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On Sebastian’s Witness – Faithful Witnessing to Christ

From an Exposition of Psalm 118 by Saint Ambrose, Bishop (340-397)

The example of Saint Sebastian

Faithful Witnessing to Christ

To enter the kingdom of God we must endure many tribulations. If there are many persecutions, there are many testings; where there are many crowns of victory, there are many trials of strength. It is then to your advantage if there are many persecutors; among many persecutions you may more easily find a path to victory.

Take the example of the martyr Sebastian, whose birthday in glory we celebrate today. He was a native of Milan. At a time when persecution either had ceased or had not yet begun or was of a milder kind he realized that there was only one slight, if any, opportunity for suffering. He set out for Rome, where bitter persecutions were raging because of the fervor of the Christians. There he endured suffering; there he gained his crown. He went to the city as a stranger and there established a home of undying glory. If there had been only one persecutor, he would not have gained a martyr’s crown.

The persecutors who are visible are not the only ones. There are also invisible persecutors, much greater in number. This is more serious. Like a king bent on persecution, sending orders to persecute to his many agents, and establishing different persecutors in each city or province, the devil directs his many servants in their work of persecution, whether in public or in the souls of individuals. Of this kind of persecution Scripture says: All who wish to live a holy life in Christ Jesus suffer persecution “All” suffer persecution; there is no exception. Who can claim exemption when the Lord himself endured the testing of persecution? How many there are today who are secret martyrs for Christ, giving testimony to Jesus as Lord! The Apostle knew this kind of martyrdom, this faithful witnessing to Christ; he said: This is our boast, the testimony of our conscience.

Source: The Liturgy of the Hours – Office of Readings

Saint Sebastian was born at Narbonne, in Gaul, but his parents were from Milan, Italy and he was raised a Christian there. Hearing of the persecutions in Rome, Sebastian desired to aid the priests and martyrs in their suffering there. While he had an aversion to the military life, nonetheless, he went to Rome around the year 283 and entered the military under emperor Carninus to better assist the jailed Christians. He became an officer in the imperial army and officer of the guard.

The martyrs Marcus and Marcellianus, under sentence of death, appeared shaken in their faith by the tears of their friends. Seeing this, Sebastian delivered a zealous exhortation encouraging them and all around them to remain steadfast. Zoë, the wife of Nicostratus, who was master of the rolls, suffered from loss of speech due to a palsy in her tongue. She fell at Sebastian’s feet and was cured and spoke distinctly when the saint made the sign of the cross on her mouth. She and her husband along with the parents of Marcus and Marcellianus, the jailer Claudius and sixteen other prisoners were converted, later instructed and baptized by Polycarp.

The persecutions escalated. Saint Zoë was found praying at St. Peter’s tomb on the feast of the apostles and martyred by being hung by the heels over a fire. Nicostratus, Claudius, Castorius and Victorinus were taken and tortured three times on the rack and thrown into the sea. Castulus, a Christian officer of the court, who sheltered Pope Caius and others in the imperial palace, was tortured three times on the rack and then buried alive. Marcus and Marcellianus were nailed by the feet to a post, left in that state for twenty-four hours, then shot to death by arrows.

Sebastian was also taken before the Emperor Diocletian, who ordered him executed by the archers of Mauritania. His body covered with arrows and left for dead, Irene, the widow of St. Castulus, went to bury him but found him alive. With her care he miraculously recovered form his wounds. Refusing to flee, he placed himself by a staircase where the emperor was to pass in order to preach to the emperor. At the encounter, the emperor was greatly astonished, but gave orders for him to be beaten to death with cudgels and his body thrown into the common sewer. His was buried in the catacombs in the cemetery of Calixtus and his relics later distributed to various monasteries and cathedrals in France, Spain, Germany and Brussels.

Source: Butler’s Lives of the Saints Vol 1 of 5 v; The Catholic Press, Inc. Chicago 1934

Saint Ambrose (340-397) was born in Trier, Germany, the son of the praetorian prefect of Gaul. He was taken back to Rome at the death of his father and became a lawyer. He was known for his compelling oratory and learning. He was appointed assessor to Probus, the praetorian prefect of Italy, and appointed governor of Liguria by Emperor Valentinian in 372 at age 32. Two years later, he went to Milan to quiet the turmoil between the Arians and Catholics at the death of the presiding bishop. When Ambrose appeared there he was baptized and immediately consecrated bishop of Milan. He gave away all his possessions and began a serious study of Sacred Scripture, theology and the great Christian writers. He began to live a life of great austerity and soon became the most eloquent preacher of his day. He was acclaimed as the most formidable Catholic opponent of Arianism in the West.

He became advisor to Emperor Gratian and in 379 and persuaded him to outlaw Arianism in the West. Ambrose denounced a massacre of some seven thousand people in Thessalonica by Emperor Theodosius I, refusing him the sacraments until he performed a severe public penance – which Theodosius did. Ambrose died in Milan on April 4, 397 at the age of 57. He was one of the great figures of early Christianity and was responsible for the rise of Christianity in the West as the Roman Empire was dying. He wrote profusely on the Bible, theology, asceticism and wrote numerous homilies, psalms and hymns. It was Ambrose who brought St. Augustine, who revered him, back to his Catholic faith and baptized him in 397. He was declared a Doctor of the Church and is considered the exemplar of what a bishop should be; holy, learned, courageous, patient, and immovable when necessary for the faith.