Paul of Narbonne

Saint Paul of Narbonne (Paul-⁠Sergius) was, in the third century, the first bishop of the city of Narbonne and one of the apostles to the Gauls. He is venerated in the Orthodox and the Catholic Church and is commemorated on 22 March.

Life

Paul was one of the bishops whom, according to tradition, Pope Fabian sent from Rome to Gaul during the consulate of Decius and Gratus (250-251), after the Decian persecutions that had almost dissolved the small Christian communities. Fabian is said to have sent seven bishops to preach the Gospel: Paul to Narbonne, Gatian to Tours, Trophimus to Arles, Saturninus to Toulouse, Denis to Paris, Austromonius to Clermont and Martial to Limoges. Very little is known of Paul. Gregory of Tours, reading the acts of Saturninus, affirms that he was among those consecrated at Rome and sent to Gaul. Denis and Saturninus died as martyrs, but Paul founded the church of Narbonne, as its first bishop, and died of natural causes around 250 (a Ukrainian source gives 290).

The earliest mention of him is in a fifth-⁠century text, which compares his preaching and protection with those of Cucuphas at Barcelona. Caesarius of Arles, in the seventh century, and Gregory of Tours also speak of him. A short old Life, perhaps of the sixth century, says that he converted the people of Béziers, setting over them a bishop, Aphrodisius, before turning to Narbonne, where he built two churches. He was buried in a pagan necropolis on the Via Domitia, and his tomb, much venerated, was the focus of a basilica that became the first Christian cemetery of Narbonne.

Confusion with Sergius Paulus

Medieval legends moved the seven apostles of Gaul back to the apostolic age, perhaps to strengthen local traditions with apostolic ties. One legend identified the third-⁠century Paul with the Roman proconsul Sergius Paulus, converted two centuries earlier by the Apostle Paul, and at Narbonne Saint Paul-⁠Sergius is still confused with the historical Paul of Narbonne. That he accompanied Aphrodisius, who supposedly sheltered the Holy Family in its flight into Egypt, is a medieval fabrication.

The basilica

At Narbonne the basilica of Saint Paul, built over his grave and the city's first church, is a collegiate church. The present building, of the thirteenth century (rebuilt in 1180-1200), is one of the oldest in southern France. The early shrine, of the fourth century, was small. The basilica became a centre of Bourg Saint-⁠Paul and an important pilgrimage stop on the Via Tolosana between Rome and Compostela. Excavations in 1942-1946 brought to light under the apse a paleo-⁠Christian cemetery of the second and third centuries.