St. Sebastian Pendant

St. Sebastian was a Roman soldier, a captain of the Praetorian Guard under Diocletian and Maximian, who did not know he was a Christian. When his religion was revealed the emperor, feeling personally betrayed as well as irked by the Christians in general, had him tied to a tree and shot “as full of arrows as an urchin is full of pricks” according to the Legenda Aurea. St. Irene of Rome came that night to take his body for burial and found him still alive, so she took him home and nursed him back to health. Sebastian was urged by his friends to hide himself but he was one of those mouthy early Christian martyrs the Middle Ages loved so much, so he went and stood on the street and spoke out against Diocletian when he came by. This time the emperor left nothing to chance: he had Sebastian beaten to death with rocks and then tossed into a privy.

The original of this pendant was found in ‘s-Hertogenosch, and is dated 1400-1450.

In the Middle Ages Sebastian was particularly venerated as a protector against the plague and was included among the Fourteen Holy Helpers. Today Sebastian is the patron of archers, soldiers, and athletes. (Costumers also class him among the “underwear saints” valuable for depictions of him in his skivvies.) His feast day is January 20.

This pendant is offered in four versions. You can have it with a pewter, copper, or brass sheet for the backing – or you can buy it with no backing and put in a paper, parchment, or cloth backing of your own choice. If you choose the DIY option we include a paper pattern to copy.