Let's start with the old. La basilique Saint-Sernin, whose tower you see to the left, is in downtown Toulouse, near the River Garonne.
The basilica of Saint Sernin (Saturnin), built approximately 1080-1120, sits on an earlier basilica constructed in the 4th century, to embody the grave of the first bishop of Toulouse. Saturnininus was one of a group, the “Apostles to the Gauls”, sent by Pope Fabian during a period of persecution of early Christians by the Roman consul Decius. The inhabitants of Toulouse had at least one Christian church and also a temple or alter where priests of Mithras performed their rituals.
Mithraism was a religion that arose in the 1st century AD among the military in the Roman Empire, who practiced it in underground caves. The central rite of this belief system is the killing of a bull by Mithras, a personage given birth by a rock, and acheiving divinity. There are no females in this religion. It disappeared around the 4th century AD.
Each time Saturninus wanted to get to the Christian church, he had to walk past the temple. This action enraged the priests of Mithras, who alleged that Saturninus was causing their oracles to become silent. They demanded that he make sacrifices to their god, but he refused. In retribution, the priests of Mithras condemned Saturninus to a death by dragging, tying him by the feet to a bull which ran about the streets until the rope broke.
Boys and men still run with the bulls in Spain and Tamil Nadu, and maybe elsewhere, too. Each year one or two die. Happily, the range of opportunities for competition and challenge in modern societies are endless, today. Let's leave the remaining bulls to their peace.
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