SEBASTIAN
AS PROTECTOR AGAINST PESTILENCE
By Benozzo Gozzoli. Photograph by Brogi, Florence
Though Sebastian was martyred in a.d. 288, it was not till the plague of a.d. 683 that his cult as a protector from pestilence was firmly established.
The association of Sebastian with pestilence was in the first instance purely fortuitous. Devout men in seasons of pestilence were wont to acclaim their own peculiar patron saint a very present help in time of trouble: an altar, a church, a votive picture, a procession, these, now one, now another, were the price of the promised dispensation. But that Sebastian came to be the patron saint of plague and pestilence was due to the association of arrows with his effigy and with the story of his attempted martyrdom. From remote antiquity we have seen that arrows have been emblematic of plague. It was Apollo among the Greeks that scattered pestilence with his bow, and who was invoked also by sacrifice and hymns of praise to avert it. In Christian hagiology and Christian art Sebastian is the counterpart of the pagan Apollo. Whatever the variations of detail, Sebastian is practically always represented, either transfixed with arrows or carrying an arrow in his hand. Having regard to his story, it is a mistake to show the arrows piercing a vital part, such as the heart, the brain, or even the neck, as is often done. And for artistic effect it is well that they should not be so numerous as to suggest a well-filled pin-cushion: albeit the Golden Legend has it that ‘the archers shot at him till he was as full of arrows as an urchin is full of pricks’.
Such is the effect of an interesting fresco by Benozzo Gozzoli (c. a.d. 1420-97) in the Chiesa della Collegiata at San Gimignano, dedicated to Sebastian in a.d. 1465 in a time of plague. At the head of the picture, Christ, with the marks of wounds in His hands, communes with the Virgin and a group of saints. Sebastian is standing on a pedestal, his whole body studded with arrows, while archers on either side of him are rapidly increasing the number. This Collegiata fresco has been closely followed in an Italian Pestblätter, reproduced in the Heitz-Schreiber portfolio of Pestblätter (q.v.).
Another votive fresco in the church of S. Agostino at San Gimignano, also by Benozzo Gozzoli, commemorating the disastrous plague of a.d. 1464, shows Sebastian turning aside with his cloak the broken arrows of pestilence. In the uppermost part of the fresco the Almighty is launching forth His shafts, and attendant angels are aiding in the task. Between them and Sebastian Christ and the Virgin kneel in an attitude of prayer. Sebastian stands in the centre of the foreground on a low stone pedestal, on which are inscribed the words, ‘Sancte Sebastiane, Intercede Pro Devoto Populo Tuo.’ His body is fully draped, and the broken arrows lie behind him, removed by the hands of angels, two of whom hold a crown of martyrdom above his head.
PLATE VIII (Face Page 100)
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