By Chev. Prof. George Menachery –
It is January and it’s festival time in almost every church in Kerala (the southern state of India) affiliated to the Syro-Malabar, Latin, or Malankara denominations. And the feast that is observed in almost all these churches from Kasargode to Kanyakumari is of St. Sebastian. Devotees of St. Sebastian throng churches sacred to the memory of the saint in thousands, ten-thousands and even lakhs.
In my mother’s parish Kattur, the main festival is St. Sebastian’s festival; although the patron saint is St. Mary. In my father’s parish at Ollur — even though St. Anthony is the patron saint — the festival of St. Sebastian is celebrated with greater fervor. In Ollur church, the Malakayude Perunnal is celebrated in the honor of St. Raphael and the procession goes only to the main angadies or streets; while the procession of St. Sebastian reaches every nook and corner of the parish. In Kattur too, the St. Sebastian procession goes to all the streets.
The primary reason why it is celebrated during December/January period is that in the early days many people were affected by the spread of small pox and chicken pox, and these illnesses assumed epidemic proportions. Devotion to St. Sebastian was the only preventive and curative remedy for it. In fact, the devotion to the saint became so widespread in Kerala and his intercession was considered most efficacious against the pestilence. Devotion to the saint also spread to other countries and cities; and they too were saved from the plague.
We read in the life of Paul the deacon, in what manner in the year 680, Rome was freed from a raging pestilence, by the patronage of this saint. The Italian city of Milan, in 1575; the Portuguese capital Lisbon, in 1599; and other places, have experienced, in like calamities, the miraculous effects of his intercession with God on their behalf.
When the martyrs Marcus and Marcellianus, under sentence of death, appeared in danger of being shaken in their faith; Saint Sebastian, by a long exhortation confirmed them in their constancy. And Zoë, when the saint restored her speech, along with her husband Nicostratus, master of the rolls; the parents of Marcus and Marcellianus, jailor Claudius, and 16 other prisoners, were converted to Christianity. Similarly, Chromatius, Governor of Rome, cured of the gout by the saint, was baptized with his son Tiburtius and he set his slaves free, and resigned his prefectship.
The emperor Diocletian, admiring the courage and virtue of Saint Sebastian, who concealed his religion, wanted him near, and made him the captain of a company of pretorian guards. When Diocletian went into the East, Maximian, who remained in the West, honored the saint with the same distinction and respect.
In the year 286, the persecution of Christians began, the Pope and others went into hiding, Saint Zoë, praying at Saint Peter’s tomb was stifled with smoke, being hung by the heels over a fire. Tranquillinus, ashamed to be less courageous than a woman, went to pray at the tomb of Saint Paul, and was seized by the populace, and stoned to death. Innumerable other converts faced cruel torture and death.
Saint Sebastian, having sent many martyrs to heaven before him, was himself impeached before the Emperor Diocletian, who, delivered him over to Mauritanian archers, to be shot to death. His body was covered with arrows, and was left for dead. St. Irene, the widow of Saint Castulus, found him still alive, and took him to her lodgings, where, under her care he recovered of his wounds. He, however, refused to move out of the city; and even placed himself one day by a staircase, where the emperor was to pass, whom he first accosted, and reproached him for his unjust cruelties against the Christians.
This accusation from a person who was supposed to have been dead, greatly astonished the emperor. However, he gave orders for the saint to be beaten to death with cudgels, and his body was thrown into the common sewer. A pious lady called Lucina, got it privately removed, and buried it in the catacombs, at the entrance of the cemetery of Calixtus. A church was afterwards built over his relics, by Pope Damasus, which is one of the seven ancient stationary churches at Rome.
Pope Eugenius II supposedly gave the body of Saint Sebastian to Hilduin, abbot of Saint Denys, who brought it into France, and it was deposited at Saint Medard’s at Soissons, on the 9th of December, in 826. The head of our martyr, which was given to Saint Willibrord, by Pope Sergius, is kept at Esternach, in the Duchy of Luxemburg. Portions of his relics are shown in the cathedral at Saint Victor’s; the Theatins and Minims at Paris; in four churches at Mantua; at Malaca, Seville, Toulouse, Munich in the ducal palace, Tournay in the cathedral, Antwerp in the church of the Jesuits, and at Brussels, in the chapel of the court.
In Kerala, St. Sebastian’s festivals are famous in the churches at Arthunkal, Kanjoor, Neendakara, Athirampuzha, Chittattukara, and Thazhekkad… As already mentioned, there is no other saint honored in as many churches in Kerala as St. Sebastian!
Chev. Prof. George Menachery is a professor, anthropologist, indologist, historian of Syro Malabar Church and history of Kerala. He is the editor of the St. Thomas Christian Encyclopedia of India and the Indian Church History Classics. Prof. Menachery is also the recipient of the ‘Order of Saint Gregory the Great’, known as the title of “Chevalier”.
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