Biography
Paternus of Auch
About Paternus of Auch
Paternus, called Paterne in French, is traditionally remembered as the first bishop of Eauze, the ancient Elusa in southwestern Gaul. The tradition links his appointment with Saturninus, or Sernin, of Toulouse. The Catholic Church in Norway includes him among its saints under the title Paternus of Auch.
The wider story of Saturninus’s mission belongs to a later hagiographical tradition. Historian Fernand Peloux discusses the Gesta Saturnini as an account that makes Saturninus a disciple of Christ and sends him to preach in Gaul. The text gives 900 as its own present year, while its earliest known manuscripts date from around 1100. In this medieval narrative, Paterne is a man from Toledo who follows Saturninus’s teaching and is appointed bishop at Eauze. The story gives his see authority over neighboring cities, whose bishops are to meet there in council.
The chronology attached to Paternus is unsettled. The Norwegian church notice places him in the second century and gives 150 as his death year. A local history by G. Sempéré, reprinted by Eauze’s municipality, instead places the beginnings of the bishopric around the fourth century while repeating the tradition of his appointment by Saturninus.
His Catholic commemoration is listed on 28 September. His remembered role is that of an early bishop at the origins of Eauze’s Christian community.
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