Basilica of St. Sernin

About

The Basilica Saint-Sernin is the largest Catholic religious building in Toulouse, the capital of the Occitanie region. It is located in the heart of the square of the same name. It is one of the largest Romanesque churches preserved in Europe, with the Cathedral of Spire, Germany, and the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela, Spain.

It was built at the end of the 11th century to house the relics of the first Bishop of Toulouse, Saint Saturnin (Sarnin or Sernin in Occitan), one of the first and most venerated Gallo-Roman Christian martyrs. In the middle of the third century Saturnin would have been the head of the first Christian community in ancient Tolosa. On November 29, 250, he was allegedly taken by pagans at the foot of the Capitolium (location of the present Étienne-Esquirol square): having refused to sacrifice to Jupiter, he was allegedly attached to a bull and dragged along the card to the present site of Notre-Dame du Taur church.

Two young girls, the "Holy Puelles", were said to have buried the saint there. The "discovery" of the body of the saint by Bishop Hilaire in the fourth century, then the construction of a sanctuary by the bishops Silve and Exupère at the beginning of the century...