All language subtitles for MARTIN SCORSESE - Present The Saints - 3 - Documentary [2025]

♪♪

-These are stories
of the saints.

♪♪

♪♪

Saint sebastian lived
nearly two thousand years ago.

That was still the very early
days of christianity.

It was long before
the church developed

Any kind of official procedures
for canonization.

So, the stories of the early
saints were spread

From person to person,

And they gradually became
legend --

That is the realm
where historical truth

Gives way
to a spiritual truth.

♪♪

Sebastian is just one
among many christian martyrs,

Before and after his death.

But he's lived on
as a kind of prototype,

A supreme example of absolute
and undying faith.

We know that he lived

Near the end
of the third century a.D.

It's a period of great
instability in the empire.

We know that he was a commander
in the roman praetorian guard,

Which was a cohort
of elite soldiers charged

With protecting the divinely
sanctioned emperor, carinus.

And we know
that in the heat of battle,

Sebastian
and his fellow praetorians

Turned on the emperor,

The latest in a long line
of unlucky rulers

Who had seized the throne...

-(grunts)

-...And been quickly...

Removed.

♪♪

They were led by carinus'
rival from the east, diocletian.

Diocletian took control
of the empire

As it was coming apart
at the seams,

Splitting between east and west.

He created a vast bureaucracy

Which allowed him
to consolidate his power.

He wanted to bring back the
glory days of the pax romana --

To make rome great again.

-A hierarchy of worship,
of our venerable roman deities.

This is our return to
the official religion of rome.

-What about the deities of gaul?
Or in the north?

And what about all
the christians?

There are too many now.

-It is time to purify ourselves.

Simplify and purify.

-Dominu--
-hold your tongue

Until I've finished!

If we're to uphold
our responsibility as the rulers

Over this great dominion,

Which is most
of the known world...

Then we must re-establish
order.

Why would every man
in this chamber clamber

To retrieve a trinket
from the floor?

I'll tell you why.

Because this trinket
is our world.

And it rests in my hands.

I love rome.

I love every cobblestone
and every vista.

2,000 years from now,

When rome has taken
on a grandeur

We can not even attempt
to imagine,

I will sit at the banquet
of the gods

And smile with the certainty
that I was one of those

Who maintained its might
and its splendor.

-I dedicate my life to you,
my emperor, here before you!

-Here is another true roman.

Can I say the same
for the rest of you?

-Under previous rulers,

Christianity had been tolerated
in the empire,

But diocletian reverted
to the old ways --

He ruled by divine right
of the roman gods

Making anyone who refused
to worship them

A threat to his power.

-(whips crack)
-(men scream)

That was an act punishable
by torture.

-I was four
when the young dominus gordian

Visited my homeland.

What days those were...

My father was called upon
to prepare the welcoming scroll

To be read by the governor,

And it was engraved
on a marker that still stands.

I visited it recently.
It's in fine shape.

Do you know the illyrian coast?

-I do, dominus.

-The roman vineyards
are superior, there's no doubt,

But I miss the illyrian wines
when I'm away from home.

When gordian came,
they, uh, made the new wines.

Casks of it.

Do you like new wines,
or aged wines?

-Aged in gallic caves, dominus.

-Ahh, yes.
-(chuckles)

-Gaul.

The wines are exceptional.

One day we'll bring casks
from gaul again.

-Yes, dominus.

-You know,
the world is our responsibility.

We can enjoy our wines
and our feasts,

But only if we maintain
our discipline

And hold the ancient order.

I see that clearly.

Otherwise, the wines will
rule us and blunt our minds.

-(laughs)

-These debates
about the christians...

The word that always arises
is tolerance.

And if it were a simple matter
of tolerance,

There would be no need
for all the florid rhetoric

In the senate.

But tolerance does not hold
dominions together.

-Hmm.
-But without our gods,

Who are we?

I'm not making rhetoric,
sebastian.

I'm asking you.

-Without our venerable gods
we are nothing

But blind men chasing
our own shadows, dominus.

-I see something in you,
sebastian.

You are a defender of the state.

-Thank you, dominus.

♪♪

♪♪

-The threat of torture was
always there for the christians.

They couldn't gather to worship
in the home of their pope,

Caius.

So they gathered in secret.

-Salud.
-Sebastian,

We rounded up
a group of christians

At the old macellum magnum.

Now we know their sign.
-What sign?

-It's a fish.
-A fish?

-Yeah.

Marcus and marcellianus
were among them.

-Tranquillinus' sons.
-That's correct.

-Where are they?
-Nicostratus' villa.

-Mmm. Thank you.

♪♪

-If it were up to me alone,

You'd both be quartered
and thrown into the sewers.

