Frescoes Painted on the Walls of Notre-Dame du Taur in Toulouse
For sure a small church, the Notre-Dame du Taur has a rather complex history. Saint Saturnin or Sernin was a bishop of Toulouse back then. He was martyred by being attached to a bull and then dragged around. Eventually, Saint Sernin detached from the bull and died. The faithful built a church where Saint Sernin got detached from the bull. They also buried his bones in the church. Now, there is a very well known pilgrimage route which goes to Santiago de Compostela in Spain. Toulouse happens to be a point along the pilgrimage route. Pilgrims would stop by the church to pay respects to Saint Sernin. Eventually, there were so many pilgrims that this required a larger church built, which became the Basilica of Saint Sernin which is not too far away from here.
Death of Saint Joseph at the Notre-Dame du Taur in Toulouse
Eventually, the remains of Saint Sernin was moved to the basilica and a statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary was moved to the old church, thus was the church renamed Notre-Dame du Taur. I probably wouldn’t have realized the importance of this church with the basilica. Seeing how ordinary it looked from the outside, I was surprised I actually went in. I was glad that I did. The church apart from the normal stuff you see in church has frescoes painted on the walls near the altar. Some depict the life of Saint Sernin, some parts depict the Virgin Mary and another about Saint Joseph. I don’t think it is common to see frescoes in churches these days but these were a relatively new addition to the church.
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