SEBASTIAN
668
SEBENICO
vilayet and numbers 45,000 inhabitants, of whom
10,000 are Armenian Gregorians, 2000 schismatic
Greeks, 200 Cathohcs, and the remainder Turks.
The CathoUc Armenian diocese comprises 3000 faith-
ful, 18 priests, 7 churches, 4 chapels, a large college
conducted by the French Jesuits, and a school taught
by the Sisters of St. Joseph of Lyons. At Tokat, a
dependency of this diocese, are also a Jesuit house,
Sisters of St. Joseph, and Armenian Sisters.
SMfTH, Diet, of Gr. and Rom. Geog., s. v.; Girard, Sivas, huit aiechs d'histoire in Rerue de I'orient chretien, X, 79-95, 169-81, 283-8, 337-49; Cuinet, La Turquie d'Asie, I, 663-73; Cumont, Studia Pontica (Brussels, 1906), 217-26; Missiones catholicm (Rome, 1907), 758; Piolet, Les missions catholiques franfaises au XIX siide, I, 178-80. S. VaILHE.
Sebastian, Saint, Roman martyr; little more than
the fact of his martyrdom can be proved about St.
Sebastian. In the "Depositio martyrum" of the
chronologer of 354 it is mentioned that Sebastian was
buried on the Via
Appia. St. Ambrose
("In Psalmum
cxviii"; "Sermo",
XX, no. xhv in P.
L., XV, 1497) states
that Sebastian came
from Milan and even
in the time of St.
Ambrose was vener-
ated there. The
Acts, probably writ-
ten at the beginning
of the fifth century
and formerly as-
cribed erroneously
to Ambrose, relate
that he was an offi-
cer in the imperial
body-guard and had
secretly done many
acts of love and
charity for his breth-
ren in the Faith.
WTien he was finally
discovered to be a ^ ^
Christian, in 286, he ^"= Cathedral. Sebenico
was handed over to the Mauretanian archers, who pierced him with arrows; he was healed, however, by the widowed St. Irene. He was finally killed by the blows of a club. The.se stories are unhistorirai and not worthy of belief. The earliest mosaic picture of St. Sebastian, which probably belongs to the year 682, shows a grown, bearded man in court dress but contains no trace of an arrow. It was the art of the Renaissance that first portrayed him as a youth pierced by arrows. In 367 a basilica which was one of the seven chief churches of Rome was built over his grave. The present church was completcfl in 1611 by Cardinal Scipio Borghe.se. His relics in part were taken in the year 826 to St. Medard at SoLssons. Sebastian is considered a protector against the plague. Celebrated answers to prayer for his protection against the plague are related of Rome in 680, Milan in 1575, Lisbon in l.'iOO. His feast dav is 20 Januarv.
Ada SS., January, II. 2.07-96; Bibliolheca hnaiof/raphica Inli'na (Brussels. 1898-1900}, 1093-4; A.naUcla BoUandiana, XXVIII (1909), 489.
Klemens Loffler.
Charterhouse and became a monk there. He signed
the Oath of Succession "in as far as the law of God
permits", 6 June, 1534. Arrested on 25 May, 1535,
tor denying the king's supremacy, he was thrown into
the Marshalsea prison, where he was kept for four-
teen days bound to a pillar, standing upright, with
iron rings round his neck, hands, and feet. There
he was visited by the king who offered to load him
with riches and honours if he would conform. He was
then brought before the Council, and sent to the
Tower, where Henry visited him again. His trial
took place, 11 June, and after condemnation he was
sent back to the Tower. With him suffered Blessed
William Exmew and Blessed Humphrey Middlemore.
Camm, BleKxed Sfbaxtian Newdigate (London, 1901); and the authorities there cited. JoHN B. WaINEWRIGHT.
XV-XVI Centdry
Sebastian Newdigate, Blessfd, executed at
Tyburn, 19 Juik-, l.'j.i.'j. A younger son of John
Newdigatf; of Hanfield Plare, Middlesex, king's ser-
geant, and Amphelys, daughter and heiress of John
Nevill of Sutton, Lincolnsliire. H<r was educated
at Cambridge and on going to Court became an
intimate friend of Henry VIII and a privy councillor.
He married and ha/l a flaughter, named Amphelys,
but hifl wife dying in 1524, he entered the London
Sebastopolis, a titular see in Armenia Prima, suf-
fragan of Sebastia. The primitive name of this city
was Carana, depend-
ent on Zela, which
was included in the
principality given to
Ateporix by An-
thony or Augustus.
On the death of the
Galatian tetrarch (3
or 2 B. c.) it was
incorporated in Pon-
tus Galaticus and
made part of the
Roman Empire.
Carana formed a city
l)eopled by the in-
habitants of the sur-
rounding country,
and whose era was
dated from this
event. It is probably
at that time or per-
haps a little later, in
19 a. d., that the
name of Sebastopolis
appeared. The
town was organized
like all the provin-
cial cities; it worshipped the emperors; with some ad-
jacent towns it formed a convcntus of which the capi-
tal was Neocaesarea; it had coins dating from Trajan.
The city received its importance from its position on
the great highway leading from Tavium in Galatea
towards Sebastia and Armenia. It seems that Tra-
jan, who annexed Pont us Galaticus to the reorganized
Cappadocia, made SebastoiK)lis a centre of Roman cul-
ture in a st ill barbarous coimtry. Adrian visited the
city in 124; under this prince and his successors its
beauty was increased by the erection of new edifices,
a stadium, a portico, a gymnasium, and temples; the
principal go<i was Hercules, whence its surname,
Heracleopolis. Under Justinian (Novell, xxxi, 1),
Sebastopolis was one; of the villages of Armenia Se-
cunda; later one finds it placed by the Greek "Noti-
tia; episcopatum" in Armenia Secunda or Prima, until
the thirteenth century, first among the sufi'ragans of
Sebastia. Le Quien (Oriens christ., I, 425) gives
four bishops: Meletius, fourth century; Cecropius,
451; Gregory, 458; Photius, 692. By the inscrip-
tion Sebastopolis is identified with Soulou Serai, a
village of 500 inhabitants to the south-east of Zileh,
formerly Zeja, vilayet of Sivas. The chief ancient relic is
a bridge over the Scylax. There is also a Byzantine
cemetery which furnishes numerous inscriptions.
Smith, Diet, of Gr. and Rom. Geog., a. v.; Anderron, Studia Pontica (HriiHscls, 1903), 34-6; F. AND E. Cumont, Ibid. (Brus-
H.-ls. 1 'tor,). 201-9. s. PfiTRinfes.
Sebenico (Sibinicbnsis), Diocese or, sufTragan (jf
Zara. Sebenico was the seat of a bishop before
