Martin of Tours

This article is about the French saint. For the Caribbean minority faith.
island, see Saint Martin. For other uses, see Saint Martin As the son of a veteran officer, Martin at fifteen was re-
(disambiguation).
quired to join a cavalry ala. Around 334, he was sta-
tioned at Ambianensium civitas or Samarobriva in Gaul
Martin of Tours (Latin: Sanctus Martinus Turonensis; (now Amiens, France).[2] It is likely that he joined the
316 – 8 November 397) was Bishop of Tours, whose Equites catafractarii Ambianenses, a heavy cavalry unit
shrine in France became a famous stopping-point for listed in the Notitia Dignitatum. His unit was mostly cer-
pilgrims on the road to Santiago de Compostela in Spain. emonial and did not face much combat.[3]
Around his name much legendary material accrued, and
he has become one of the most familiar and recognis-
able Christian saints. As he was born in what is now
Szombathely, Hungary, spent much of his childhood in
Pavia, Italy, and lived most of his adult life in France, he
is considered a spiritual bridge across Europe.[1]
His life was recorded by a contemporary, the
hagiographer Sulpicius Severus. Some of the ac-
counts of his travels may have been interpolated into his
vita to validate early sites of his cult. He is best known
for the account of his using his military sword to cut his
cloak in two, to give half to a beggar clad only in rags
in the depth of winter. Conscripted as a soldier into
the Roman army, he found the duty incompatible with
the Christian faith he had adopted and became an early
conscientious objector.

1 Life

1.1 Soldier
Martin was born in 316 AD in Savaria in the Diocese of
Pannonia (now Szombathely, Hungary). His father was
a senior officer (tribune) in the Imperial Horse Guard, a
unit of the Roman army, later stationed at Ticinum (now
Pavia), in northern Italy, where Martin grew up.[2]
At the age of ten he attended the Christian church against
the wishes of his parents, and became a catechumen.
Christianity had been made a legal religion (in 313) in the
Roman Empire. It had many more adherents in the East-
ern Empire, whence it had sprung, and was concentrated
in cities, brought along the trade routes by converted Jews
and Greeks (the term 'pagan' literally means 'country-
dweller'). Christianity was far from accepted amongst the
higher echelons of society; among members of the army
the worship of Mithras would have been stronger. Al-
though the conversion of the Emperor Constantine, and
the subsequent programme of church-building, gave a
greater impetus to the spread of the religion, it was still a
St Martin leaves the life of chivalry and renounces the army
(fresco by Simone Martini)
According to his biographer, Sulpicius Severus, he served
in the military for only another two years, though many
scholars believe that these two years, “are in fact not
nearly enough to bring the account to the time when he
would leave, that is, during his encounter with Caesar Ju-
lian (the one who has gone down in history as Julian the
Apostate). Jacques Fontaine thinks that the biographer
was somewhat embarrassed about referring to [Martin’s]
long stint in the army, [because of the perennially tenuous
relation between the Christian conscience and war].”[4]
Such scholars hold that Martin would have remained in
the army for the entirety of his prescribed twenty-five
year term, and that, in their opinion, such service need not
have obliged him to violate his Christian conscience by
shedding blood on the battlefield. Regardless of whether
or not he remained in the army, academic opinion holds

