Saint Martin of Tours

St. Martin was born to heathen parents at Sabaria in Pannonia. His father was first a soldier and afterwards a military tribune. The family moved to Ticinum in Italy, the town now called Pavia.

At ten he went to the church against his parents' wish. He asked to be enrolled among the catechumens, and the request was granted. At twelve he wanted the life of a hermit, and his age prevented it.

An imperial edict required the sons of veterans to be enrolled for service. St. Martin's father furnished the information against him. He was seized, put in chains and made to swear the military oath at fifteen.

One winter at Amiens the cold was proving fatal to many. St. Martin met a beggar at the city gate and had nothing left but his cloak. He took his sword, cut the cloak in two and gave the man half.

In the following night St. Martin saw Christ arrayed in the half cloak he had given away. Pope John Paul II said that in giving that half St. Martin put the words of Jesus about the Last Judgment into a concrete gesture.

After the vision he hastened to receive baptism. At his tribune's entreaty he stayed on in the army nearly two years more.

Julian Caesar was distributing a donative to the army at Worms on the Rhine. St. Martin asked for his discharge instead of the money. Julian answered that this was fear of the next day's battle.

St. Martin offered to stand unarmed before the line of battle. He was thrust into prison, and the next day the enemy surrendered. He went then to Saint Hilary at Poitiers, who appointed him an exorcist.

In 361 AD St. Martin took up the solitary life in the deserted place now called Ligugé. Pope Benedict XVI called it the oldest monastery known in Europe. He stayed about ten years, leaving often to preach in central and western Gaul.

A catechumen there died of fever, unbaptised, while St. Martin was three days away. He cleared the cell, bolted the door and stretched himself on the body in prayer. Scarcely two hours later the dead man moved and opened his eyes.

When the second bishop of Tours died, the clergy and people wanted the hermit of Ligugé. A citizen named Ruricius knelt at his knees and pretended his wife was dying. Some of the bishops objected that his clothing was mean and his hair disgusting.

He was consecrated third bishop of Tours in 371 AD. Unable to bear the crowds at his cell, he built a monastery two miles outside the city. Eighty disciples lived at Marmoutier owning nothing and practising no art but transcribing.

Priscillian appealed to the emperor Maximus at Trier, where St. Martin was then staying. St. Martin told Maximus that a church case did not belong before a civil judge. The emperor promised him not to carry the condemnation to the shedding of blood.

After St. Martin left the city, Priscillian and four others were beheaded. He returned to stop tribunes being sent into Spain to hunt heretics. He took part once in the communion at the ordination of Felix, judging it better to yield than to leave men under the sword, and never attended a synod again.

The clerics of Candes were at variance, and St. Martin went to restore peace among them. He knew the end of his own days was at hand and did not shrink from the journey. Peace was restored, and then his bodily strength suddenly failed.

His brethren wept and asked to whom he would leave them. He refused the straw they offered and lay on sackcloth and ashes until he died. Tours buried him on November 11, 397 AD, with about two thousand monks in the streets.