Saint Marcellus of Paris

Marcellus was born in Paris in the 4th century and served the Church there as a young cleric, known for his gentleness and purity of life. He became the ninth bishop of Paris and died around the year 436. According to tradition, he freed the city from a fearsome serpent that haunted a tomb, leading it away with his stole and commanding it to leave.

He was buried outside the city, in the area later called the Faubourg Saint-Marcel. His statue, with the dragon at his feet, stands on the central pillar of the Saint Anne portal of Notre-Dame de Paris.