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St Martin of Tours |
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Feast Day - November 11
- Also
known as
- Martin the Merciful; The Glory of Gaul
Profile - Pagan parents; his
father was a Roman military
officer and tribune. Martin was raised in
Pavia,
Italy. Discovered Christianity, and became a
catechumen in his early teens. Joined the Roman imperial
army at age 15, serving in a ceremonial unit that acted as the
emperor's bodyguard, rarely exposed to combat.
Cavalry officer, and assigned to garrison duty in Gaul.
Trying to live his faith, he refused to let his servant to wait on him.
Once, while on
horseback in
Amiens in Gaul (modern
France), he encountered a
beggar. Having nothing to give but the clothes on his back, he cut his
heavy officer's cloak in half, and gave it to the
beggar. Later he had a vision of Christ wearing the cloak.
Baptised into the Church at age 18. Just before a battle, Martin announced
that his faith prohibited him from fighting. Charged with cowardice, he
was
jailed, and his superiors planned to put him in the front of the
battle. However, the invaders sued for peace, the battle never occurred,
and Martin was released from military service at
Worms. Spiritual student of Saint
Hilary at Poitiers.
On a visit to Lombardy to see his parents, he was robbed in the mountains
- but managed to
convert one of the thieves. At home he found that his
mother had
converted, but his
father had not. The area was strongly Arian, and openly hostile to
Catholics. Martin was badly abused by the heretics, at one point even by
the order of the Arian
bishop. Learning that the Arians had gained the upper hand in Gaul and
exiled Saint
Hilary, Martin fled to the island of Gallinaria (modern Isola
d'Albenga).
Learning that the emperor had authorized
Hilary's return, Martin ran to him in
361, then became a
hermit for ten years in the area now known as Ligugé. A reputation for
holiness attracted other
monks, and they formed what would become the
Benedictine abbey of Ligugé.
Preached and evangelized through the Gallic countryside. Many locals
held strongly to the old beliefs, and tried to intimidate Martin by
dressing as the old Roman gods, and appearing to him at night; Martin
continued to win
converts. He destroyed old temples, and built churches on the land.
When the
bishop of Tours died in
371, Martin was the immediate choice to replace him. Martin declined,
citing unworthiness Rusticus, a wealthy citizen of Tours, claimed his wife
was
ill and asking for Martin; when he arrived in the city, he was
declared
bishop by popular acclamation, consecrated on
4 July 372.
Moved to a
hermit's cell near Tours. Other
monks joined him, and a new house, Marmoutier, soon formed. Rarely
left his monastery or see city, but sometimes went to Trier to plead with
the emperor for his city, his church, or his parishioners. Once when he
went to ask for lenience for a condemned prisoner, an
angel woke the emperor to tell him that Martin was waiting to see him;
the
prisoner was reprieved.
Martin himself was given to visions, but even his contemporaries sometimes
ascribed them to his habit of lengthy fasts. An extensive biography of
Martin was written by
Sulpicius Severus. He was the first non-martyr to receive the cultus
of a saint.
- Born
- c.316
at Upper Pannonia (in modern
Hungary)
- Died
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8 November 397 at Candes, Tours,
France of natural causes; by his request, he was buried in the
Cemetery of the Poor on
11 November 397; his relics rested in the basilica of Tours, a scene
of pilgrimages and miracles, until 1562 when the catheral and relics were
destroyed by militant Protestants; some small fragments on his tomb were
found during construction excavation in 1860
- Patronage
-
against impoverishment,
against poverty,
alcoholism,
beggars,
Burgenland,
cavalry,
equestrians,
France,
geese,
horse men,
horses,
hotel-keepers,
innkeepers,
Mainz, Germany,
quartermasters,
reformed alcoholics,
riders,
soldiers,
tailors,
vintners,
wine growers,
wine makers
- Prayer Links
- ...to
Continue to Fight for God
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Representation
- globe of fire;
goose; man on
horseback sharing his cloak with
beggar; man cutting cloak in half
- Readings
- Martin knew long in advance the time of his death and he told his
brethren that it was near. Meanwhile, he found himself obliged to make a
visitation of the parish of Candes. The clergy of that church were
quarreling, and he wished to reconcile them.
Although he knew that his days on earth were few, he did not refuse to
undertake the journey for such a purpose, for he believed that he would
bring his virtuous life to a good end if by his efforts peace was restored
in the church.
He spent some time in Candes, or rather in its church, where he stayed.
Peace was restored, and he was planning to return to his monastery when
suddenly he began to lose his strength. He summoned his brethren and told
them he was dying. All who heard this were overcome with grief. In their
sorrow they cried to him with one voice: "Father, why are you deserting
us? Who will care for us when you are gone? Savage wolves will attack your
flock, and who will save us from their bite when our shepherd is struck
down? We know you long to be with Christ, but your reward is certain and
will not be any less for being delayed. You will do better to show pity
for us, rather than forsake us."
Thereupon he broke into tears, for he was a man in whom the compassion of
our Lord was continually revealed. Turning to our Lord, he made this reply
to their pleading: "Lord, if your people still need me, I am ready for the
task; your will be done."
Here was a man words cannot describe. Death could not defeat him nor toil
dismay him. He was quite without a preference of his own; he neither
feared to die nor refused to live. With eyes and hands always raised to
heaven he never withdrew his unconquered spirit from prayer. It happened
that some priests who had gathered at his bedside suggested that he should
give his poor body some relief by lying on his other side. He answered:
"Allow me, brothers, to look toward heaven rather than at the earth, so
that my spirit may set on the right course when the time comes for me to
go on my journey to the Lord."
from a letter by
Sulpicius Severus
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