Today's Holy Day: Feast of Saint Sebastian - history’s first gay icon?

QUEER SPIRIT | BLOG
By Kittridge Cherry
“Saint Sebastian” by Rick Herold
Saint Sebastian has been called history’s first gay icon and the patron saint of gay men. His feast day is Jan. 20. It is an intriguing coincidence that Jan. 20 is also Inauguration Day for U.S. presidents. May Saint Sebastian, who was martyred by an oppressive emperor, pray for us as Donald Trump becomes president today on Jan. 20, 2017. Sebastian was an early Christian martyr killed in 288 on orders from the Roman emperor Diocletian. He is the subject of countless artworks that show him being shot with arrows. Little is known about his love life, so his long-standing popularity with gay men is mostly based on the way he looks.  [link]
“Saint Sebastian” by Il Sodoma, 1525 (Wikimedia Commons)