Dictionary of Christian Biography and Literature to the End of the Sixth Century/Saturninus, bishop of Arles

Saturninus (21), 8th bp. of Arles, a pillar of Arianism in the West. In the winter of 353 he presided at the council of Arles, which, in the presence of Constantius, condemned Athanasius and sentenced Paulinus of Trèves to deprivation and exile. About this time Hilary, bp. of Poictiers, appeared on the scene, and was henceforth in the West the champion of orthodoxy against Saturninus, Ursacius, Valens, and the emperor. In 356 Saturninus presided at the council of Béziers, which decreed the exile of Hilary; and it seems probable from allusions in Hilary's writings that he was also at the council of Rimini in 359, and was one of the legates dispatched thence to the emperor at Constantinople (Hil. ad Const. Aug. ii. 3; Migne, Patr. Lat. x. 565). This seems to have been the zenith of the bishop's fortune. Hilary, not long after, returned to Gaul; and Saturninus, still unbending in his opposition, was deprived of his see, and even excommunicated, as is thought, at the 1st council of Paris in 362.

[S.A.B.]