Sebastian (the name means "the venerable one") was born in Milan or Narbonne and died as a martyr in Rome in 288. He was captain of the praetorian guard at the imperial court of Emperor Diocletian (240-316) and continued to profess his Christian faith there, despite the ban. His position enabled him to assist his fellow Christians in Rome's prisons and to convert more and more Romans. According to legend, when Diocletian learned of Sebastian's faith, he had him tied to a tree and shot by Numidian archers. However, he was not killed by the arrows. A widow named Irene took care of him and tended his wounds. When he had recovered, he publicly confronted the astonished emperor to reproach him for the cruel persecution. Diocletian then had him flogged to death in the Circus of Rome and the body thrown into the "cloaca maxima".
The saint's day of remembrance is 20 January. Among other things, Sebastian is the patron saint against the plague and in former times people wore "St. Sebastian's arrows" as protection against this epidemic. Since the Middle Ages it has been customary to drink the first new wine on this day, this wine is also called "St. Sebastian's arrow" because at that time people also tried to fight the plague with wine (alcohol). The Benedictine monastery in the municipality of Ebersberg in Bavaria was a popular place of pilgrimage to St Sebastian in the 15th century. In the 10th century, the monastery had received a relic of St Sebastian from Pope Stephen VIII. On the martyr's feast day, pilgrims there drank Sebastian wine from the saint's skull set in silver (see picture). The same skull cult is also attested for the Lower Austrian town of Ranzenbach, where the faithful also received wine from a cranium of St Sebastian. See also under wine saints and wine gods.
Picture left: By 3268zauber - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, Link
Picture middle: By J. Patrick Fischer - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, Link
Picture right: By Andrea Mantegna - Public domain, Link
