Saint of the Day – 29 November – Saint Saturninus of Toulouse (Died c257) Bishop Martyr. The 1st Bishop of Touylouse, France, Born in Patras, Greece and died by being cast from a high building. Patronage – of Toulouse. Also known as – Cernín, Sadurní, Sadurninho, Sarnin, Satordi, Saturdi, Saturnin, Saturnino, Serenín, Sernin, Zernin. Additional Memorial – 30 October (translation of Relics).
The Roman Martyrology reads today: “At Toulouse, in the time of Decius, the holy Bishop Saturninus, who was confined by the pagans in the capitol of that City and, from the highest part of the building, precipitated down the stairs. By which fall, having his head crushed, his brains dashed and his whole boty mangled, he rendered his worthy soul to our Lord.”
Saturninus was one of the “Apostles to the Gauls” and was sent to Toulouse by Pope Fabian. The Pope sent seven Bishops from Rome to Gaul, to preach the Gospel – St Gatien to Tours, St Trophimus to Arles, St Paul to Narbonne, St Saturninus to Toulouse, St Denis to Paris, St Austromoine to Clermont and St.Martial to Limoges.
Saturninus was the 1st Bishop of Toulouse. St Gregory of Tours chronicled his work as historical records. The Martyrology gave a genealogy for Saturninus; the son of Aegeus, King of Achaea, by his wife Cassandra, who herself, was the daughter of Ptolemy, King of the Ninevites.
Legend associated with Saturninus state, “He was given for his companion Papulus, later to become St Papulus the Martyr,” It also states that besides Papulus, he also had St Honestus (yesterday’s Saint of the Day) as a Disciple, whom he later sent off to evangelise in Spain..
That which we remember today, describes his Martyrdom which differs from that which is stated in the Roman Martyrology (see above 1916). To reach the Christian Church, Saturninus had to pass before the governing capital building of Toulouse, 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. Two Christian women piously gathered up the remains and buried them in a deep ditch to prevent porofanation by the pagans.
A Church called the Taur (bull) was built where the bull stopped his rampage. St Saturninus’ Relics are now enshrined at the Toulouse Basilica, seemingly having survived the Revolution.
AnaStpaul 