[1] While he began his career as a Catholic priest, Saurin ultimately converted and became a pastor of the Reformed Church of France.

He was the oldest child of Jean Saurin (1632-1705), a lawyer and the secretary of the Academy of Nîmes, and Hippolyte de Tournière.

[3] In 1685, when the Edict of Nantes was revoked by Louis XIV, Saurin and his family were forced to flee from France.

[4] Saurin's studies were briefly interrupted in 1694, when he decided to volunteer to serve in the army of Victor Amadeus II of Sardinia during the Nine Years' War against Louis XIV.

He had numerous descendants, of whom the most notable was his grandson William Saurin, for many years Attorney General for Ireland, and a key figure in the Irish administration.