Feast Day: January 20th
Last week we saw St. Hilary exemplify for us the work of mercy to instruct the ignorant. This week, we turn our attention to a much more popular saint, St. Sebastian. Famously a member of the praetorian guard, he continued in that office even under the Emperor Diocletian, caring for and encouraging imprisoned Christians during that tyrant’s persecution, as well as working physical (restoring speech) and spiritual miracles (converting many to the faith) along the way. He was eventually discovered as a Christian and ordered to be killed by being shot full of arrows. Of course, dramatically, he didn’t quite die, and was nursed back to health by the saintly Irene, before returning to Diocletian remonstrating him for his cruelty and preaching to him the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Diocletian was not moved by his words and had him martyred fully this time, ordering him to be beaten to death.
As a youthful martyr, an “athlete for Christ”, Sebastian is the patron saint of athletes, runners, archers, and sports – a distinction that has made him a popular patron, and friend, for countless young people in the centuries since – but he is also a patron for plague victims. Originally, this came from the likeness between the welts which were the primary symptom of the black plague and Sebastian’s pierced and bruised body, but then, a thousand years after St. Ambrose’s sermons on this saint first got his story out, Guillaume Dugay, a composer in Milan, Sebastian’s hometown, composed a beautiful hymn begging the saint’s intercession as the black death raged through the city. Take a moment to pray the words that follow, and please make the time to listen to this piece sung:
O Saint Sebastian,
always, evening and morning,
at all hours and minutes,
while I am of sound mind
protect and preserve me,
and, O martyr, untie me from the cords
of harmful weakness
called the epidemic.
From this kind of plague
defend and guard me,
along with all my friends.
We confess ourselves sinners
to God and to Holy Mary
and to you, O faithful martyr.
You, citizen of Milan,
you can make cease
this pestilence, if you so wish,
and from God accomplish this,
for among many it is known
that you have from Him this benefit.
Zoe the mute you healed
and restored healthful
to Nicostratus her husband,
and you did this miraculously.
In their suffering you consoled
the martyrs and promised
to them eternal life
and all that’s owed to martyrs.
O martyr Sebastian,
you with us always, remain with us!
And through your merits
we, who are in this life —
Guard, heal, and rule us,
and from the plague protect us,
presenting us to the Trinity
and the holy virgin mother.
And may we so finish life,
that we have mercy
and the company of martyrs
and the vision of holy God.
O how he shined with wondrous grace,
Sebastian, famous martyr,
who bearing a soldier’s insignia,
but caring for his brothers’ victory,
comforted their weakening hearts
with words brought from heaven.
– Fr. Dominic once MC’d for a confirmation at which six of the young men chose Sebastian for their confirmation patron. They thought it was funny. I thought it was awesome! What better patron than a man bold enough to be martyred twice for his faith in Jesus Christ? Who is your confirmation saint? Have you asked them recently how they could help you to grow in your faith?