Savinian of Sens

Saint Savinian, hieromartyr, was, according to tradition, the first bishop of Sens in Gaul, in the third century. He is commemorated on 19 October, and in other lists on 30 and 31 December.

He was sent from Rome to preach in Gaul, together with his companions, Saints Potentian and Altinus. From Sens, Savinian and his disciples carried the Good News to many cities of Gaul, among them Troyes, Orléans, Chartres and Paris. According to tradition, he was beheaded with an axe, on the spot where the church of Saint Savinian in Sens now stands.

It is thought that Savinian is sometimes confused with Saint Savinian of Rilly, a Greek from Samos, killed in the third century near Troyes (commemorated on 29 January), and with Saint Savinian of Menat, an abbot near Clermont-⁠Ferrand in Auvergne, of the eighth century (commemorated on 22 November).

He lived before the separation of the Churches, and so he is venerated as a saint of the undivided Church.