Bound To A Bull, Saturninus Was Dragged To Death
Saturninus dragged to his death behind a bull.
SATURNINUS is one of the early Christians we wish we knew more about. Although we have many legends, facts themselves are scarce. We know that he was martyred for his faith, and how he died, but not much more.
Bishop Fabian of Rome sent Saturninus to Toulouse in Gaul (France) as a missionary around 250. Whether or not there were already Christians in the city is not known, neither do the earliest records show how he converted others. Later accounts claim that by praying he healed a woman of an advanced case of leprosy and healed many other sick people, attracting followers. At any rate, by the time of his martyrdom, he had a small congregation of converts.
To reach his church, he had to pass by the Capitol, which was the location of Toulouse’s leading pagan temple. According to early accounts, the pagan idols became silent when Saturninus passed by. More likely, converts to Christianity had ceased patronizing the temple and its priests were angry at their loss of trade and fearful of losing even more.
On this day 29 November 257, temple leaders seized and bound Saturninus as he passed by the Capitol. He was given an ultimatum: Worship the idols or die.
Saturninus refused to worship. A later hagiography quotes him as saying, “I adore only one God and to him I am ready to offer a sacrifice of praise. Your gods are devils and are more delighted with the sacrifice of your souls than with those of your bullocks.” He then asked why he should worship a deity which trembles and falls silent when a Christian passes by?
Furious that Saturninus would not worship their gods, the pagans took him to a high point and tied him to a bull. When the bull was set loose it ran madly down the steps, dragging the bishop behind so that his brains were dashed out. The terrified beast continued to run through the town, dragging the body behind it until the ropes broke.
Two faithful women gathered the broken body and buried it in a deep ditch. There it rested until Bishops Hilary and Exuperius dug up the remains and gave them a more honorable burial in the following century. Saturninus was not forgotten. Within two centuries of his death, Christians built a church at the location where the ropes had broken. This is known as “The Church of the Taur,” that is, “The Church of the Bull.” And the date of this event, the 29th of November, has long been observed as the feast day of the saint.
—Dan Graves
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For another account of martyrdom in Gaul (France), read our pocket classic Persecution & Martyrdoms of Lyons in 177 A.D.
