Saint Saturninus of Toulouse

Saturninus was the first bishop of Toulouse and died around 257. His story comes to us from the *Passio Saturnini*, by an anonymous chronicler. The story is brutal, and it left its mark on the city’s street names. Saturninus had to pass every day in front of the Capitol of Toulouse, where sacrifices were performed; his passing, the pagan priests said, struck the oracles dumb. One day they seized him and ordered him to sacrifice to a bull that was ready for the altar. He refused. They tied him by the feet to that bull, which was driven down the steps: his body was dragged through the streets until the rope broke. The street where it happened is still called Rue du Taur, the street of the bull, and at the spot where his body came to rest rose the basilica of Saint-Sernin, the largest Romanesque church in Europe and a stop on the Camino de Santiago. His cult was widespread in France and northern Spain — he’s the patron saint of Pamplona — and in Spain he is considered the protector of bullfights, because of the way he died. In Milan he was venerated for centuries, until in the eighteenth century it became clear that the relics the Lombards had brought there belonged to another Saturninus, the one from Cagliari. If your name is Saturninus, today is your name day.