Saint Saturnin of Toulouse ( la, Saturninus, oc, Sarnin, french: Saturnin, Sernin, ca, Serni, Sadurní, gl, Sadurninho and pt, Saturnino, Sadurninho, eu, Satordi, Saturdi, Zernin, and es, Saturnino, Serenín, Cernín) was one of the ''"
Apostles to the
Gauls
The Gauls ( la, Galli; grc, Γαλάται, ''Galátai'') were a group of Celtic peoples of mainland Europe in the Iron Age and the Roman period (roughly 5th century BC to 5th century AD). Their homeland was known as Gaul (''Gallia''). They s ...
"'' sent out (probably under the direction of
Pope Fabian
Pope Fabian ( la, Fabianus) was the bishop of Rome from 10 January 236 until his death on 20 January 250, succeeding Anterus. A dove is said to have descended on his head to mark him as the Holy Spirit's unexpected choice to become the next pope ...
, 236–250) during the consulate of
Decius
Gaius Messius Quintus Traianus Decius ( 201 ADJune 251 AD), sometimes translated as Trajan Decius or Decius, was the emperor of the Roman Empire from 249 to 251.
A distinguished politician during the reign of Philip the Arab, Decius was procla ...
and Gratus (250–251) to Christianise
Gaul
Gaul ( la, Gallia) was a region of Western Europe first described by the Romans. It was inhabited by Celtic and Aquitani tribes, encompassing present-day France, Belgium, Luxembourg, most of Switzerland, parts of Northern Italy (only during ...
after the persecutions under
Emperor Decius
Gaius Messius Quintus Traianus Decius ( 201 ADJune 251 AD), sometimes translated as Trajan Decius or Decius, was the emperor of the Roman Empire from 249 to 251.
A distinguished politician during the reign of Philip the Arab, Decius was procla ...
had all but dissolved the small
Christian
Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...
communities. St Fabian sent out seven bishops from
Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus (legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
to Gaul to preach the Gospel:
Saint Gatien to
Tours
Tours ( , ) is one of the largest cities in the region of Centre-Val de Loire, France. It is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Indre-et-Loire. The Communes of France, commune of Tours had 136,463 ...
,
Saint Trophimus
According to Catholic lore, Trophimus of Arles (french: Trophime) was the first bishop of Arles, in today's southern France.
History
It was an early tradition of the Catholic Church that under the co-Emperors Decius and Herennius Etruscus (251 ...
to
Arles
Arles (, , ; oc, label= Provençal, Arle ; Classical la, Arelate) is a coastal city and commune in the South of France, a subprefecture in the Bouches-du-Rhône department of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, in the former province of ...
,
Saint Paul
Paul; grc, Παῦλος, translit=Paulos; cop, ⲡⲁⲩⲗⲟⲥ; hbo, פאולוס השליח (previously called Saul of Tarsus;; ar, بولس الطرسوسي; grc, Σαῦλος Ταρσεύς, Saũlos Tarseús; tr, Tarsuslu Pavlus; ...
to
Narbonne
Narbonne (, also , ; oc, Narbona ; la, Narbo ; Late Latin:) is a commune in France, commune in Southern France in the Occitania (administrative region), Occitanie Regions of France, region. It lies from Paris in the Aude Departments of Franc ...
, Saint Saturnin to
Toulouse
Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the prefecture of the French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger region of Occitania. The city is on the banks of the River Garonne, from the Mediterranean Sea, from the Atlantic Ocean and from Par ...
,
Saint Denis to
Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...
,
Austromoine
Stremonius or Saint Austremonius or Saint Stramonius or Austromoine, the "apostle of Auvergne," was the first Bishop of Clermont. He is venerated as a saint in the Catholic Church.
Legend
During the consulship (in 250 AD) of the Emperor Decius ...
to
Clermont, and
Saint Martial
Saint Martial (3rd century), called "the Apostle of the Gauls" or "the Apostle of Aquitaine", was the first bishop of Limoges. His feast day is 30 June.
Life
There is no accurate information as to the origin, dates of birth and death, or the acts ...
to Limoges. His
feast day
The calendar of saints is the traditional Christian method of organizing a liturgical year by associating each day with one or more saints and referring to the day as the feast day or feast of said saint. The word "feast" in this context d ...
is 29 November.
Background
St Saturnin is styled the first
Bishop of Tolosa (Toulouse). The lost ''Acts of Saturninus'' were employed as historical sources by the chronicler
Gregory of Tours
Gregory of Tours (30 November 538 – 17 November 594 AD) was a Gallo-Roman historian and Bishop of Tours, which made him a leading prelate of the area that had been previously referred to as Gaul by the Romans. He was born Georgius Florenti ...
.
