The Church of St. Sebastian was built in 1653 thanks to the offerings of the people of Ozieri, as an act of thanksgiving to the saint for delivering the city from the plague of 1652. A plaque inside bears the Latin inscription, “Factum fuit anno pestis MDCLIII” (“It was built in the year of the plague 1653”).
According to tradition, during a procession with the picture of St. Sebastian, Canon Cau noticed profuse oozing from the saint’s face, neck and chest. A few days later, the plague disappeared from Ozieri, while it continued to affect neighboring towns. This event strengthened popular devotion and the cult of the saint in the city.
The church was historically linked to farm workers, nicknamed “black feet.” The altar houses a statue of St. Sebastian surrounded by a modern fresco, painted in 1979, symbolically depicting the enemies and friends of the Church: on the right, Roman militiamen, SS soldiers and a Brigatist; on the left, Grixoni Tola (who during the plague of the 1600s organized relief for the sick), a little girl and Don Luigi Giussani, founder of Communion and Liberation.
