Not much is known for certain about Saint Sebastian, an early Christian martyr, but his life story has been shared and admired for thousands of years.
Long before the official canonization process came into effect, he was being called a saint. St. Sebastian’s story of deep faith facing persecution has inspired Christians since his martyrdom on the orders of Roman Emperor Diocletian.
This patron saint of athletes and soldiers is the subject of the legendary filmmaker’s latest episode Martin Scorsese’s ‘The Saints’, now streaming on Fox Nation.
MARTIN SCORSESE ILLUMINATES History’s Boldest Saints in Fox Nation Series He ‘Didn’t Know Could’
“The stories of the early saints were spread from person to person, gradually becoming legendary – that is, the realm where historical truth gives way to spiritual truth,” Scorsese says.
Since his martyrdom, Saint Sebastian “has lived on as a kind of prototype, a supreme example of absolute and eternal faith,” he also says.
St. Sebastian, a third-century martyr, is seen here in the latest episode of “The Saints.” (Fox Nation)
The episode takes viewers back to the streets of third-century Rome, at a time when Christians were about to come under intense persecution by the Roman Emperor Diocletian.
Diocletian “wanted to bring back the glory days of the Pax Romana, to make Rome great again,” Scorsese said.
One of the steps Diocletian took was a return to the pagan religion of Rome, with a pantheon of gods.
MARTIN SCORSESE SAYS HIS NEW FOX NATION SERIES ‘THE SAINTS’ WAS A STORY HE ALWAYS WANTED TO TELL
Previously, Scorsese noted: Christian beliefs had been tolerated, ‘but Diocletian returned to the old ways. He ruled by the divine right of the Roman gods, making anyone who refused to worship them a threat to his power.”
Sebastian, then commander of the Praetorian Guard, an elite cohort of soldiers tasked with protecting the Emperor, harbors a secret: he is a Christian.
Sebastian (second from right) convinced Nicostratus (second from left) to let him talk privately to Marcellus and Marcellian in this scene from ‘The Saints’. (Fox Nation)
Meanwhile, twin brothers and deacons, Marcellus and Marcellian, had been captured and imprisoned.
In their cells they were told that if they made a sacrifice to the Roman gods they would be released without further punishment.
Their parents, Tranquillinus and Martia, are not Christians. The parents were previously unaware of their sons’ faith – and they tell their sons to make the sacrifice.
MARTIN SCORSESE BRINGS JOHN THE BAPTIST’S STORY OF CHALLENGE AND FAITH TO FOX NATION
Sebastian tells the guard, Nicostratus, that he wants to speak only with Marcellus and Marcellianus. He reveals to the brothers that he too is a Christian and encourages them to remain steadfast in their faith.
“Brother, don’t you believe?” Sebastian asks. ‘Then you must know that we are accountable only to the one true God. Not to our ancestors, not to our eldersnot to our father, not to our mother – to God.”
Following God is, as Sebastian reminds the brothers, the “only way to salvation”—and while they may be tortured or killed, their persecutors “cannot touch your soul.”
Sebastian showed Marcellus and Marcellian his fish symbol, revealing himself as a Christian, in this scene from ‘The Saints’. (Fox Nation)
Nicostratus hears Sebastian’s message to Marcellus and Marcellian and confronts them, before dropping his sword and falling to his knees, overcome with emotion.
“It was impossible, unthinkable,” Scorsese said. “Nicostratus, the terror of all Roman Christians, had done that too converted to Christianity. He freed all his captives and had his entire household baptized.”
CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR OUR LIFESTYLE NEWSLETTER
This was the start of “dramatic, mass conversions” that took place all over Rome, Scorsese said. “And Sebastian was the secret core of it all.”
However, all would not remain well. Nicostratus, Marcellus, and Marcellian would all soon be martyred, and Sebastian’s Christianity would be discovered.
Saint Sebastian is often depicted as being pierced by arrows. (Juan Naharro Gimenez/Getty Images)
Sebastian would also face the same fate as his fellow Christians – but he would not go down quietly.
“The Saints” follows the lives and legacies of saints like Sebastian, who serve as examples of tenacity, courage and justice in the face of adversity.
For more Lifestyle articles, visit www.foxnews.com/lifestyle
The eight episodes explore the lives of Joan of Arc, John the Baptist, Sebastian, Maximilian Kolbe, Francis of Assisi, Thomas Becket, Mary Magdalene and Moses the Black, as Scorsese and his team traverse more than 2,000 years of history to focus on this extraordinary figures and their extreme acts of kindness, selflessness and sacrifice.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
To watch weekly episodes of ‘The Saints’, Sign up for Fox Nation and start streaming the series today. Fox Nation is offering a 3-month free trial with the promo code ‘SAINTS’.