The martyrology gave a genealogy for Saturnin: the son of Aegeus, King of Achaea, by his wife Cassandra, who, herself, was the daughter of Ptolemy, King of the Ninevites. The ''Acts'' placed Saturninus in the 1st century, made him one of the 72 disciples of Christ, placed him at the
Last Supper
Image:The Last Supper - Leonardo Da Vinci - High Resolution 32x16.jpg, 400px, alt=''The Last Supper'' by Leonardo da Vinci - Clickable Image, Depictions of the Last Supper in Christian art have been undertaken by artistic masters for centuries, ...
. Legends associated with Saturninus state that after
Saint Peter
Saint Peter; he, שמעון בר יונה, Šimʿōn bar Yōnāh; ar, سِمعَان بُطرُس, translit=Simʿa̅n Buṭrus; grc-gre, Πέτρος, Petros; cop, Ⲡⲉⲧⲣⲟⲥ, Petros; lat, Petrus; ar, شمعون الصفـا, Sham'un ...
consecrated him a bishop, “he was given for his companion
Papulus
Saint Papulus (french: Papoul) was, according to Christian tradition, a priest who worked with Saturninus of Toulouse to evangelize southern Gaul. Papulus is considered an evangelist of the Lauragais. , later to become Saint Papulus the Martyr.” Legend states that besides Papulus, Saturninus also had
Saint Honestus
Saint Honestus ( es, San Honesto, french: Saint Honest) was, according to Christian tradition, a disciple of Saturninus of Toulouse and a native of Nîmes.
Saturninus and Honestus evangelized in Spain, and Honestus was martyred at Pampeluna during ...
as a disciple.
The detail from the ''Acts'' that is selected for remembering today describes his martyrdom: to reach the Christian church Saturninus had to pass before the capitol (not to be confused with the present ''
Capitole de Toulouse
300px, The Capitole back side
The Capitole de Toulouse ( oc, Capitòli de Tolosa, link=no; ), commonly known as the ''Capitole'', is the heart of the municipal administration of the French city of Toulouse and its city hall.
__NOTOC__
His ...
'' whose site was founded in the 12th century, the Roman Capitol of the city was towards the present ''Place Esquirol''), where there was an altar, and according to the ''Acts'', the pagan priests ascribed the silence of their oracles to the frequent presence of Saturninus. One day they seized him and on his unshakeable refusal to sacrifice to the images they condemned him to be tied by the feet to a bull which dragged him about the town until the rope broke.
[ (Tellingly, the identical fate was ascribed to his pupil ]Saint Fermin
Fermin (also Firmin, from Latin ''Firminus''; Spanish ''Fermín'') was a legendary holy man and martyr, traditionally venerated as the co-patron saint of Navarre, Spain. His death may be associated with either the Decian persecution (250) or Dio ...
whose site of martyrdom is at Pamplona
Pamplona (; eu, Iruña or ), historically also known as Pampeluna in English, is the capital city of the Chartered Community of Navarre, in Spain. It is also the third-largest city in the greater Basque cultural region.
Lying at near above ...
.)
The bull, it is said, finished at the place since named ''Matabiau,'' that is, ''matar'' ("the killing") and ''biau'' or ''bœuf'' ("bull"). An inversion of this martyrdom, the ''tauroctony,'' the "killing of the bull," is precisely the central rite of Mithraism, the most important icon in the mithraeum
A Mithraeum , sometimes spelled Mithreum and Mithraion ( grc, Μιθραίον), is a Mithraic temple, erected in classical antiquity by the worshippers of Mithras. Most Mithraea can be dated between 100 BC and 300 AD, mostly in the Roman Emp ...
, a depiction of Mithras in the act of killing a bull. The tauroctony was either painted or depicted in a sculptural relief, sometimes on the altar. Two Christian women (''puellae'' remembered as "les Puelles") piously gathered up the remains and buried them in a "deep ditch", that they might not be profaned by the pagans.[ It is not beyond possibility, in this part of Gaul, where even today the greatest bull among many in Toulouse is honored with the name "Le Grand Taur", that the deep ditch was in fact a mithraeum.
The site, said to be "where the bull stopped", is on the ''rue du Taur'' ("Street of the Bull"). The street with the ]Mithraic
Mithraism, also known as the Mithraic mysteries or the Cult of Mithras, was a Roman mystery religion centered on the god Mithras. Although inspired by Iranian worship of the Zoroastrian divinity (''yazata'') Mithra, the Roman Mithras is linke ...
name is one of the original Roman cross streets running straight from the Capitole now to the Romanesque basilica
In Ancient Roman architecture, a basilica is a large public building with multiple functions, typically built alongside the town's forum. The basilica was in the Latin West equivalent to a stoa in the Greek East. The building gave its name ...
honoring St. Saturnin ("St Sernin").
