In September, Castel Gandolfo celebrates its Patron Saint St Sebastian the martyr

A protector against the evils of body and spirit

In 1867, in the middle of August, an epidemic of cholera hit the Castelli Romani. Albano Laziale’s population was almost decimated, with an enormous mortality rate,  a "cemetery of cholera and the plague".

However, there were no victims of the plague in Castel Gandolfo, so much so that the population cried out that a miracle had taken place, attributing it to the intercession of Saint Sebastian the martyr. A procession carrying the image of the Saint through the town’s streets arose spontaneously. Since then, Castel Gandolfo celebrates its Patron Saint Sebastian on 2-3 September instead of 20 January, when his birth in heaven is commemorated. In fact, to perpetuate the memory of the protection of the saint, at the request of the authorities and castellans, a Bull by Pius VII moved the Feast Day to September instead of January 20.

The Directorate of the Pontifical Villas also joins the annual celebrations in honour of Saint Sebastian.

Who was this saint who was so popular and invoked by the faithful against the plague and epidemics? His father was probably from Narbonne in Gaul, while his mother was from Milan. The first document that mentions his veneration dates back to 354, and is known as the Chronografo, a collection of texts, by Furio Dionisio Filocalo, calligrapher and writer. It includes a list of martyrs, the Depositio martyrum, which states that Sebastian was buried in the catacombs and died on 20 January. In his Commentary on Psalm 118, Saint Ambrose also speaks of the martyr who had grown up in Milan and moved to Rome. The following century, the Passio Sancti Sebastiani, attributed to Arnobius the Younger included an account of the Saint’s martyrdom. Over time other hagiographies were written, including the one reported in the Legenda Aurea (Golden Legend) of Blessed Jacopo da Varagine.

According to tradition,  Sebastian was educated in the Christian faith in Milan. He joined the army of Diocletian in about 283, where he advanced in his career, becoming head of the first cohort of the imperial guard of Rome. During the persecution of Diocletian, thanks to his office, he saved many imprisoned Christians.

The Passio says that two young Christians, Mark and Marcellian, sons of Tranquillinus, had been arrested one day, on the order of the Prefect Chromatius. Their father asked for thirty days before the trial was to be held, to give his children a chance to change their attitude and make sacrifices to the gods. Mark and Marcellian were in the process of doing this when Sebastian visited them and asked them not to deny their faith. As he spoke to them, the Saint’s face shone with light and the people were struck by the prodigy. Among them, Zoe, wife of Nicostratus, head of the imperial chancellery, who had been mute for six years. The woman threw herself at Sebastiano’s feet, who made a sign of the cross, and regained her voice.

This miracle led to the conversion of Zoe and her husband Nicostratus, her brother-in-law Castulus, the Roman Prefect Chromatius and his son Tiburtius. Almost all of them died as martyrs over time.

The news that Sebastian was a Christian inevitably reached Diocletian, who said to him: "I have always kept you among the majors of my palace and you have worked in the shadows against me". He was thus condemned to death. Tied to a pole on the Palatine, he was pierced by many arrows. Believing he was dead, the soldiers left him to be hunted by wild beasts. A Roman matron named Irene, who later became a saint, wanted to recover the body to bury it, but she noticed that he was still alive.  She brought him home and treated him and he was miraculously healed, Sebastian did not leave the city, but bearing witness to his faith, he went to Diocletian in the temple of the Invited Sun, and rebuked him for persecuting Christians. Surprised to see him, the emperor ordered that he be flogged to death in the hippodrome of the Palatine and thrown into the Cloaca Maxima. It was 20 January 304. A woman named Lucina recovered the body and buried it at the third mile of the Via Appia, where the basilica outside the walls dedicated to him is currently located.

Because of his wounds, Sebastian is invoked as protector of the afflicted and is patron of the city guards, archers, arquebusiers, tapestry makers, needlework, confraternities and Archconfraternities of the Misericordia of Italy.