St Sebastian (dc288) Christian martyr. Captain of the Praetorian Guard. Diocletian ordered his execution but archers failed to kill him. Woman nursed him back to health, and on hearing this Diocletian had him beaten to death. History of the Acts and Monuments of the Church by John Foxe, 1583, popularly known as Foxe's Book of Martyrs. Chromolithograph from a mid-19th century edition.