San Sebastiano de Via Papae

[1] In regard to that tradition's historical reliability, the archaeologist Mariano Armellini is skeptical, but nevertheless deems it certain that the antiquity of the church means that it references some definite memory of the martyr.

[1] For that reason, the church is called San Sebastiano in piazza di Siena in a catalog dating from the pontificate of Pope Pius V (1566–1572).

[2] In the thirteenth century, however, there arose a dispute over the church between the priests of San Lorenzo in Damaso and those of Sant'Eustachio, the resolution of which is noted in a bull of Pope Gregory IX dated April 9, 1231.

[1][4] In the late fifteenth century, the church gained notoriety for an episode recorded in the diaries of Stefano Infessura (c. 1435 – c. 1500), which recounts how supporters of the Colonna and Della Valle families came to blows on the church's porch:[1] Dell'anno Domini 1482 a dì 4 d'aprile lo papa fece gittare in terra le case di misser Iorio Santa Croce et del fratello; et questo fece perchè la notte innanti lo ditto missor Iorio, con molti compagni armati et bene in ponto, assaltaro casa di missore Liello et di Iacovo della Valle; et poseronsi nello porticale di Santo Sebastiano, et lì combattendo contra ad quelli della Valle, uccisero lo signore Ieronimo Colonna, figlio naturale tantum dello prefetto della Colonna ...[5] In the year of the Lord 1482 on the fourth day of April, the Pope razed to the ground the homes of Iorio Santa Croce and his brother; and this he did because the night before, the same Iorio, with many companions (armed, and very much so), assaulted the home of Liello and Giacomo della Valle; and positioning themselves in the portico of San Sebastiano, and fighting there against those who belonged to della Valle, they killed Geronimo Colonna, the full natural son of the prefect of the Colonnas.

[1] As a result, there is a side chapel in Sant'Andrea della Valle in honor of Sebastian and a statue of him on its facade, both of which serve to perpetuate the memory of the demolished church.

Salvaging the Body of Saint Sebastian ( Altdorfer , 1509–1516). There is a tradition that the church of San Sebastian de Via Papae stood on the spot where the martyr's body was recovered.