Litany of St. Sebastian

Lord, have mercy on us!
Christ, have mercy on us!
Lord, have mercy on us! Christ hear us!
Christ, graciously hear us!
God, the Father of heaven,
Have mercy on us!
God, the Son, Redeemer of the world, Have mercy on us!
God, the holy Ghost, Have mercy on us!
Holy Trinity, one God,
Have mercy on us!

Holy Mary, Queen of Martyrs, Pray for us.
Saint Sebastian, Pray for us.
Invincible Martyr, Pray for us.
Knight, noble by birth and fame, Pray for us.
Glorious warrior and martyr of Christ, Pray for us.
Patron and mirror of Christian soldiers, Pray for us.
Despiser of the world, Pray for us.
Conqueror of Satan, Pray for us. Comfort of the dying, Pray for us. Consoler of the afflicted, Pray for us.
Announcer of the word of God, Pray for us.
Protector and Patron of countries and cities, Pray for us.
Saint Sebastian, perfect in virtue and wisdom, Pray for us.
St. Sebastian, lover of God and men, Pray for us.
St. Sebastian, might in word and work, Pray for us.
St. Sebastian, who didst strengthen the Christians in torments and death, Pray for us.
St. Sebastian, who didst fortify those wavering in their faith,
Pray for us.
St. Sebastian, who didst encourage the doubting to persevere to the end, Pray for us.
St. Sebastian, who, in flamed with love of God, didst despise the pains inflicted by the tyrant, Pray for us.
St. Sebastian, surrounded by celestial light, Pray for us.
St. Sebastian, instructed by the holy Angels, Pray for us.
St. Sebastian, giving speech to the dumb, Pray for us.
St. Sebastian, who for defending the truth wast wounded by arrows,
Pray for us.
St. Sebastian, who wast put to death with clubs, Pray for us.
St. Sebastian, who wast crowned with eternal glory, Pray for us.
St. Sebastian, great intercessor for us with God, Pray for us.
St. Sebastian, endowed with power from God to avert pestilence and all contagious diseases, Pray for us.

Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world:
Spare us, O Lord!
Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world:
Graciously hear us, O Lord!
Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world:
Have mercy on us, O Lord!
Christ, hear us!
Christ, graciously hear us!

Let us pray. Mercifully look on our weakness, O almighty God;
since the weight of our own evil deeds bears us down, may the glorious intercession of Thy blessed martyr Sebastian be our protection
Through our Lord Jesus Christ Thy Son, Who with Thee and the Holy Ghost liveth and reigneth, one God, world without end.

Amen.

Saint Sebastian

Saint Sebastian (traditionally died January 20, 287) was a Christian saint and martyr, who is said to have been killed while the Roman emperor Diocletian engaged in the persecution of Christians in the 3rd century. He is commonly depicted in art and literature tied to a post and shot with arrows. But he did not die from the arrows, after the emperor discovered he was still alive he was killed by a club.

Life

The details of Sebastian's martyrdom were first elaborated by Ambrose of Milan (died 397), in his sermon (number XX) on the 118th Psalm. Ambrose, Bishop of Milan, states that Sebastian came from Milan and that he was already venerated there in the fourth century.

According to Sebastian's fifth-century Acta, still attributed to Ambrose by the seventeenth-century hagiographer Jean Bolland, and the briefer account in Legenda Aurea, he was a man of Gallia Narbonensis who was taught in Milan and appointed as a captain of the Praetorian Guard under Diocletian and Maximian, who were unaware that he was a Christian.

Sebastian was reportedly known for having encouraged in their faith two Christian prisoners due for martyrdom, Mark and Marcellian, who were bewailed and entreated by their family to forswear Christ and offer token sacrifice. His aura cured a woman of her muteness, and the miracle instantly converted seventy-eight people.

He was born to a wealthy family. According to tradition, Mark and Marcellian were twin brothers and deacons. They were both married, and from a distinguished family. They both lived in Rome with their wives and children. The brothers refused to sacrifice to the Roman gods and were arrested. They were visited by their father and mother, Tranquillinus and Martia, in prison, who attempted to persuade them to renounce Christianity.

Sebastian ended up converting Tranquillinus and Martia, as well as Saint Tiburtius, the son of Chromatius, the local prefect. Nicostratus, another official, and his wife Zoe were also converted. According to the legend, Zoe had been been a mute for 6 years. However, she made known to Sebastian her desire to be converted to Christianity. As soon as she had, her speech returned to her. Nicostratus then brought the rest of the prisoners; these were 16 people who were also converted by Sebastian.

Chromatius and Tiburtius became converts; Chromatius set all of his prisoners free, resigned his position, and retired to the country in Campania. Mark and Marcellian, after being concealed by a Christian named Castulus, were later martyred, as were Nicostratus, Zoe, and Tiburtius.

Martyrdom

Diocletian reproached Sebastian for his supposed betrayal, and "he commanded him to be led to the field and there to be bounden to a stake for to be shot at. And the archers shot at him till he was as full of arrows as an urchin is full of pricks," leaving him there for dead. Miraculously, the arrows did not kill him. The widow of St. Castulus, St. Irene of Rome, went to retrieve his body to bury it, and found he was still alive. She brought him back to her house and nursed him back to health. The other residents of the house doubted he was a Christian. One of those was a girl who was blind. Sebastian asked her "Do you wish to be with God?", and made the sign of the Cross on her head. "Yes," she replied, and immediately regained her sight. Sebastian then stood on a step and harangued Diocletian as he passed by; the emperor had him beaten to death and his body thrown in a privy. But in an apparition Sebastian told a Christian widow where they might find his body undefiled and bury it "at the catacombs by the apostles."

Of the miraculous effect of the example of Sebastian, Legenda Aurea reports

"And Saint Gregory telleth in the first book of his Dialogues that a woman of Tuscany which was new wedded was prayed for to go with other women to the dedication of the church of Sebastian, and the night tofore she was so moved in her flesh that she might not abstain from her husband, and on the morn, she having greater shame of men than of God, went thither, and anon as she was entered into the oratory where the relics of Saint Sebastian were, the fiend took her and tormented her before all the people."

Sebastian was also said to be a defense against the plague. Legenda Aurea transmits the episode of a great plague that afflicted the Lombards in the time of King Gumburt, which was stopped by the erection of an altar to Saint Sebastian in the Church of Saint Peter in the Province of Pavia.

Via