1
2 1
that just before a battle with the Gauls at Borbetomagus Roman classical culture in the area:
(now Worms, Germany), Martin determined that his faith
prohibited him from fighting, saying, “I am a soldier of
Christ. I cannot fight.” He was charged with cowardice
and jailed, but in response to the charge, he volunteered
to go unarmed to the front of the troops. His superiors
planned to take him up on the offer, but before they could,
the invaders sued for peace, the battle never occurred, and
Martin was released from military service.[5]
Martin declared his vocation, and made his way to the city
of Caesarodunum (now Tours), where he became a disci-
ple of Hilary of Poitiers, a chief proponent of Trinitarian
Christianity.[6] He opposed the Arianism of the Impe-
rial Court. When Hilary was forced into exile from Pic-
tavium (now Poitiers), Martin returned to Italy. Accord-
ing to Sulpicius Severus, he converted an Alpine brigand
on the way, and confronted the Devil himself. Having
heard in a dream a summons to revisit his home, Martin
crossed the Alps, and from Milan went over to Pannonia.
There he converted his mother and some other persons;
his father he could not win. While in Illyricum he took
sides against the Arians with so much zeal that he was
[6]
publicly scourged and forced to leave. Returning from
Illyria, he was confronted by the Arian archbishop of Mi-
lan Auxentius, who expelled him from the city. Accord-
ing to the early sources, Martin decided to seek shelter In one instance, the pagans agreed to fell their sacred fir
on the island then called Gallinaria, now Isola d'Albenga, tree, if Martin would stand directly in its path. He did so,
in the Ligurian Sea, where he lived the solitary life of a and it miraculously missed him. Sulpicius, a classically
hermit.
1.2 Bishop
With the return of Hilary to his see in 361, Martin joined
him and established a monastery nearby. This site was
developed into the Benedictine Ligugé Abbey, the oldest
monastery known in Europe.[7] It became a centre for the
evangelisation of the country districts. He travelled and
preached through western Gaul: “The memory of these
apostolic journeyings survives to our day in the numer-
ous local legends of which Martin is the hero and which
indicate roughly the routes that he followed.”[2]
In 371 Martin was acclaimed bishop of Tours, where he
impressed the city with his demeanour. He had been
drawn to Tours by a ruse — he was urged to come to min-
ister to someone sick — and was brought to the church,
where he reluctantly allowed himself to be consecrated
bishop.[8] According to one version, he was so unwilling
to be made bishop that he hid in a barn full of geese, but
their cackling at his intrusion gave him away to the crowd;
that may account for complaints by a few that his appear-
ance was too disheveled to be commensurate with a bish-
opric, but the critics were hugely outnumbered.
As bishop, Martin set to enthusiastically ordering the de-
struction of pagan temples, altars and sculptures. Schol-
ars suggest the following account may indicate the depth
of the Druidic folk religion in relation to the veneer of
LIFE
"[W]hen in a certain village he had demol-
ished a very ancient temple, and had set about
cutting down a pine-tree, which stood close to
the temple, the chief priest of that place, and a
crowd of other heathens began to oppose him;
and these people, though, under the influence
of the Lord, they had been quiet while the tem-
ple was being overthrown, could not patiently
allow the tree to be cut down”.[9]
Sulpicius affirms that Martin withdrew from the city to
live in Marmoutier (Majus Monasterium), the monastery
he founded, which faces Tours from the opposite shore
of the Loire. Here Martin and some of the monks who
followed him built cells of wood; others lived in caves
dug out of the rock. Martin introduced a rudimentary
parish system. Once a year the bishop visited each of his
parishes, traveling on foot, or by donkey or boat. He con-
tinued to set up monastic communities, and extended the
bounds of his episcopate from Touraine to such distant
points as Chartres, Paris, Autun, and Vienne. At Vienne,
according to his biographer, he cured Paulinus of Nola of
a disease of the eyes.[6]
educated aristocrat, related this anecdote with dramatic
details, as a set piece. Sulpicius could not have failed to
know the incident the Roman poet Horace recalls in sev-
eral Odes, of his narrow escape from a falling tree.[10]
Martin was so dedicated to the freeing of prisoners that
when authorities, even emperors, heard he was coming,
they refused to see him because they knew he would re-
quest mercy for someone and they would be unable to
refuse.
1.3 On behalf of the Priscillianists
The churches of other parts of Gaul and in Spain were
being disturbed by the Priscillianists, an ascetic sect,
named after its leader, Priscillian, bishop of Avila.[6] The
First Council of Saragossa had condemned Priscillian and
his supporters as heretics. Priscillian and his supporters
had fled, and some bishops of Hispania, led by Bishop
Ithacius, brought charges before Emperor Magnus Max-
imus. Although greatly opposed to the Priscillianists,
Martin hurried to the Imperial court of Trier to remove
them from the secular jurisdiction of the emperor. Along
with St. Ambrose (December 7), Martin rejected Bishop
Ithacius’s principle of putting heretics to death—as well
as the intrusion of the emperor into such matters. He
prevailed upon the emperor to spare the life of the heretic
Priscillian. At first, Maximus acceded to his entreaty, but,
when Martin had departed, yielded to Ithacius and or-
dered Priscillian and his followers to be beheaded (385).
 3

Martin then pleaded for a cessation of the persecution of

Priscillian’s followers in Spain.[8] Deeply grieved, Martin
refused to communicate with Ithacius, until pressured by
the Emperor.
Martin died in Candes-Saint-Martin, Gaul (central
France) in 397.

