Worship St. Sebastian, a martyr in ancient
Milan Rome in the Diocletian
Fabrizio Bisconti
Between II and III of the Via Appia, just before the great monument of Maxentius, develops catacumbas the cemetery, the 'single, together with that of San Lorenzo and the San Pancrazio, yet to be visited in the Middle Ages. The Curious catacumbas term, probably comes from the greek kymba kata, or "at the cavity, as suggested by the strong subsidence that has the ground at that point where, in ancient times, the quarries were located, reused, in pagan times, to place a small cemetery. The term, with the passing of centuries, will appoint all the early Christian underground cemeteries, which were precisely defined in the catacombs. The complex also had the suggestive name of memory Apostolorum, already in the middle years of the third century, when the pagan necropolis definite transformation in the Christian cemetery, developing a process of transformation that had started very early, perhaps as early as the second century, in a period even before the establishment of the adjacent complex catacomb of San Callisto. The Depositio martyrum, the oldest Roman hagiographic document, referring to the first half of the fourth century and merged in the Chronograph of 354, refers to the date of 29 June 258, when Rome was commemorated simultaneously Peter in catacumbas and Paul on the Via Ostiense. A century after the Martyrology Geronimiano note that the same day, one day, we celebrate the memories of Peter, Paul and sull'Ostiense utrumque in catacumbas, Basso et Tuscus consulibus. Excavations in 1892 by Anton de Waal and those of 1915 by Paul Styger have, first of all, demonstrated that Plato, the circular mausoleum where he was located in the Middle Ages the cult of the joint principles of the Apostles, was nothing but an environment close to the Church Constantine, commissioned by the community of Pannonians to accommodate the remains of St. Quirino Sisco, between the fourth and fifth centuries. At the basilica, they found a well-judged stratification that sees a first pitch, which is surrounded by three pagan mausoleums, then Christianized, simultaneously with the creation of the catacombs during the third century, then a complex organism, defined triclia, which has a courtyard, perhaps just created in 258, at the persecution of Valerian, completely covered graffiti mentioning the memory of Peter and Paul, and finally a basilica circiforme, commissioned by costantinidi entitled to the memory of apostles.
is not clear the source of this impressive cult for the princes of the Apostles, whose tombs - as is known - were located at the Vatican and the Via Ostiense. It is assumed that, after the great persecution of Valerian, the remains of the two saints were temporarily buried in catacumbas, considering the safest place and that after the peace of the Church such remains or parts of them have returned to the original sites. It was thought that the whole of the Via Appia, the two apostles had actually lived, as suggested by the inscription of Pope Damasus who, in the second half of the fourth century, recalls that the two apostles habitare hic prius, or who have been welcomed here from a Greek community, when they reached Rome. But the expression damasiana, compared with other compositions biographer of the pope, seeks rather to signify a "presence funeral" or a "virtual presence", suggesting the idea of \u200b\u200ba "cenotaph" around which developed Christian piety that since the third century, triggered the widespread practice of refrigerium.
parallel to the cult of the Apostles to the principles developed in the catacombs of the Appian Way the memory of Saint Sebastian, whose warehousing martyrum indicates the dies natalis catacumbas on January 20, along with Pope Fabian in Callisto. The other calendars, the Sacramentary, the routes of the Middle Ages and later documents are only confirm the name and place of worship of the martyr.
Another valuable evidence comes from a passage of St. Ambrose, in his commentary on Psalm 118, where the father of the Church refers the origin of the holy Milan mediolanensis oriundus hic est, although not really clear whether he was born in this city or rather to Narbonne, as claimed by some Latin or Greek legends, from Milan mother married to a Roman official in southern Gaul. Ambrose thinks that the martyrdom of Sebastian was certainly in Rome, but does not know how to specify why the saint was visited in the city. Perhaps - he suggests - the emperor Maximian, Diocletian's colleague, proved to be more lenient in Milan against Christians or even no persecution broke out there, so preferred to go to Rome, where Sebastiano propter fidei studium persecutionis fervebant sour. Without mentioning any condemnation process, nor the kind of martyrdom, Ambrose adds: passus est ibi, ibi coronatus, Itaqui Illich quo hospes advenit, domicilium immortalitates perpetuae calcavit. It fuisset coronatus hic unus persecuting non fuisset martyr. From the passage of Ambrose, therefore, it is not apparent exactly the years of martyrdom, nor the reason for the trip to Rome to Sebastian, whose sources do not mention the profession. It seems that the only reason for the trip was the Roman desire to bear witness to their Christian faith.