But you're being allowed to make
a small sacrifice to the gods,

And after that,
you'll be free to leave.

-You will never get us
to renounce our faith.

-Well, that's good.

Because then
I will attend to you personally.

You thought I was joking,
didn't you?

-No, I didn't.

You can destroy
our bodies easily.

But not our spirit.

-I see...

So this means nothing to you.

Your faith is that great?

-You will pay for your sins.

-Will I? (cackles)

-I can see from your face

That you're paying for them
already.

-Well...

I do have another weapon.

And yes, I think I'll get it.

(snaps fingers)

Did you know
that your sons were christians?

-(grunts) wait. Stop.

-I see that you did not.

-You've both brought shame on us
and all our ancestors!

Shame!

-Dear god in heaven,
I pray...

-Stop with your prayer!

-We are in chains
and you talk to us in that tone?

-Your sons have been given
a very simple choice.

-What choice?
-Our choice is to be tortured

Or make a sacrifice to the gods

So that we can walk away alive.

-Yes, and your arrest
and imprisonment here

Will be stricken
from the record.

By imperial edict.

-How dare you refuse this offer?

You ungrateful little whores!

-I'll make the sacrifice!
-No, you won't!

We swore to each other!

-Look, they want nothing
from you at all, it's nothing...

It's everything!

-Praetor!
Dear sebastian!!

You must explain to these brats
that they have no choice,

They must make the sacrifice
to the gods!

-I can not and I will not.

And neither will you!

I believe in the one true god
and his only begotten son!

-(scoffs) you foolish boy!

-I want to speak to them alone.

-Thank you.

Thank you.

-As you say, praetor.

-(clears throat)

-You're here to save us?

-No, I'm here to help you
save yourselves.

-How can we save ourselves?

-Don't you know
what he's telling us?

-Brother, don't you believe?
-I do.

-Then you must know that we
only answer to the one true god,

Not to our ancestors,
not to our elders,

Not to our father,
and not to our mother --

To god
and only god.

That is the only way
of salvation.

-Yes, but -- but --
-what?

-How can we dishonor our father?

How can we?
-How can you deny your god?

His way is the only way.

-What will they do to us?

-They can't touch your soul.

(knife unsheathes)

♪♪

♪♪

-You have nothing
to fear from me.

This weapon is not
going to leave its sheath.

-If the sword is not going
to leave its sheath,

Then why don't you lay it down?

-Because if I do, you're going
to kill me instantly

Then you're going to force
marcellianus

To renounce his faith.

And then you're going
to spread the word

And cause the suffering
of many more christians,

Just to gain favor
with diocletian.

-I could scream right now.
You'd be arrested.

-Perhaps.

But I will promise you this --

I will stand here
as long as it takes.

-As long as what takes?

-The struggle.

Your struggle.

-What struggle?

-For your soul.

(sword unsheathes)

Brother...

...The struggle will be long...

(knife clangs)

...But I will be here
the whole way.

♪♪

♪♪

-(sobbing)

♪♪

(breathes deeply)

-(quietly) dear god...

-It was impossible, unthinkable.

Nicostratus, the terror
of all roman christians,

Had converted to christianity...

...And freed
all of his prisoners...

...And he had his
entire household baptized.

♪♪

-(speaking in local dialect)

♪♪

♪♪

-Sebastian even converted
chromatius, who was the prefect,

Or the sheriff, of rome.

Chromatius resigned his post,

And he freed and converted
all 6,400 of his slaves.

Dramatic mass conversions
were happening at a rapid rate,

And sebastian was
at the secret heart of it all.

-(whip cracks)
-(man screams)

And he was going
to be unmasked --

It was inevitable.

-I love the empire.

-Say it, my son.

-I feel...

I feel like I'm betraying
my homeland.

-Of course you do.

How could you not?

You were trained to defend
and uphold

The glory and honor
of the empire.

-It was my whole life!

-Yes, it was.

Until now.

Now, your life has
another meaning.

-I know.
-Everything changes.

And in order for rome to live,
rome must change...

And allow people
to live with a freedom

That isn't allowed by the empire
but given by god.

The only way is the way of love.

And the way of rome
must be the way of love.

-We must bring as many people
as possible to the south.

The time has come.

-Many would rather stay here
and die for the faith.

-The people must survive in
order for the faith to flourish.

That is the most important
thing now.

This is what we must accomplish.

-Sebastian, you must remember,
doubt is crucial to faith.

Real faith.

Otherwise, it's just more blind
obedience.

-Ah, I see...

-In the name of the father,
the son, and the holy ghost.

I appoint you defender
of the faith.

-(exhales)

(inhales deeply)

Thank you.

♪♪

-After the exodus to the south,

Many of the leaders
of the christian movement

Were rooted out.