1.4 The Abbey of Marmoutier

The Abbey of Marmoutier was a monastery just out-

side today’s city of Tours in Indre-et-Loire, France es-
tablished by Martin around 372. The saint founded the
monastery to escape attention and live life as a monas-
tic. The Abbey at Tours was one of the most promi-
nent and influential establishments in medieval France.
Charlemagne awarded the position of Abbot to his friend
and adviser Alcuin, the great English scholar and ed-
ucator. At this time the Abbot could travel between
Tours and the court at Trier in Germany and always stay
overnight at one of his own properties. It was at Tours
that Alcuin’s scriptorium (a room in monasteries devoted
to the copying of manuscripts by monastic scribes) de-
veloped Caroline minuscule, the clear round hand which
made manuscripts far more legible. The Charity of St. Martin, by Jean Fouquet

In later times the abbey was destroyed by fire on sev-

eral occasions and ransacked by Norman Vikings in 853 dream confirmed Martin in his piety, and he was baptised
and in 996. Rebuilt beginning in 1014, by Hervé de at the age of 18.[8]
Buzançais, treasurer of Saint Martin, to accommodate
the crowds of pilgrims and to attract them, the shrine of The part kept by himself became the famous relic pre-
St. Martin of Tours became a major stopping-point on served in the oratory of the Merovingian kings of the
pilgrimages. In 1453 the remains of Saint Martin were Franks at the Marmoutier Abbey near Tours.[2] During
transferred to a magnificent new reliquary donated by the Middle Ages, the supposed relic of St. Martin’s
Charles VII of France and Agnes Sorel. miraculous cloak, (cappa Sancti Martini) was carried by
the king even into battle, and used as a holy relic upon
During the French Wars of Religion, the basilica was which oaths were sworn. The cloak is first attested in
sacked by the Protestant Huguenots in 1562. It was dises- the royal treasury in 679, when it was conserved at the
tablished during the French Revolution.[11] It was decon- palatium of Luzarches, a royal villa that was later ceded to
secrated, used as a stable, then utterly demolished. Its the monks of Saint-Denis by Charlemagne, in 798/99.[12]
dressed stones were sold in 1802 after two streets were
built across the site, to ensure the abbey would not be re- The priest who cared for the cloak in its reliquary was
constructed. called a cappellanu, and ultimately all priests who served
the military were called cappellani. The French transla-
tion is chapelains, from which the English word chaplain
is derived.[13]
2 Legend of Martin’s cloak A similar linguistic development took place for the term
referring to the small temporary churches built for the
While Martin was a soldier in the Roman army and de- relic. People called them a “capella”, the word for a little
ployed in Gaul (modern-day France), he experienced a cloak. Eventually, such small churches lost their associ-
vision, which became the most-repeated story about his ation with the cloak, and all small churches began to be
life. One day as he was approaching the gates of the city referred to as “chapels”.[14]
of Amiens, he met a scantily clad beggar. He impulsively
cut his military cloak in half to share with the man. That
night, Martin dreamed of Jesus wearing the half-cloak he
had given away. He heard Jesus say to the angels: “Mar- 3 Hagiography
tin, who is still but a catechumen, clothed me with this
robe.” (Sulpicius, ch 2). In another version, when Mar- The early life of Saint Martin was written by Sulpicius
tin woke, he found his cloak restored to wholeness. The Severus, who knew him personally.[15] It expresses the
4 4
San Martín y el mendigo by El Greco
intimate closeness the 4th-century Christian felt with the
Devil in all his disguises, and has many accounts of mira-
cles. Some follow familiar conventions— casting out dev-
ils, raising the paralytic and the dead. Others are more un-
usual: turning back the flames from a house while Martin
was burning down the Roman temple it adjoined; deflect-
ing the path of a felled sacred pine; the healing power of
a letter written from Martin.
4 Veneration
The veneration of Martin was widely popular in the
Middle Ages, above all in the region between the Loire
and the Marne, where Le Roy Ladurie and Zysberg noted
the densest accretion of hagiotoponyms[16] commemorat-
ing Martin.[17] Venantius Fortunatus had earlier declared,
“Wherever Christ is known, Martin is honored.”[18]
When Bishop Perpetuus took office at Tours in 461, the
little chapel over Martin’s grave, built in the previous cen-
tury by Martin’s immediate successor, Bricius,[19] was no
VENERATION
Reliquary for the head of St. Martin, silver and copper, part gilt,
from the church at Soudeilles, late 14th century, Louvre
longer sufficient for the crowd of pilgrims it was already
drawing. Perpetuus built a larger basilica, 38 m long
and 18 m wide, with 120 columns.[20] Martin’s body was
taken from the simple chapel at his hermitage at Candes-
St-Martin to Tours and his sarcophagus was reburied be-
hind the high altar of the new basilica.[21] A large block of
marble above the tomb, the gift of bishop Euphronius of
Autun (472-475), rendered it visible to the faithful gath-
ered behind the high altar. Werner Jacobsen suggests it
may also have been visible to also to pilgrims encamped
in the atrium of the basilica.[22] Contrary to the usual ar-
rangement, the atrium was sited behind' the church, close
to the tomb in the apse, which may have been visible
through a fenestrella in the apse wall.
St. Martin’s popularity can be partially attributed to his
adoption by successive royal houses of France. Clovis,
King of the Salian Franks, one of many warring tribes
in sixth-century France, promised his Christian wife
Clotilda that he would be baptised if he was victorious
over the Alemanni. He credited the intervention of St
Martin with his success, and with several following tri-
umphs, including the defeat of Alaric II. The popular de-
votion to St Martin continued to be closely identified with
the Merovingian monarchy: in the early seventh century
Dagobert I commissioned the goldsmith Saint Eligius to
make a work in gold and gems for the tomb-shrine.[23]
The bishop Gregory of Tours wrote and distributed an
influential Life filled with miraculous events of St. Mar-
4.1 Revival of the popular devotion to St. Martin in the Third Republic 5