unreliable appears that the legendary past, however, influenced the devotional imagery since the early Middle Ages. The passio sancti Sebastiani, seems drawn to Rome around the fifth century, the author is not Ambrose, as stated in the tenth century, Monaco Odilon. According to a biographer who knows very well the topography of Rome, Sebastiano Born in Milan (or Narbonne), coming in, still young, the body of the Praetorian Guard, reaching the highest positions soon, to the great credit granted by the emperor Diocletian and Maximian. For this he was able to protect many Christians of the Roman nobility and, in particular, Marco, Marcello, their parents Tranquillino and Marcia, the prefect of Rome, Claudius, his wife and children Symphorosa and Happy Happy. His catechesis led to the conversion of Chromatius, the new prefect of the city and the son Tiburcio. All these brothers suffered the pain of martyrdom, and, finally, the same Sebastian was submitted for the approval of the emperors, he was sentenced to execution of the arrows, we find in the later iconography. The executioners, believing him dead, left him on the spot, but at night the Christians, including Irene, widow of the martyr Castulo, who went to the scene of martyrdom to retrieve the body of Sebastian and give her proper burial, they noticed that he was still alive. He was treated by a noble woman in his palace on the Palatine where miraculously revived. The Christians asked him to leave Rome, but he directly addresses the two emperors in the process of worship Hercules. For this Sebastian was flogged in the hippodrome, and his body was thrown into a sewer, never to be found. But the martyr appeared to the Lady Lucina who unearthed the body to be buried at catacumbas. The passion, presumably written by a monaco the monastery was built by Sixtus III at the Catacombs of San Sebastiano, influenced the dedication of some churches in Rome and the creation of an iconography that is the first expression in the decorative program of the crypt of St. Cecilia in the complex of San Callisto, where the martyr shows - between the fifth and sixth centuries - along with Quirino Sisco, and Policamo Optatus of Vescera, becoming involved in a sanctoral of the Appian Way. The iconography of the saint is still young here, in tunic and pallium, and from there to a century after the plague of 680, appears in the mosaic, now elderly and reverential, in the church of St. Peter in Chains, as protector against plague . But the iconography of youth, which is also found in the theory of the martyrs St Apollinaris Nuovo in Ravenna, will prevail and will be merged, in addition the season Byzantine extremely lucky in the scheme of the saint pierced by arrows.
Regarding worship, we know that the body was initially placed in a niche or a arcosolium than just a gallery that already in the fourth century, was transformed into a true crypt, in perfect harmony with the passion to reports, which states that the martyr was buried: in catacumbas in criptae initio, juxta remains Apostolorum. His grave remained isolated in the middle of the compartment underneath the altar, at the beginning of the fifth century was adorned with marble barriers. Meanwhile it was open the vault of the crypt, which are at the heart of the majestic basilica of Constantine. Two scales, still visible, enables the faithful to come down to visit the tomb of the martyr and go up in the church. The crypt has maintained its structure, while a more recent scale, to the left of the altar is the work of Cardinal Scipione Borghese, who was concerned to close the vault and the obliteration of the old stairs.
The figure of the saint was popularized not only by the words of Ambrose and passion novels, but also by the miracle on the plague that struck Rome in 680.
The saint's body remained in his tomb during the systematic shifts of the eighth century and still Leo III (795-816) celebrated on the altar that rose on his grave, but in 826, by the will of Eugene II, tomb was placed in the Vatican, an altar in the oratory of San Gregorio Magno. Part of the relics were donated to the church of San Medardo de Soissons, while the head at the time of Leo IV (847-855), was transferred, with other relics, the high altar of the Four Crowned Saints to Celio. Meanwhile, the faithful continued to venerate the empty tomb of the Via Appia, so that Honorius III, in 1218, the altar of the crypt reconsecrated bringing the relics from the Vatican. The cult of St. Sebastian, since the Middle Ages, it was intense, so much so that in Rome alone, were a total of nine churches and chapels dedicated to the saint, and among these, the most famous was on the Palatine Hill, the place where, according to legend, it would was martyred. Even in the Soissons cult was especially widespread fame as a miracle worker.
This reputation is particularly linked to protection against plague, known and shared in the Middle Ages until the sixteenth century, St. Anthony, St. Christopher and St. Rocco. Already in the past, this protection is linked with the fact that the saint was saved from the punishment of the arrows which were then regarded as the divine punishment, and thus the real plague. Today
the saint became the protector of the legendary fighters, not so much not only for its traditional position of the praetorian guard, but especially for the strength, power, courage with which the martyr was able to face the serious test of martyrdom, a evidence that has become evidence, such as faith, a symbol of the belief of early Christians, manifest unconditional adherence to passio Christi, the imitation of courageous martyrdom of the cross, which still unites us and makes us recognize, in a clear and unequivocal, as witnesses of the universal Church .
Source: L'Osservatore Romano, 22.1.2009
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