Sebastian

(late third century)

   Saint.

   Sebastian is thought to have been a native of Milan, Italy, and to have been martyred in the Diocletian persecutions. He is traditionally portrayed standing in the middle of a group of archers, being shot through with arrows. In fact, he is supposed to have recovered from this onslaught as a result of the ministrations of a kindly widow and eventually he had to be clubbed to death. He became the patron saint of archers and, in recent years, transfixed with arrows, he has become an unofficial icon for many in the homosexual community.

   D.H. Farmer (ed.), The Oxford Dictionary of Saints, 3^rd edn (1992).