tin’s career. Martin’s cultus survived the passage of power mix of Romanesque and Byzantine, sometimes defined as
to their successors, the Carolingian dynasty. neo-Byzantine.[24] The new Basilique Saint-Martin was
erected on a portion of its former site, which was pur-
chased from the owners. Started in 1886, the church was
consecrated 4 July 1925.[25]

4.1.2 Franco-Prussian War

Scholars believe that Martin’s renewed popularity was

related to his association as a military saint during the
Franco-Prussian War of 1870-1871. During the military
and political crisis of the Franco-Prussian war, Napoleon
III’s Second Empire collapsed. After the surrender of
Napoleon to the Prussians after the Battle of Sedan in
September 1870, a provisional government of national
defense was established, and France’s Third Republic was
proclaimed. Paris was evacuated due to the advancing en-
Basilica of St. Martin, Tours
emy and for a brief time, Tours (September–December
1870) became the effective capital of France.

4.1 Revival of the popular devotion to St. St Martin was promoted by the clerical right as the pro-
tector of the nation against the German threat. Conser-
Martin in the Third Republic vatives associated the dramatic collapse of Napoleon III’s
regime as a sign of divine retribution on the irreligious
See also: French Third Republic § Church and state
emperor. Priests interpreted it as punishment for a nation
led astray due to years of anti-clericalism. They preached
repentance and a return to religion for political stability.
4.1.1 Excavations and rediscovery of the tomb The ruined towers of the old royal basilica of St. Mar-
tin at Tours came to symbolize the decline of traditional
Catholic France.[26]

Tomb of Saint Martin

The new Basilica

Main article: Basilica of St. Martin, Tours
In 1860 excavations by Leo Dupont (1797–1876) estab-
lished the dimensions of the former abbey and recovered
some fragments of architecture. The tomb of St. Martin
was rediscovered on December 14, 1860, which aided in
the nineteenth-century revival of the popular devotion to
St. Martin.
After the radical Paris Commune of 1871, there was a
resurgence of conservative Catholic piety, and the church
decided to build a basilica to St. Martin. They selected
Victor Laloux as architect. He eschewed Gothic for a
With the government’s relocation to Tours during the
Franco-Prussian War, 1870, numerous pilgrims were at-
tracted to St. Martin’s tomb. It was covered by a tem-
porary chapel built by Monsignor Guibert (archbishop of
Tours, 1857-1871). The popular devotion to St. Mar-
tin was also associated with the nationalistic devotion to
the Sacred Heart. The flag of Sacre-Coeur, borne by
Ultramontane Catholic Pontifical Zouaves who fought at
Patay, had been placed overnight in St. Martin’s tomb
before being taken into battle on October 9, 1870. The
banner read “Heart of Jesus Save France” and on the re-
verse side Carmelite Nuns of Tours embroidered “Saint
Martin Protect France”.[27] As the French army was victo-
6 5 PATRONAGE

