Arrows
The martyrdom of St Sebastian, shot with arrows for his faith; long invoked against plague.
St Sebastian. An officer of the Roman imperial guard, Sebastian was found to be a Christian under the emperor Diocletian and was ordered to be shot with arrows. He survived and was nursed back to health by St Irene, then faced the emperor again and was beaten to death, around the year 288. Art shows the first martyrdom: a young man bound to a tree or column, pierced by arrows.
Against plague. Arrows were an old picture of sickness striking without warning. Sebastian had survived his, so for centuries towns across Europe called on him in times of plague.
St Philomena. Her arrows recall one of the torments told of her martyrdom; she is shown with the arrows, the anchor and the palm.
St Ursula. Killed by an arrow, she holds one in her hand.
St Teresa of Ávila. A heart pierced by a golden dart recalls the vision in which Teresa felt an angel pierce her heart with the fire of God’s love.
Where you’ll see it
The Passion and the martyrs
All symbols →
The Crown of Thorns
Christ’s suffering in his Passion, mocked as a king by the soldiers (Matthew 27:29).
The Gridiron
The martyrdom of St Lawrence, deacon of Rome, put to death on a gridiron in 258.
The Skull
“Remember that you will die” (memento mori): a call to penance. At the foot of the Cross it is Adam’s skull, on Golgotha, the Place of the Skull.
A statue with arrows?
Every statue is made from scratch in our studio in Mangalore.