Paul of Narbonne

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Paul of Narbonne (3rd century CE) was one of the "apostles to the Gauls". They had been sent out (probably by Pope Fabian, 236–250) during the consulate of Decius and Gratus (250-251 AD). Their mission was to Christianise Gaul after the persecutions under Emperor Decius had all but dissolved the small Christian communities. According to the hagiographies, Fabian sent out seven bishops from Rome to Gaul to preach the Gospel: Paul to Narbonne, Gatien to Tours, Trophimus to Arles, Saturnin to Toulouse, Denis to Paris, Austromoine to Clermont, and Martial to Limoges.

Very little about Paul has survived to the present day. That he was among those priests consecrated at Rome and sent to replant the Christian communities in Gaul was affirmed by Gregory of Tours (Historia Francorum I, 30), who was reading the acta of Saturnin. He and Denis had been martyred, but Paul survived to establish the church at Narbonne as its first bishop, and to die of natural causes around 250.

It was in a pagan necropolis, somewhere along the Domitian Way, that Paul was buried. His tomb, the object of substantial veneration and around which were various sanctuaries,^[2] was to be the focus of the first Christian cemetery in Narbonne.

Prudentius' claim that Paul brought fame to Narbonne may be hyperbole. Edited by the Bollandists is a brief Vita Antiqua, perhaps of the 6th century. It suggests Paul converted the inhabitants of Béziers, setting over them a bishop, Aphrodisius, before turning his attention to Narbonne, where he founded two churches.

An anecdote suggests two acolytes placed a lady's slippers at the foot of his bed, telling of improprieties, but that this was both confounded and forgiven by Paul miraculously.

Earliest surviving mention of Paul is in a 5th century text, in which his evangelizing and protection of the people of Narbonne drew comparison with that of Cucufas in Barcelona. In the 7th century, the bishop of Arles, Saint Caesarius, in his treatise De mysterio Sanctae Trinitatis also refers to Paul. Another reference to him is in the 7th century Historia Francorum written by Gregory of Tours.