rious in Patay, many among the faithful took the victory of Tours, 1896–1913) worked to associate St. Martin as
to be the result of divine favor. Popular hymns of the a specifically “republican” patron. Renou had served as a
1870s developed the theme of national protection under chaplain to the 88e Régiment des mobils d'Indre-et-Loire
the cover of Martin’s cloak, the “first flag of France”.[26] during the Franco-Prussian war and was known as the
During the nineteenth-century Frenchmen, influenced by “army bishop.” Renou was a strong supporter of St. Mar-
secularism, agnosticism, and anti-clericalism, deserted tin and believed that the national destiny of France and all
the church in great numbers. As Martin was a man’s saint, its victories were attributed to him. He linked the mili-
the devotion to him was an exception to this trend. For tary to the cloak of St. Martin, which was the “first flag of
France” to the French tricolor, “the symbol of the union
men serving in the military, Martin of Tours was pre-
sented by the Catholic Right as the masculine model of of the old and new.” This flag symbolism connected the
devotion to St. Martin with the Third Republic. But, the
principled behavior. He was a brave fighter, knew his
obligation to the poor, shared his goods, performed his tensions of the Dreyfus Affair renewed anti-clericalism
in France and drove a wedge between the Church and
required military service, followed legitimate orders, and
respected secular authority.[28] The story of his refusing the Republic. By 1905, the influence of Rene Waldeck-
to bear arms was conveniently forgotten. Rousseau and Emile Combes, combined with deteriorat-
ing relations with the Vatican, led to the separation of
church and state.[30]
4.1.3 Opposition from Anticlericals St. Martin’s popularity was renewed during the First
World War. Anticlericalism declined, and priests served
During the 1870s, the procession to St. Martin’s tomb in the French forces as chaplains. More than 5,000 of
at Tours became a display of ecclesiastical and military them died in the war. In 1916, Assumptionists organized
cooperation. Army officers in full uniform acted as mili- a national pilgrimage to Tours that attracted people from
tary escorts, symbolically protecting the clergy and clear- all of France. The devotion to St. Martin was amplified
ing the path for them. Anti-clerics viewed the staging of in the dioceses of France, where special prayers were of-
public religious processions as a violation of civic space. fered to the patron saint. When the armistice was signed
In 1878, M. Rivière, the provisional mayor of Tours, with on Saint Martin’s Day, 11 November 1918, the French
anticlerical support banned the November procession in people saw it was a sign of his intercession in the affairs
honor of St. Martin. President Patrice de Mac-Mahon, of France.[31]
was succeeded by the Republican Jules Grevy, who cre-
ated a new national anticlerical offensive. Bishop Louis-
Édouard-François-Desiré Pie of Poitiers united conserva-
tives and devised a massive demonstration for the Novem-
5 Patronage
ber 1879 procession. Pie’s ultimate hope was that St Mar-
tin would stop the “chariot” of modern society, and lead
to the creation of a France where the religious and secular
sectors merged.
The struggle between the two men was reflective of that
between conservatives and anti-clerics over the church’s
power in the army. From 1874, military chaplains were
allowed in the army in times of peace, but anti-clerics
viewed the chaplains as sinister monarchists and counter-
revolutionaries. Conservatives responded by creating the
short-lived Legion de Saint Maurice in 1878 and the so-
ciety, Notre Dame de Soldats, to provide unpaid vol-
untary chaplains with financial support. The legisla-
ture passed the anticlerical Duvaux Bill of 1880, which
reduced the number of chaplains in the French army.
Anticlerical legislators wanted commanders, not chap- Martin of Tours’s Fountain, behind the Visitors Center - Szom-
lains, to provide troops with moral support and to super- bathely
vise their formation in the established faith of “patriotic
Republicanism.”[29] He is the patron saint of beggars (because of his shar-
ing his cloak), wool-weavers and tailors (also because
of his cloak), soldiers (or some emphasise infantrymen),
4.2 St. Martin as a French Republican pa- geese (some say because they gave his hiding place away
tron when he tried to avoid being chosen as bishop, others be-
cause their migration coincides with his feast), vintners
St. Martin has long been associated with France’s royal and innkeepers (because his feast falls just after the late
heritage. Monsignor René François Renou (Archbishop grape harvest), and France.
8.2 European folk traditions 7

