Here are some saints who are martyrs who bravely died for their faith. There are many saints with different patronages in the Catholic Church. Many patronages are associated with their lives and incidents that happened in life.
These five saints and their patronages are related with their martyrdom.
St. Sebastian
St. Ambrose is the first to have written about the martyrdom of St. Sebastian, who lived between the years 256 and 287 and is celebrated on 20 January.
During the reign of Diocletian in Rome, Sebastian was sentenced to die a martyr’s death by being tied to a tree and shot with arrows. A work known as “The Life of Sebastian” speaks of what happened next, “And the archers shot at him till he was as full of arrows as an urchin is full of pricks, and thus left for dead.”
Surprisingly, the arrows failed to kill Sebastian, and he was rescued. A violent death would eventually catch up with him, however, as he continued to defend his faith publicly and was captured and beaten to death at the emperor’s request.
In line with the original attempt on his life, St. Sebastian eventually became known as the patron saint of archers and continues to be depicted with arrows.
St. Agatha
St Agatha of Sicily is a virgin and martyr who lived between 231 and 251, and whom we celebrate on 5 February.
She is one of just seven women whom we commemorate by name in the Canon of the Mass, and this is partly because of the horrific suffering she endured for Christ and His Church. She dedicated her virginity to God at the age of 15 and bravely rejected the advances of a Roman prefect. Embarrassed with the rejection, the prefect had Agatha sent to a brothel, where she went on to confound the madam with her dedication to her virginity and her God.
She was eventually sent to prison and suffered various forms of torture, including having her breasts cut off with pincers. She eventually died in prison during the reign of Decius.
Due to the way she was tortured, she is commonly depicted with her severed breasts on a plate, similar to how we often see St. Lucy (patron of eye diseases) holding her eyes (she was tortured by having her eyes gouged out). It comes as no surprise that St. Agatha is now invoked as the patron against breast cancer. (She’s also the patron of bellmakers because some misinterpreted artistic depictions of those breasts on the plate as bells.)
St. Stephen
St. Stephen is well known for being the first martyr in the history of Christianity. His death was recorded in the Acts of the Apostles. In the West, we celebrate his feast on the day after Christmas.
His story is also important because of the fact that the future Apostle to the Gentiles, St. Paul (known then as Saul of Tarsus), stood by and witnessed his death. The Book of Acts records Stephen’s speech to the Sanhedrin, prior to his stoning, in addition to his cry just prior to his death, “Look! I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing on the right hand of God!”
Since he died for the faith by stoning, St. Stephen is known as the patron saint against headaches, and he is commonly depicted with a stone atop his head.
Pope St. Clement I
There is little information available about Pope St. Clement, who headed the Church from 88-99 and whom we celebrate on his feast day of November 23.
History seems to indicate Clement was consecrated by St. Peter himself, and to this day we still have a genuine writing from Clement to the Church in Corinth.
Clement was banished from Rome during the reign of Emperor Trajan and sent off to work in a stone quarry, where he ended up converting a great number of fellow prisoners.
He was eventually martyred by being tied to an anchor and tossed from a ship into the Black Sea.
Thus, Pope St. Clement I is now known as the patron saint of mariners.
St. Lawrence
Lawrence of Rome lived from 225 to 258 and is celebrated on his feast day is 10 August.
Lawrence was one of the seven deacons of Rome under Pope Sixtus II. St. Lawrence was in charge of the alms collected and given to the poor and was at one point asked by the prefect of the area to turn over the treasures of the Church. Instead of bringing the alms that he had collected, he brought forth the poor themselves and boldly proclaimed that these people were truly the Church’s treasures.
Predictably, this led to St. Lawrence’s capture and eventual martyrdom.
Lawrence was sentenced to be grilled alive, which makes him the saint invoked by roasters, cooks, and chefs.
He’s also known as the patron saint of comedians, due to his well-known cheerful remark as he was being burned, “I’m well done on this side. Turn me over!”