(crow cawing)

Nicostratus was killed.

And marcellus and marcellanius
were crucified.

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

-You've found me.

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

(grunts)

-Yes. Now I see it.

I thought you were like
the stoics.

But it really was a belief
in your god.

-Not just my god,
yours as well.

Everyone.

-Sebastian...

If it were anyone else,

To me, you were the true heart
of rome, the everlasting empire.

-Only everlasting if rome
chooses the way of love.

-I haven't asked you to speak.

-I speak in the name
of the one true god.

He delivers us
from evil and temptation,

And he lives in our souls.

-Shoot him full of arrows
so that I can see

Right through him.

-Dominus! Dominus!

You must let christian belief
flourish in rome.

You must let men find their way
to salvation,

To immortality!

To immortality!

To immortality!

To immortality!

Dear god in heaven...

(grunting)

(horse shoes clacking)

♪♪

-Goodbye, sebastian.

-(spits)

-(spits)

♪♪

-(groans weakly)

♪♪

♪♪

-Sebastian was found
by a woman named irene

Who had come to mourn his death.

-(sobbing)

♪♪

♪♪

-(sebastian gasping)

-(gasps in disbelief)

♪♪

♪♪

-But then, over many months,
she nursed him back to health.

-We must move you to the south.

No one will find you there.

-No.

I want to speak
to diocletian.

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

-Dominus.

-Get away.

-It's sebastian.

-Sebastian is dead.

-I've risen.

To continue our talk
about illyrian wines.

-You dishonor rome,
by you wearing that uniform now!

-You dishonor rome
with your pagan gods

And your two-faced treachery
that's led our dominus

Onto the wrong path!

-You've risen from your deathbed

And hobbled all the way here
to tell me your dominus,

Who you once claimed
to love so dearly,

Who you kicked away
like an old whore,

You are saying to me that I have
been led on the wrong path?!

For that you'll die twice more!

-I've come to ask you again
to let christianity flourish

In rome
and throughout the empire.

You must see
this is the only way.

It is the way of god.
It is the way of the future.

I beg you to listen to me!

-Jupiter and all the gods
damn you and all your ancestors!

-Those pagan gods and
the priests who venerate them

Are making a mockery
out of you and rome.

-Who is going to seal
this vermin's mouth forever?!

-And for your soul, dominus.

For your salvation.

You once told me
you saw something in me.

How do you know this is not it?

-Take this man and beat him
into jelly and finish it!

♪♪

♪♪

-(grunting)

-(all grunting)

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

-His body was dumped
in a secret place.

But sebastian came
to a fellow christian in a dream

And he revealed the location.

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

-(sobbing)

♪♪

-Sebastian became a saint before
the process was standardized

And codified.

It happened
in those early days

By word of mouth.

♪♪

And it became legend.

♪♪

-By the sun,

If they have not sacrificed
to the sun god

According to the ancient rite,

And have not obeyed
the warnings...

...I will lash them
with whips of scorpions

And destroy them
with exquisite torments.

-In the year 313 a.D.,
constantine I took the throne.

♪♪

♪♪

-I believe in one god,

The father almighty,

Maker of heaven and earth,

Of all things visible
and invisible.

I believe in one
lord jesus christ,

The only begotten son of god,

Born of the father
before all ages.

God from god,

Light from light,

True god from true god.

Begotten, not made.

Consubstantial with...

-Constantine officially ended
the persecution of christians,

And he ushered in
the period

Known as the peace
of the church.

Before the century had ended,

Christianity was made
the official religion of rome.

♪♪

♪♪

In terms of saint sebastian,

Here we're dealing
with something

That's really close to a legend
in a way, a folk tale.

And he became, what,
the first...

Is he considered
the first martyr?

-This first martyr is stephen,
actually.

-Stephen. Yeah.
-Saint stephen, yeah.

But he's one of the early
roman martyrs.

And, you know,
as you're saying,

The further we go back
in church history,

When you have early roman
martyrs, saints of antiquity,

The martyrs of antiquity,
it's not surprising

That legends
would kind of surround them.

-Sebastian is probably a simple
man, but with great inwardness.

His relationship to god and
relationship to christian faith,

It's not just hidden.

And that's an important part,
that it's hidden,

But it's manifestly
not for show.

It's something that's going on
in his inner life

That marks it off
really strongly

Against the public religion
of the period, I think.

-Yes.
-He's navigating between

His loyalty to the state,

Which is important back then,
especially for praetorian guard,

And his loyalty to god.

So, what's your ultimate
loyalty?

And for sebastian, it's god.

-The jesuits in japan, too.

Everything being hidden.

-I keep coming back
to his simplicity.

His purity is,
he's inviolable in a way.