6 Iconography 8.2 European folk traditions

Martin is most generally portrayed on horseback dividing Main article: St. Martin’s Day
his cloak with the beggar. His emblem in English art is From the late 4th century to the late Middle Ages, much
often that of a goose, whose annual migration is about
late Autumn.[32]

7 Influence
By the early 9th century, respect for Saint Martin was
well-established in Ireland. His monastery at Mar-
moûtiers became the training ground for many Celtic
missions and missionaries. Some believe that St. Patrick
was his nephew and that Patrick was one of many Celtic
notables who lived for a time at Marmoûtiers. St. Ninian
definitely studied at Marmoûtiers and was profoundly in- Monument to Saint Martin of Tours in Odolanów, Poland
fluenced by Martin, carrying a deep love and respect for
his teacher and his methods back to Scotland. Ninian was
of Western Europe, including Great Britain, engaged in
in the process of building a church when news reached
a period of fasting beginning on the day after St. Mar-
him of Martin’s death. Ninian dedicated that church to
tin’s Day, November 11. This fast period lasted 40 days,
Martin. The Book of Armagh, contains three distinct
and was, therefore, called Quadragesima Sancti Martini,
groups of material (1) A complete text of the New Testa-
which means in Latin “the forty days of St. Martin.” At St.
ment, (2) A dossier of materials on Saint Patrick and (3)
Martin’s eve and on the feast day, people ate and drank
almost the complete body of writings on Saint Martin by
very heartily for a last time before they started to fast.
Sulpicius Severus.[33]
This fasting time was later called "Advent" by the Church
In Jonas of Bobbio's Vita Columbani, Jonas relates that and was considered a time for spiritual preparation for
the Saint Columbanus, while travelling requested to be Christmas.
allowed to pray at the tomb of St Martin. The Irish
On St. Martin’s Day, children in Flanders, the south-
palimpsest sacramentary from the mid-7th century con-
ern and north-western parts of the Netherlands, and the
tains the text of a mass for St Martin. In the Life of
Catholic areas of Germany and Austria still participate
Columba, Adamnan mentions in passing that St Martin
in paper lantern processions. Often, a man dressed as
was commemorated during Mass at Iona.[33]
St. Martin rides on a horse in front of the procession.
In his Ireland and Her Neighbours in the Seventh Cen- The children sing songs about St. Martin and about their
tury,[34] Michael Richter attributes this to the mission of lanterns. The food traditionally eaten on the day is goose,
Palladius seen within the wider context of the mission of a rich bird. According to legend, Martin was reluctant to
Germanus of Auxerre to Britain around 429. Thus, this become bishop, which is why he hid in a stable filled with
could be the context in which the Life of St Martin was geese. The noise made by the geese betrayed his location
brought from Gaul to Ireland at an early date, and could to the people who were looking for him.
explain how Columbanus was familiar with it before he
ever left Ireland.[33]

8 Legacy

8.1 Ligugé Abbey

Founded by Martin of Tours in 360, Ligugé Abbey is one

of the earliest monastic foundations in France. The rep-
utation of the founder attracted a large number of dis-
ciples to the new monastery; the disciples initially living
in locaciacum or small huts, this name later evolved to
Ligugé. Its reputation was soon eclipsed by Martin’s later
foundation at Marmoutier. As of 2013, the Benedictine Statue of Saint Martin in the grounds of Saint Martin de Tours
community at Ligugé numbered twenty-five.[35] Roman Catholic Church in Saint Martinville, Louisiana
8 8 LEGACY

