Saint Saturninus of Toulouse

Saint Saturninus was the first bishop of Toulouse and a martyr of the middle of the third century. In France he is also known by the name Sernin. The Church commemorates him on November 29.

Nothing certain is known about his origins or his earlier life. The oldest source is an account of his martyrdom written in Toulouse at the beginning of the fifth century, more than a hundred and fifty years after his death. In the sixth century it was used by Saint Gregory of Tours, who counts Saturninus among seven bishops sent to Gaul in the time of the emperor Decius. According to the account of the martyrdom, during the consulship of Decius and Gratus, that is, in the year 250, Toulouse had in Saturninus its first bishop, and Christians in the city were still few.

The Roman Martyrology speaks of his death briefly and with the reservation that this is what is reported: in the time of Decius the pagans seized the bishop at the Capitol of Toulouse, beside the city’s main temple, and threw him down the steps from the very top. With his head crushed and his body torn, he gave his soul back to Christ. This happened about the year 250; the exact date cannot be established.

The account of the martyrdom gives more details, which have entered tradition. On his way to the small church the bishop often passed by the Capitol, and the pagan priests decided that it was because of him that the oracles had fallen silent. One day, when a crowd had gathered to sacrifice a bull, someone recognized Saturninus. He was seized, and the priest and two deacons who were with him fled. Saturninus refused to sacrifice to the idols and declared that he knew only one God, the true one. He was then tied by the feet to the bull, and the animal was driven down from the Capitol. The bishop died at the very beginning of that descent, and the bull dragged his body until the rope broke.

According to the same account, two women buried the body in a wooden coffin, deep in the ground, for fear that it would be desecrated. In the fourth century Bishop Hilary built a brick vault and a small wooden chapel over the grave. Bishop Silvius began to build a grander basilica, and his successor, Saint Exuperius, completed it at the beginning of the fifth century and transferred the relics to it.

On that site there stands today the Romanesque Basilica of Saint-Sernin, which Pope Urban II consecrated on May 24, 1096. The saint’s relics rest in it, and in the Middle Ages it was one of the important destinations of pilgrims, also on the road to Santiago de Compostela. Tradition links the name of the church of Notre-Dame du Taur in Toulouse with the bull of the martyrdom account. Many churches and towns in France and Spain bear the name of Saturninus.

Saturninus has been venerated as a saint since antiquity, long before the process of canonization came into being; his commemoration on November 29 was already entered in the Hieronymian Martyrology. Later legends made him a disciple of Saint Peter and linked him with the beginnings of the Church in Pamplona and in other cities, but they have no support in the sources.