Saint Sebastian during Black Death

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An estimated one-fourth to one-third of Europe's population perished. In Florence, the population
was reduced from 90,000 to 45,000, and in
Sienna, from 42,000 to 15,000 during the first
plague epidemic (Langer, 1964 114-122). The
epidemic waned by 1350, only to flare again in
1361 - with repeated epidemics occurring
throughout Europe over the next three hundred
years (Gottfried, 1983 43-46, 53, 156).


The use of arrows to represent pestilence
goes back to classical mythology, along with the
belief in a divine archer meting out punishment
forvarious transgressions or sins. Forthe Greeks,
it was Apollo, God of the Silver Bowl (Chamberlain, 1968 3). That St Sebastian came to be
identified with the plague - in the role of a patron
interceding for potential or actual victims - has
been a matter of continuing interest and validation among European historians. But it is clear
that Sebastian became associated with the
plague as early as the 7th century A.D. A ...

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