Toulouse Saint-Sernin and the Jacobins

The basilica of Saint-Sernin, begun in the 1070s over the tomb of Saint Saturninus, first bishop of Toulouse, is the largest Romanesque church in France. It was a great stop on the road to Compostela from Arles, and its crypt keeps a large collection of relics.

In 1215 Saint Dominic founded the Order of Preachers in a house of Toulouse given by Pierre Seilhan, which still stands. The friars’ Gothic church, the Jacobins, has a single pillar that branches like a palm tree to hold up the vault of the apse. It has kept the relics of Saint Thomas Aquinas since 1974; they first came to Toulouse in 1369.

• The basilica of Saint-SerninThe ambulatory and the crypt of the relics.
• The Maison SeilhanWhere Dominic gathered his first brothers in 1215.
• The JacobinsThe palm tree of brick, and the tomb of Saint Thomas Aquinas.

• August 8Feast of Saint Dominic
• January 28Feast of Saint Thomas Aquinas

• Saint DominicFounder of the Order of Preachers
• Saint Thomas AquinasDominican friar and Doctor of the Church

• Via DominiciThe Way of Saint Dominic, seven daysDay I, Toulouse-Blagnac airport to Toulouse · Day II, Toulouse · Day VII, Carcassonne, then Toulouse

About an hour and twenty minutes by air from Paris.

• MoissacThe Abbey of Saint-Pierre of Moissac, about 39 miles as the crow flies
• FanjeauxThe House of Saint Dominic, about 41 miles as the crow flies
• AlbiThe Cathedral of Sainte-Cécile, about 42 miles as the crow flies
• ProuilheThe Monastery of Notre-Dame de Prouilhe, about 43 miles as the crow flies