Feast Day

January 20

The Church celebrates Saint Sebastian on January 20.

Saint Sebastian

Saint Sebastian

c. 255 ADc. 288 AD

Saint Sebastian concealed his Christianity while serving as captain of the Praetorian Guard under Diocletian and Maximian, using that access to strengthen imprisoned Christians. Shot with arrows and left for dead on the Field of Mars, he survived — nursed back by Irene of Rome — and returned to rebuke Diocletian to his face. The emperor had him clubbed to death, earning Sebastian the name 'the twice-martyred saint.'