Saint Sebastian

Sankt Sebastian

Wie ein Liegender so steht er; ganz
hingehalten von dem großen Willen.
Weitentrückt wie Mütter, wenn sie stillen,
und in sich gebunden wie ein Kranz.

Und die Pfeile kommen: jetzt und jetzt
und als sprängen sie aus seinen Lenden,
eisern bebend mit den freien Enden.
Doch er lächelt dunkel, unverletzt.

Einmal nur wird seine Trauer groß,
und die Augen liegen schmerzlich bloß,
bis sie etwas leugnen, wie Geringes,
und als ließen sie verächtlich los
die Vernichter eines schönen Dinges.

Rainer Maria Rilke, Winter 1905/06, Meudon

I'll try to locate some information on his Feast Day and pop it here
this Catholic information from "whatsonwhen.com":
Saint Sebastian, patron saint of archers, armourers, athletes, the dying, enemies of religion, ironmongers, lacemakers, laceworkers, the plague, the police, racquet makers, Rio de Janeiro, soldiers and Spanish police officers (and off the record, also of Camille Paglia and of sado-masochists), is celebrated annually on a large scale in the Chilean locality of Yumbel.

This annual celebration, which attracts more than 300,000 of the faithful, culminates with an enormous colourful procession, when the statue of the saint is carried through the city in a special vehicle. Throughout this period the faithful demonstrate the fervour of their religious passion in various ways, dressing in intense red and yellow clothes (red and yellow being the colours of the saint) and lighting more than 100,000 devotional candles in the name of the saint. The flow of pilgrims to the town is such that trains are forced to run up to 15 times daily from nearby cities, in order to accommodate the extraordinary inflowing mass.

Saint Sebastian, famously depicted with a forest of arrows piercing his body, was a noble Roman captain in the Imperial guard under Emperor Diocletian (famed for his genocidal persecution of the fledgling Christian church). Secretly practising the heretical faith of the Christians, he was reputed to heal by making the sign of the cross over the wounded and ill. Arrested & charged by the Emperor, the martyr-to-be was tied to a tree and faced the archer's equivalent of half-a-dozen firing squads. He was thoroughly and fatally (one would think) pierced & left to die.

This arrow-piercing scene, in which the saint is most often represented, does not, contrary to popular belief, represent his martyrdom. In fact the saint recovered from his tribulations at the hands of the Emperor, & rather than eloping and living the rest of his days in the Roman countryside, growing olive trees, he heroically returned to accuse the Emperor and incriminate him of cruelty and injustice, only to be unceremoniously bashed to death by the Emperor's guards... Perhaps we can see why he became the unofficial patron saint of masochists?

In the 14th century, the random & arbitrary way in which plague seemed to strike down its victims led folks to conceive the plague as an army of God's archers, firing at random into the world. Thus Sebastian became the saint of the plague

Sebastian: Latin-related. (Greek) "Revered." The original form of this name referred to those from a particular city or region of Asia minor, whose Greek name was from the Latin imperial title "Augustus." Saint Sebastian, who probably was a native of that place, was a third-century martyred centurion who became patron saint of soldiers. Shakespeare gave the name to the twin brother of Viola in "Twelfth Night." British use since the 1940s may have been influenced by a character in Evelyn Waugh's popular "Brideshead Revisited." Sebastien is popular in France. Track star Sebastian Coe." From "thinkbabynames.com"
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Oscar Wilde and the name Sebastian
When Oscar Wilde was exiled in France after his humiliating prison sentence in England, he adopted the name Sebastian Melmonth. The surname Melmonth was a name already within his family; Sebastian he took from the saint in an interesteing comment on the British prison uniform used at the time that was covered in arrows.

Other Versions of Sebastian's Name:
Saint Sébastien
Saint-Sébastien
San Sebastiano
San Sebastián
São Sebastião
St. Sebastian
Santi Sebastiano
S. Sebastian
S. Sebastiano
S. Sébastien
Sebastianus
Sebaste
Santo Sebastian

* Claude Debussy, text by Gabriele D'Annunzio, "Le Martyre de Saint Sébastien"
* Jennifer Fowler, "The arrows of Saint Sebastian II"
* Philip Glass, "1937: Saint Sebastian", from the musical score for the film Mishima.
* Miga, "Saint Sebastian", song from the compilation Polar Rose.
* Heitor Villa-Lobos, "Missa São Sebastião"

De sancto Sebastiano.

Of St. Sebastian.

Ant: O quam mira refulsit gratia Sebastianus martyr inclutus: qui militis portans insignia: sed de fratrum palma sollicitus confortavit corda trementia: verbo sibi collato caelitus.

Ant: O how the renowned martyr Sebastian shone with a wonderful grace, he who bore the marks of a soldier but was urged on by a palm from the brothers, greatly strengthened fearful hearts, since the heavenly word had been conferred upon him.

V: Ora pro nobis beate martyr Sebastiane.

