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Sebastian
was born in France in the third century, but grew up in Milan.
He was a closet Christian and, though a pacifist, joined the
army to ward off suspicion. So skilled was he at being a soldier
that he soon became the Christian-hating Emperor’s right-hand-man,
all the while performing miracles about town and baptizing soldiers.
He was caught giving sanctuary to the Pope and was ordered to
be shot to death with arrows. When the widow of St. Castulus
came to collect Sebastian's body and discovered him still alive,
she took him home and nursed him back to health. Sebastian returned
to the Emperor and chastised him for his anti-Christianism.
Dumbstruck by seeing a man that he believed to be dead, the
Emperor almost converted. But then he changed his mind and had
Sebastian beaten to death with clubs—his body thrown into
the sewers of Rome. Sebastian is also the patron of archers,
doctors, hardware, pin makers, the police and soldiers; and
he's invoked against the plague (because it strikes as quick
and is as deadly as an arrow). His feast day is January 20. |
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| St.
Sebastian
Patron St. of
Plagues and Athletes |
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