Sebastian

You don't stay down when you take a hit, you get back up and keep fighting, in the open if you have to. Sebastian is an officer of the imperial guard, and, as tradition tells it, Christ's secret agent at the heart of the palace. In secret he strengthens persecuted Christians, until he is betrayed: as the Passio tells it, he is shot through with arrows, and survives. But he does not run. He returns, confronts the emperor to his face, and suffers a second martyrdom, around the year 288. For centuries the faithful have called on him as patron against plagues, the soldier whose loyalty to Christ proved stronger than any arrow. So here is the question: when the first arrow strikes you, do you get back up?