Born to a noble family in Gaul (present-day France), St. Sebastian is a saint of the Catholic Church with the feast day celebrated on the 20th of January. He was born a Christian and educated in Milan, he was an undercover Christian most of his life. Known for his valor, determination and strength, he soon became the dearest soldier of the Diocletian emperor and an officer of the Imperial Roman army. During the period of prosecution of Christians by the emperor, he is believed to have visited a soldier’s wife in prison and cured her of her illness by drawing the sign of the cross on her forehead. He was a gifted healer. St. Sebastian spent much of his time encouraging and converting countless prisoners of the Roman army to Christianity.
St. Sebastian was discovered to be a Christian when he converted the Roman governor, Chromatius, to Christianity. Upon his conversion, Chromatius resigned from his post and freed sixteen fellow converts from prison. Roman Emperor Diocletian came to the conclusion that Sebastian was a Christian and ordered him to be tied to a stake in a field and shot to death by arrows. St. Sebastian survived the arrow shots and was recovered and healed by Saint Irene. His response to being healed was not like of a wounded and injured man losing his faith in Christ, his response to his healing is an example of the valor, faith and determination one must possess as a Christian. He marched up to Diocletian and preached the Gospel to him! Diocletian was shocked to see the man he thought was dead presumably come back to preach to him in the middle of the day.
Similar to the attacks on St. Sebastian, we often fall prey to the daily satanic attacks which we may survive and then we in the course of time continue living our lives in unholiness, in uncertainty and indecision, but it takes courage to go back and turn around and prove to the satan that you are a warrior in Christ and not a prey to his actions. Saint Sebastian is believed to have returned to the Diocletian emperor and preach the word of God! This act of the Saint showcases his determination to be loyal to Christ, his bravery to die for Christ and above all his unceasing faith in Jesus. St. Sebastian took the conversion of Christian and fighting for Christianity as his purpose of life. We often forget our reason of existence and end up living an incorrigible life. We do not trust the plans of God and prefer to be our own destiny designers.
Saint Sebastian was an incredible healer, evangelist, and model Christian soldier. Within each one of us lies the gift of healing, evangelization and being a model Christian soldier which we often fail to recognize and nurture. Our words and deeds of kindness can heal and nurture a soul, our actions must be evangelic in nature and then we will be called the Disciples of Christ.
Saint Sebastian who is a present-day inspiration to the youth, was subject to a brutal form of death on the orders of the emperor. We admit that we are followers of Christ. We announce our faith in Him and give evidence fabricated according to our conveniences, but often forget a follower of Christ is always agonized and persecuted. But taking St. Sebastian as our patron saint let us be a true faithful follower of Christ ready for persecutions.
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Written By- Ajitha Shaju