To me, our depiction
of it here

Takes me back
to early christianity

Where it wasn't all
about books and doctrine.

This religion was based
on custom,

Stories that were told, holy
people that were remembered,

Stuff that was passed on.

And so the story of sebastian
helps take us back

Before the bible
was consolidated

And doctrine was developed.

-And it's amazing we have
these stories at all.

-Yeah.
-So for some people who say,

"well, there's all these legends
that accrue",

We have them,
we have these stories going back

To the earliest days
of the church

Which, to me, is remarkable.

-Yeah.
-Sebastian's focus is on love.

The religion of the future
is christianity

Because christianity is,
for him, a religion of love.

Philip larkin, the poet,
who is a deeply cynical writer,

Said, "what will remain of us
is love."

And in some respects,

Sebastian really got
to the heart of the matter.

-"what survives of us is love,"
is the larkin line.

-That's why we're
still talking about him,

Because he cut through the
bullshit and figured that out.

-Yeah.

-I love what paul just said
about sebastian

Was really focused on love,
because, you know, isn't that

The one...That's the one
commandment, isn't it?

We're called to hate
a certain group

Because they're not like us.

And yet,
your love or care for a person

Who's a member of that group
can make you tolerant

In a way
you wouldn't normally be.

I'm speaking about myself, too.

-Well, I think also
that's the appeal of the saints,

That people see themselves
in their lives

And that they can identify
a part of the saint's life

That means something to them.

And I think that's so beautiful.

I think there's a saint
for everyone, right?

-They're all for all of us.
-They are.

But I think there's a way

That certain people gravitate
towards certain saints,

Which I think is very beautiful.

I always say, my line is that
you gravitate towards the saint

Because the saint is already
praying for you in heaven.

-Ah, I feel so much better
today, jim.

-I'm glad.
-Yeah, I know. I need some help.

-We all do. The saints also --
two roles for the saints,

Traditionally in the catholic
church, patrons and companions.

So the patron is the one
who prays for us

From their post in heaven,
but the companion is the one

Who is kind of our example,
really,

Who shows us the way
to live the christian life.

So there's two wonderful ways
of relating to the saints.

-We haven't spoken
about the miraculous nature

Of his being shot with arrows

And somehow recovering
from that.

-I mean, that does happen.

People get shot in the head
and live. I mean, really.

What's fascinating
that wherever the arrows hit,

It missed the main arteries.

It missed everything,
and he was taken.

-It just so happened.

-It also raises the issue
of like maybe...

Mm, could be...

Maybe one or two of these guys
wanted it to miss.

-I love that, martin.
-You know what I'm saying?

-Maybe one or two of these guys
wanted it to miss.

-They knew him.
They all liked each other.

-That's crazy.
-That's so funny.

I think of that early time,

Not having the apparatus
of the church, as being,

In some ways, you're closer
to jesus or something.

But you're right.
You know, I can go to mass.

I can go speak to my confessor.

I can pray.
There's spiritual groups.

-Without being worried
about being killed.

-Yes.
-To be able to do the things

That they did under the threat
of death is incredible.

-The purity was there.

They knew this was
the revelation.

This was the great change
for humanity to survive,

You know, and to evolve.

-So this guard has a vision
of the future

Of that whole part of the world
that eludes diocletian.

He's looking forward and saying,
"christianity must flourish."

-But diocletian has got
an empire to run.

He's got to make sure
that we got to get back to...

Let's get to our roots.
Who were we?

That's who we have to --
that's what we have to do here.

-It reminds me of that line in
the leopard by lampedusa.

You know, in order to stay
the same, we've got to change.

-That's right.
-And on some level,

That's what
sebastian's getting at.

-Yes.
-If we want to carry

Romanitas to the next place,

It's got to be founded
on this religion of love

Instead of a religion
of temple worship.

-Exactly. And it does change.

And it remains the same
that way.

The empire changes.

-A generation and a half later,
with constantine.

I don't characteristically think
of christianity

As the religion of the future.

And that's the way it's
represented in this episode.

In other words, I was jarred
out of my conventional way

Of thinking by that aspect.

-I think it still is
because it will evolve more.

-I feel the heavy weight
of the history

Of christianity in the church.

And this story just goes
somewhere very different.

-Yeah.

We have to understand, too,
the institution of the church,

I must say,
is also greatly man-made,

So it's subject to our faults.

-It's not about temporal power.

It is the hope of the future,
right,

That the church
is always looking ahead.

And I think --
I always think of the line of,

"put not your trust in princes,"
from the psalms.

That sebastian knew that,
that it's about trusting god.

-How does one make
this transition

Into this hopefully beautiful
unknown future?

-Well, as pope francis says,
partly through the arts,

Partly through making films
and television shows

About the saints.

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