Before he became bishop of the French town of Tours, St Martin’s life was adventurous. He was born in Hungary, where his father was a military officer in the Roman army. When his father retired and was given land in Italy, Martin joined him there. Although as an officer’s son he was obliged to serve in the Roman cavalry for many years, he became a Catholic and refused to fight ‘as a soldier of Christ’.
He was arrested but escaped punishment. Although Christian faith had shortly before been legalised in the Roman Empire, it was still a minority religion in most of the Roman Empire.
Martin then became a disciple of Hilary, a missionary bishop, and like him opposed the Arian doctrine espoused by the emperor. He returned to Rome, and then went back to Hungary to visit his family. There he preached against the Arian Christians but was expelled by their bishop. He became a hermit, returned to Poitiers when Hilary was restored there as bishop, founded a hermitage to which he attracted many followers, and travelled through the area preaching. In 371 he reluctantly became Bishop of Tours. He preached the Gospel widely and persuaded many people to became Christian, destroying sacred sites and temples in the process. As a bishop he founded parishes, travelled rough to visit them each year, and won a reputation for freeing prisoners.
Many churches at this time had come under the influence of a stern preacher, Priscillian, who was made Bishop of Avila. The Pope, however, followed by the emperor, had condemned him with some of his followers. Martin, who opposed Priscillian’s ideas and his influence, intervened with the emperor to overrule his execution.
The emperor, however, later rescinded his pardon, ordered his execution and licensed the harrying of his followers. Martin who opposed killing heretics and the right of the emperor to decide on Church affairs, refused to cooperate with the emperor’s envoy.
On his death Martin was honoured by the people of Tours, which became a Catholic centre through which pilgrims passed on the way to the Shrine at Compostela. Many stories that were told about Martin showed his kindness to people who were doing it hard. One of the best known described the prelude to his conversion when he was still a soldier. On meeting a beggar during a cold winter, he cut his military cloak in half and gave the other half to the beggar. He then dreamed of Jesus wearing the half cloak he had given to the beggar.
Martin’s place in French devotion grew after his death, helped by the example of the French kings. Much later, after the French defeat in the Franco-Prussian war of the late 19th century he was made the patron saint of France. He was honoured especially by the people who wished to restore the monarchy and the place that the Church had held in it before the French Revolution. This was not a cause that Martin himself may have endorsed.
Image: Altarpiece of Saint Martin – The Charity of Saint Martin by Master of Riofrio, Goya Museum.
St Martin de Tours
Third bishop of Tours
Born: 316 or 336. Died 8 November 397
Feast day: 11 November
Patron: Against poverty, against alcoholism, equestrians, horses, hotel-keepers, beggars