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4 Christianity and/or Biblical vocabulary words

4 [christianity] words
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Saint Sebastian

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Definition:
an early Christian saint and martyr. According to traditional belief, he was killed during the Roman emperor Diocletian's persecution of Christians. He is most commonly depicted in art and literature tied to a post or tree and shot with arrows, but this did not kill him. He was, according to his legend, rescued and healed by Saint Irene of Rome, which became a popular subject in 17th-century painting. In all versions of the story, shortly after his recovery he went to Diocletian to warn him about his sins, and as a result was clubbed to death. He is venerated in the Roman Catholic Church and the Orthodox Church.

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image relating to Saint Sebastian
painting: By Andrea Mantegna (1480) https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=154487

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Uses:
He would flog her to death with a rubber truncheon. He would tie her naked to a stake and shoot her full of arrows like Saint Sebastian.

George Orwell. 1984 (1949)
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The only window was covered with a heavy tapestry, one showing the execution of Saint Sebastian. I eyed the saint’s upturned face and arrow-punctured torso, wondering afresh at the mentality of the person who had chosen this particular decoration for a sickroom.

Diana Gabaldon. Outlander (1991)
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in the thousand arrows by which our own Legrandin had instantaneously been stabbed and sickened, like a Saint Sebastian of snobbery:
“Oh, how you hurt me! No, I do not know the Guermantes family. Do not remind me of the great sorrow of my life.”

Marcel Proust. In Search of Lost Time [volume 1]
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