V: Pray for us, blessed martyr Sebastian.

R: Ut mereamur pestem epidimiae illaesi transire: et promissionem Christi obtinere.

R: That we may deserve to pass unharmed through the plague and obtain the promise of Christ.

Oratio:
Deus qui beatum Sebastianum martyrem tuum in tua fide et dilectione tam ardenter solidasti: ut nullis carnalibus blandimentis: nullis tyrannorum minis nullis que carnificum gladiis sive sagittis a tua cultura potuit revocari: Da nobis miseris peccatoribus: dignis eius meritis et intercessionibus: in tribulatione auxilium: in persecutione solatium: et in omni tempore contra pestem epidimiae remedium: quatenus possimus contra omnes diabolicas insidias viriliter dimicare: mundum et ea quae in mundo sunt despicere: et nulla eius adversa formidare: ut ea quae te inspirante desideramus valeamus feliciter obtinere. Per dominum nostrum Iesum Christum filium tuum. Qui tecum vivit et regnat in unitate Spiritus Sancti Deus per omnia secula seculorum. Amen.

Prayer:
O God who so eagerly strengthened blessed Sebastian thy martyr in thy faith and love that by no allurements of the flesh, by no threats of tyrants, and by no swords or arrows of executioners could he be recalled from thy worship, grant to us unhappy sinners, by his deserved favors and intercessions, help in tribulation, solace in persecution, a cure in every time against the plague, so that we be able to contend strongly against all the traps of the devil, to despise the world and those things that are in the world, and to dread none of its misfortunes, so that we may be able to obtain happily those things that through thine inspiration we desire. Through our Lord Jesus Christ thy Son, who liveth and reigneth with thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, O God, world without end. Amen.

* D.C. Ahl. "Due San Sebastiano di Benozzo Gozzoli a San Gimignano: Un contributo al problema della pittura per la peste nel Quattrocento" Rivista d'arte Anno 40, Ser. IV, vol. 4 (Firenze: Olschki, 1988):31-61.
* Arrows, "Saint Sebastian painted by Mantegna," FMR, vol.50 p.17 (1991).
* P. Cannata, "San Sebastiano (Iconografia)", Biblioteca Sanctorum, Istituto Giovanni XXII della Pontificia Universita' Lateranense.
* J. Darriulat, Sébastien le Renaissant, ed. Lagune, 1999.
* G. Dall'Orto,San Sebastiano "santo gay"?, 1999.
* G. Eekhoud, "Saint Sébastien dans la peinture", Akdemos 1 (Feb 15 1909), 171-75.
* D. Fernandez, L'amour qui ose dire son nom, Collection Beaux Livres, Editeur Stock, 2001.
* G. Kaftal, Saints in the Italian Art, Sansoni, Florence, 1978-1986.
* R.A. Kaye, "Losing His Religion: St. Sebastian as Contemporary Gay Martyr," in Outlooks: Gay and Lesbian Visual Cultures, Routledge, 1996.
* F. Le Targat, Saint-Sébastien dans l'histoire de l'art depuis le XVe siècle, (Paris: Paul Vermont, 1977).
* F. Le Targat, Saint-Sebastien: Adonis et martyr, (Paris: Editions Persona, 1983).
* V. Markova, "Il San Sebastiano di G.A. Boltraffio e alcuni disegni dell'area leonardesca," 100-107, in I Leonardeschi a Milano: fortuna e collezionismo, M.T. Florio and P.C. Marani (eds.), Electa, Milano, 1991.
* S. Marinelli, "Federico Bencovich: un disegno della pala di S. Sebastiano," in A.E. Popham, 235-241, Parma: Consigli Arte, 1981.
* A. Moore, "Not just a pretty face: St. Sebastian in religious iconography and magical transformation," 249-257, in 2nd Australian Int. Conf: Religion, Literature, and the Arts 1995, M. Griffith and J. Tulip (eds.), Sydney, 1996.
* L. Réau, Iconographie de l'Art Chrétien, Presses Universitaires de France, Paris, 1959. Kraus Reprint, Millwood, NY, 1988.
* K. Ressouni-Demigneux, La chaire et la fleche, Mémoire de Maîtrise en Histoire de l'Art, Soutenu à l'Université Paris 1 (Panthéon-Sorbonne), en octobre 1996.
* K. Ressouni-Demigneux, Saint-Sébastien, Editions du regard (Collection "L'art du regard"), Paris, 2000.
* J.M. Saslow,"The Tenderest Lover: Saint Sebastian in Renaissance Painting: A proposed Iconology for North Italian Art, 1450-1550," Gai Saber 1:1 (Spring 1977), 58-66, and response by Wayne Dynes, Gai Saber 1:2 (Summer 1977), 150-51.
* Peter Schellenbaum, Homosexualität im Mann, München: Kösel-Verlag 1991. Italian edition: Tra uomini. La dinamica om