The Figure of Saint Saturninus and the Origins of the Church

The history of this parish in Pamplona is closely linked to its patron saint: Saint Saturninus. The first source in which this saint appears is the *Passio Saturnini*, dating from the 5th century. This text records Saturninus’s presence in Toulouse (France) in the year 250, where, as a bishop, he preached the Gospel and was martyred by being tied to a bull and dragged down the steps of the Capitol. Later, this account was expanded with further details, placing the saint in the 1st century, making him a native of Greece, and establishing him as a disciple of Saint John the Baptist and Saint Peter, who sent him to preach the Gospel in Gaul. In the X , and 11th centuries, the life of Saint Saturninus became intertwined with that of Saint Fermín, a martyr from Pamplona and the first bishop of the Navarrese capital, who converted to Christianity along with his family and 40,000 other residents of Pamplona following Saint Saturninus’s preaching in Pamplona. Once the city had converted to the new faith, the Temple of Diana—next to which Saint Saturninus had preached the new faith—was demolished, and in its place stood what would become Navarre’s first Christian church, dedicated to Saturninus, its apostle and evangelizer.  

However, the historical origins of the parish do not appear to be that ancient; rather, they must be linked to the creation of the free town of San Cernin, founded during the reign of Sancho Ramírez (1076–1094), promoted by Bishop Pedro de Roda (1083–1115), and recognized in 1129 by Alfonso I with the granting of the “ regional law ” of Jaca. According to María Ángeles Irujo and Roldán Jimeno, Pedro de Roda’s connection to the Church of Saint Saturninus in Toulouse and the Provençal origins of most of the new town’s settlers were key factors in the parish being dedicated to Saint Saturninus. In this regard, it is no coincidence that the people of Pamplona refer to the parish in the vernacular as “San Cernin,” since this is simply the fossilized form of the name of Saint Saturninus in Occitan— language —the language of the town’s settlers. 

Saint Saturninus’s role as an apostle and evangelizer of Navarre led the Pamplona City Council to decide in 1611 to celebrate his feast day in perpetuity with a Mass, a sermon, and a general procession; beginning in 1653, the council added the celebration of solemn Vespers on the afternoon of the preceding day. For these same reasons, in 1644 Bishop Juan Queipo de Llano declared the holy martyr the patron saint of the city of Pamplona and Saint Fermin the patron saint of the diocese.