St. Sebastian's Catacombs

2008-04-16

Part of: Rome 2008

St. Sebastian was a Roman soldier, who, during the persecution of Christians had the from a Christian point of view spiritually magnificent but from a Roman point of view career limiting idea to convert to Christianity. He was sentenced to death. The Romans shot him through with arrows but this did miraculously not kill him, so after allowing him to appear before Caesar as proof of divine intervention, the Romans switched to plan B and beat him to death.

Post-paganism, the Roman emperor saw fit to build a basilica to his honor. The site chosen for the basilica was the side of a hill where Christians has buried their dead for many years. (Christians buried their dead, Romans cremated them.) The valley next to the hill was filled in and the basilica erected.

The catacombs were primarily used as burial grounds for Christians, with a secondary use as places of celebration on the anniversary of the dead. They were not used as refuge during persecution - although such use may have taken place, this was not routine.

Routine, however, is the photo ban in the catacombs.