The Presbyters Project

I.30

Saturninus vero, iam securos de martyrio, dicit duobus presbiteris suis: "Ecce ego iam immolor et tempus meae resolutiones instat. Rogo, ut, usque dum debetum finem impleam, a vobis paenitus non relinquar". Cumque conpraehensus ad Capitulium duceretur, relictus ab his, solus adtrahitur. Igitur cum se ab illis cerneret derelictum, orasse fertur: "Domine Iesu Christe, exaudi me de caelo sancto tuo, ut numquam haec eclesia de his civibus mereatur habere ponteficem in sempiternum". Quod usque nunc in ipsa civitate ita evenisse cognovimus.

(ed. Krusch 1937: 23)

I.30

When he saw that he was about to be martyred, Saturninus said to two of his presbyters: "Now I am about to be sacrificed and the moment of my immolation is at hand. Stand by me, I beg you, until I meet my end". He was seized and led off to the Capitol, but he was dragged there alone, for they deserted him. When he saw that they had run away, he is said to have prayed in the following words: "Lord Jesus Christ, hear me from where you are in heaven: may this church never to the end of time have a bishop chosen from its own citizens". We know that this has never happened in the city down to our own days.

(trans.Thorpe 1974: 87, slightly altered by J. Szafranowski)

Discussion:

As Saturninus is said to be appointed bishop in 250, he was probably martyred during the persecutions of Emperor Valerianus between 257 and 260.

Place of event:

Region

Gaul

City

Toulouse

About the source:

Author: Gregory of Tours
Title: The History of the Franks, Gregorii episcopi Turonensis historiarum libri X, Histories
Origin: Tours (Gaul)
Denomination: Catholic/Nicene/Chalcedonian

Gregory of Tours (Gaul) wrote his ten books of Histories (known commonly in English as the History of the Franks) during his episcopal reign in Tours between 573 and 594. The books vary in scope and length. The first book covers 5,596 years from the creation of the world to AD 397, that is the death of Saint Martin of Tours, Gregory`s predecessor in bishopric. The second book deals with the history of Gaul between 397 and 511, the latter being the year of death of King Clovis I. The third and fourth books cover the next 64 years till the death of Austrasian King Sigibert II in 575. Finally, the following six books describe exclusively the sixteen years from 575 to 591. Probably in 594, Gregory added the list of bishops of Tours in the end of the Histories, with brief accounts of their actions.

Edition:

B. Krusch ed., Gregorii Episcopi Turonensis Historiarum Libri X [in:] Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Scriptores rerum Merovingiciarum 1.1, Hannover 1884 (repr. 1951): 1-537.

Translation:

Gregory of Tours, The History of the Franks, trans. L. Thorpe, London 1974.

Categories:

Described by a title - Presbyter/πρεσβύτερος

Specific number of presbyters from the same church

Conflict

Relation with - Bishop/Monastic superior

Further ecclesiastical career - None

Episcopal ambitions

Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL: J. Szafranowski, Presbyters in the Late Antique West, ER1670, http://www.presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=1670