Sabinus of Escanecrabe

Sabinus of Escanecrabe (Sabino) was a bishop and martyr of the 8th century, commemorated in the archdiocese of Toulouse as a holy bishop and martyr. His cult was confirmed by Pope Leo XIII in 1897. He is commemorated on 10 June.

According to tradition, at the time when the Saracens of Abd al-⁠Rahman al-⁠Ghafiqi were ravaging Aquitaine (between 728 and 732), Sabinus was chosen bishop by the pope and sent to preach in Spain and France. As he was going from Auch to Comminges, after passing Péguilhan, he received martyrdom from the Moors in a wood near Escanecrabe. His body was placed in a marble tomb and buried, but the place was soon forgotten; his remains were found later thanks to a bull that had escaped and knelt exactly where the martyr's body lay.

A chapel was raised over the tomb, where his annual feast began to be celebrated. The chapel was destroyed in 1792 during the Revolution, but the relics were found in 1796 and moved to the parish church. In 1801 the diocese of Comminges, where the cult was still alive, was suppressed and united with Toulouse. Archbishop Florian-⁠Jules-⁠Félix Desprez asked the Holy See to confirm the cult as prior to the legislation of Pope Urban VIII, and Pope Leo XIII confirmed it by decree on 11 December 1897.