St. Saturninus of Toulouse

St. Saturninus of Toulouse (died c. 257), known in French as Saturnin or Sernin, was, according to ancient tradition, one of the missionary bishops sent from Rome to evangelize Gaul in the third century. He became the first bishop of Toulouse, where he preached the Gospel, made converts, and built a small church, his daily path to worship taking him past a pagan temple.

His famous martyrdom, recorded in an early and reliable account, came when the pagan priests, blaming the silence of their oracles on his presence, seized him as he passed and demanded that he sacrifice to their gods. When he refused, professing that he knew only the one true God, they bound him to a wild bull that was driven down the temple steps, dragging and killing him. A great basilica, Saint-Sernin, one of the largest Romanesque churches in Europe, was later raised over his tomb at Toulouse, and he is venerated as the apostle and patron of that city.