvii. 6), Rome alone was worthy of you. And there, it was not your plan to cull a palm, and hurry on to Heaven. The courage of some of your fellow Christians had wavered, and the thought of their danger troubled you. Rushing into their prisons where they lay mutilated by the tortures they had endured, you have them back the fallen laurel and taught them how to secure it in the grasp of holy defiance. It seemed as though you were commissioned to form a Praetorian band for the King of Heaven, and that you could not enter Heaven unless marshalling thither a troop of veterans for Jesus. Your turn came at last. The hour of your confession was at hand and you had to think of your own fair crown. But for such a soldier as you, Sebastian, one martyrdom is not enough. The archers have faithfully done their work — not an arrow is left in their quivers and yet their victim lives, ready for a second sacrifice. Such were the Christians of the early times, and we are their children!
Look, then, O Soldier of Christ, upon us, and pity us as you did your brethren who once faltered in the combat. Alas, we let everything frighten and discourage us and, often we are enemies of the Cross even while professing that we love it. We too easily forget that we cannot be companions of the martyrs unless our hearts have the generosity of the martyrs. We are cowardly in our contest with the world and its pomps, with the evil propensities of our nature, and the tyranny of our senses — and thus we fall. And when we have made an easy peace with God and sealed it with the sacrament of His love, we behave as though we had now nothing more to do than to go on quietly to Heaven without further trials or self-imposed sacrifices. Rouse us, great Saint, from these illusions, and waken us from our listless life. Our love of God is asleep and all must needs go wrong. Preserve us from the contagion of bad example and of those worldly maxims which gain currency even with Christian minds, because Christian lips call them rules of Christian prudence. Pray for us that we may be ardent in the pursuit of our sanctification, watchful over our inclinations, zealous for the salvation of others, lovers of the Cross and detached from earthly things. By the arrows which pierced you, we beseech you shield us from those hidden darts which Satan throws against us. Pray for us that we may be clad with the armour of God described to us by the great Apostle. May we have on the breast-plate of justice, which will defend us from sin; the helmet of salvation, that is, the hope of gaining Heaven, which will preserve us from both despair and presumption; the shield of faith, which will ward off the darts of the enemy who seeks to corrupt the heart by leading the mind into error; and lastly, the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God by which we may put all false doctrines to flight and vanquish all our vices, for Heaven and Earth pass away, but the word of God abides forever and is given us as our rule and the pledge of our salvation (Ephesians vi. 13).
Defender of the Church! As the Vicar of Christ called you, lift up your sword and defend her now. Prostrate her enemies and frustrate the plots they have laid for her destruction. Let her enjoy one of those rare periods of peace during which she prepares for fresh combats. Obtain for Christian soldiers engaged in just wars the blessing of the God of Hosts. Protect the Holy City of Rome where your tomb is honoured. Avert from us, by your intercession, the scourge of pestilence and contagion. Hear the prayers which each year are addressed to you for the preservation of the creatures given by God to man to aid him in his daily labour. Secure to us, by your prayers, peace and happiness in this present life, and the good things of the life to come.Also on this day according to the ROMAN MARTYROLOGY:
At Nicaea in Bithynia, St. Neophytus, martyr, who, in the fifteenth year of his age was scourged, cast into a furnace, and exposed to wild beasts. As he remained uninjured and constantly confessed the faith of Christ, he was at last killed with the sword.
At Cesena, St. Maurus, bishop, renowned for virtues and miracles.
In Palestine, in the time of the emperor Marcian, the birthday of St. Euthymius, abbot, who adorned the Church by his zeal for Catholic discipline and the gift of miracles.
And in other places, many other holy martyrs, confessors and virgins.
Thanks be to God.
