Fermin - Life

Life

Fermin is said to have been the son of a Roman of senatorial rank in Pamplona in the 3rd century, who was converted to Christianity by Saint Honestus, a disciple of Saint Saturninus. According to tradition, he was baptised by Saturninus (in Navarra "San Cernin") at the spot now known as the Pocico de San Cernin, the "Small Well of San Cernin", across from the facade of the church dedicated to St Cernin, which is built on the foundations of a pagan temple.

Saturninus (in France "Saint Saturnin") was the first bishop of Toulouse, where he was sent during the "consulate of Decius and Gratus" (AD 250). He was martyred (traditionally in 257 AD), significantly by being tied to a bull by his feet and dragged to his death, a martyrdom that is sometimes transferred to Fermin and relocated at Pamplona. In Toulouse, the earliest church dedicated to Notre-Dame du Taur ("Our Lady of the Bull") still exists, though rebuilt; though the 11th century Basilica of Saint Sernin, the largest surviving Romanesque structure in France, has superseded it, the church is said to be built where the bull stopped, but more credibly must in fact be on a site previously dedicated to a pre-Christian sacred bull, perhaps the bull of Mithras. The street, which runs straight from the Capitole, is named, not the Rue de Notre-Dame, but the Rue du Taur.

Fermin was ordained a priest in Toulouse, according to the local legend, and returned to Pamplona as its first bishop. On a later voyage preaching the gospel, Fermin was beheaded in Amiens, France. He died on September 25, AD 303. In Legenda aurea several miracles attended the discovery and translation of the relics of Saint Fermin in the time of Savin, bishop of Amiens (traditionally ca 600). A sweet odor arose from his grave. The smell caused ice and snow to melt, flowers to grow, the sick to be cured, and trees to be inclined reverently toward the saint.