In the story recounted in the Golden Legend, in 287 the Roman Emperor Diocletian ordered St. Sebastian bound to a stake and shot with arrows "till he was full of arrows as a hedgehog is full of quills." When this did not suffice, he had St. Sebastian stoned to death.
Most images of St. Sebastian show him at the stake with arrows in him (example). In sculptures the actual arrows have often been lost over time, as at left.
St. Sebastian is almost always represented nearly naked, as at left, even in portraits where he is grouped with other saints (example, exception). The saint's exposed body is always young and well muscled, with a pretty face and long golden hair.
Feast day: January 20 (December 8 in the Eastern Church)
At left, santo of St. Sebastian from Achiutla, Oaxaca, Mexico
Other images:
Hagiography:15th century marble sculpture
A 1486 fresco in Piedmont
16th century wood sculpture
16th century painting
Statue in the Colonnade of St. Peter's Basilica
A panel in a 1523 altarpiece
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