Saint Sebastian

When did Saint Sebastian die?

Saint Sebastian is dated d. c. AD 288 (martyr) in the archive, which places Saint Sebastian in the Ante-Nicene Church (AD 180–313). The dating is traditional and approximate; the archive marks it as uncertain rather than fixing a year the sources do not give.

Which early sources mention Saint Sebastian?

Saint Sebastian is named in 2 primary-source passages catalogued here, drawn from The Roman Chronograph of 354 and Ambrose of Milan. Every passage is quoted from a named public-domain translation, earliest first.

Where was Saint Sebastian from?

The archive associates Saint Sebastian with Rome.

Who were Saint Sebastian’s contemporaries?

The archive links Saint Sebastian to 2 other figures, including Emperor Diocletian and Ambrose of Milan. Each connection is drawn from a source that places them together, not from inference.

[The bare earliest record — the Roman church's own burial calendar.] The 13th day before the Kalends of February: Fabian in the cemetery of Callistus, and Sebastian in the Catacombs.

Take the example of the martyr Sebastian, whose birthday we keep today. He was a Milanese by origin; perceiving that here the contest was slack or absent, he departed to Rome, where fierce persecutions were raging for the faith — and there he suffered, there he won his crown. [The arrows of his familiar iconography come only from the 5th-century legendary Passio.]