"Notre-Dame du Taur"
Saturnin's successors at Toulouse, Hilary (bishop 358 – 360) and Exuperius
Saint Exuperius (also Exsuperius) (french: Saint Exupéry, Saint Soupire) (died c. 410) was Bishop of Toulouse at the beginning of the 5th century.
Life
His place and date of birth are unknown. Upon succeeding Saint Sylvius as bishop of Toulous ...
(Exupère) (died ca. 410), gave him more honorable burial, once Christian rites were no longer illicit, by erecting a simple wooden oratory over the "Roman crypt" (as modern guides describe it) where he had been interred. The noteworthy 14th-century Gothic church that eventually replaced earlier buildings is '' Notre-Dame du Taur'' ("Our Lady of the Bull").
At the end of the century, the press of pilgrims to the cramped site encouraged Bishop Silvius (360–400) to build a larger church, finished by his successor Exuperius (Exupère) (400 – ?) in 402. The body of the saint was translated to the new church, which now forms the crypt of the present Romanesque basilica, one of the buildings that defines the Romanesque style in southern France. The basilica is not the cathedral
A cathedral is a church that contains the '' cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denomination ...
, which is dedicated to Saint Stephen. The reburial place was at the crossing, before the altar, where the saint's relics remained until 1284.
At the same time the bishop took the official ''Acts'' of Saturnin, the ''Passio antiqua,'' and rewrote them as a panegyric that took the place of the originals embellishing them with colorful details, and with pious legends linking Saturnin to the founding of the churches of Eauze
Eauze (; Gascon: ''Eusa'') is a commune in the Gers department in southwestern France.
History
Located in the heart of south-west France, 130 kilometers from the Spanish border, Eauze is originally a proto-Basque city that became Roman. It wa ...
, Auch
Auch (; oc, label= Gascon, Aush ) is a commune in southwestern France. Located in the region of Occitanie, it is the capital of the Gers department. Auch is the historical capital of Gascony.
Geography
Localization
Hydrography
The Riv ...
, Pamplona, and Amiens. Even so, they are among the oldest documents of the Gallican Church.
Places named after him
* numerous places in France named Saint-Saturnin
* numerous places in France named Saint-Sernin
* Burgo de San Cernín, Navarre
Navarre (; es, Navarra ; eu, Nafarroa ), officially the Chartered Community of Navarre ( es, Comunidad Foral de Navarra, links=no ; eu, Nafarroako Foru Komunitatea, links=no ), is a foral autonomous community and province in northern Spain, ...
, Spain. It was the Languedocian borough of Pamplona
Pamplona (; eu, Iruña or ), historically also known as Pampeluna in English, is the capital city of the Chartered Community of Navarre, in Spain. It is also the third-largest city in the greater Basque cultural region.
Lying at near above ...
.
* In Catalonia, Spain.
** Sant Sadurní d'Anoia
Sant Sadurní d'Anoia is a municipality in the ''comarca'' of the Alt Penedès in Catalonia, Spain; and the centre of production of a sparkling wine known as '' cava''. It is situated in the north-east of the Penedès Depression at the confluen ...
** Sant Sadurní d'Osormort
Sant Sadurní d'Osormort is a municipality in the ''comarca'' of Osona in
Catalonia
Catalonia (; ca, Catalunya ; Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha'' ; es, Cataluña ) is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a '' nationality'' by ...
** Sant Sadurní de l'Heura
* In Asturias
Asturias (, ; ast, Asturies ), officially the Principality of Asturias ( es, Principado de Asturias; ast, Principáu d'Asturies; Galician-Asturian: ''Principao d'Asturias''), is an autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in nor ...
, Spain.
** San Saturnino
* In Portugal
** São Saturnino, Fronteira
* In Wales
** Llansadwrn, Anglesey
Llansadwrn (; ; ) is a small village in the community of Cwm Cadnant in south-east Anglesey, in north-west Wales. It lies between Menai Bridge, Pentraeth and Beaumaris. It is named after the church, founded in the 6th century by Saint Saturnin ...
See also
* Saint Saturnin, patron saint archive
References
Relevant literature
* Oškerová, Martina. 2014. "Zdeněk Jirotka: Saturnin Analysis of English translation by Mark Corner." Thesis, Masaryk University.
* Sehnalová, Kamila. 2013. "Comparative Analysis of Czech, English and German Proverbs in Jirotka's Saturnin." Thesis, Charles University.
External links
The Golden Legend: ''The Life of Saint Saturnine''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saturnin
250s deaths
3rd-century bishops in Gaul
Bishops of Toulouse
History of Toulouse
3rd-century Christian saints
Gallo-Roman saints
Year of birth unknown
Burials at the Basilica of St. Sernin
Greek Christian missionaries
Christian missionaries in France
Greek emigrants to France
People from Patras
3rd-century Christian martyrs