In Malta, children are sometimes given a bag full of nuts, tron saint of Szombathely, Hungary, with a church dedi-
hazelnuts, oranges and tangerines. In old days, nuts were cated to him, and also the patron saint of Buenos Aires.
used by the children in their games. The parish of Baħrija In the Netherlands, he is the patron of the cathedral and
is dedicated to Saint Martin, and on his feast, a fair with city of Utrecht. He is the patron of the city of Groningen;
agricultural produce and animals is organized. It is the its Martini tower and Martinikerk (Groningen) (Martin’s
end of the harvest period. Church) were named for him. He is also the patron of the
[36]
In the east part of the Belgian province of East-Flanders church and town of Bocaue.
(Aalst) and the west part of West Flanders (Ypres), tra- St. Martin’s Church in Kaiserslautern, Germany is a ma-
ditionally children receive presents from St. Martin on jor city landmark. It is located in the heart of the city’s
November 11, instead of from Saint Nicholas on Decem- downtown in St. Martin’s Square, and is surrounded by a
ber 6 or Santa Claus on December 25. They also have number of restaurants and shops. The church was origi-
lantern processions, for which children make lanterns out nally built as a Franciscan monastery in the 14th century
of beets. In recent years, the lantern processions have be- and has a number of unique architectural features.[37]
come widespread as a popular ritual, even in Protestant St. Martin is the patron saint of the Polish towns of
areas of Germany and the Netherlands. Most Protestant Bydgoszcz and Opatów. His day is celebrated with a pro-
churches no longer officially recognize Saints. cession and festivities in the city of Poznań, where the
In Portugal, where the saint’s day is celebrated across the main street (Święty Marcin is named for him, after a 13th-
country, it is common for families and friends to gather century church in his honor . A special type of crescent
around the fire in reunions called magustos, where they cake (rogal świętomarciński) is baked for the occasion.
typically eat roasted chestnuts and drink wine, jeropiga As November 11 is also Polish Independence Day, it is a
(drink made of grape must and firewater) and aguapé (a public holiday.
sort of weak and watered-down wine). According to the
In Latin America, St. Martin has a strong popular fol-
most widespread variation of the cloak story, Saint Martin lowing and is frequently referred to as San Martín Ca-
cut off half of his cloak in order to offer it to a beggar and
ballero, in reference to his common depiction on horse-
along the way, he gave the remaining part to a second back. Mexican folklore believes him to be a particularly
beggar. As he faced a long ride in a freezing weather, the
helpful saint toward business owners.
dark clouds cleared away and the sun shone so intensely
that the frost melted away. Such weather was rare for
early November, so was credited to God’s intervention.
The phenomenon of a sunny break to the chilly weather
on Saint Martin’s Day (11 November) is called Verão de
São Martinho (Saint Martin’s Summer, veranillo de san
Martín in Spanish) in honor of the cloak legend.

Stained glass in St. Martin of Tours Church in Vegreville, Alberta,

Canada

San Martín de Loba is the name of a municipality in the

Rogal świętomarciński, baked for St. Martin’s Day in Poznań
Many churches are named after Saint Martin of Tours. St
Martin-in-the-fields, at Trafalgar Square in the centre of
London, has a history appropriately associated with Mar-
tin’s renunciation of war; Dick Sheppard, founder of the
Peace Pledge Union, was Vicar 1914-26, and there is a
memorial chapel for him, with a plaque for Vera Brittain,
also a noted Anglican pacifist; the steps of the church are
often used for peace vigils. Saint Martin’s Cathedral, in
Ypres, Belgium, is dedicated to him. St. Martin is the pa-
Bolívar Department of Colombia. Saint Martin, as San
Martín de Loba, is the patron saint of Vasquez, a small
village in Colombia.
Though no mention of St. Martin’s connection with
viticulture is made by Gregory of Tours or other early
hagiographers, he is now credited with a prominent role
in spreading wine-making throughout the Touraine re-
gion and the planting of many vines. The Greek myth
that Aristaeus first discovered the concept of pruning the
vines, after watching a goat eat some of the foliage, has
been adopted for Martin.[38] He is also credited with in-
troducing the Chenin blanc grape varietal, from which
most of the white wine of western Touraine and Anjou is

made.
Martin Luther was named after St. Martin, as he was bap-
tised on November 11 (St. Martin’s Day), 1483. Many
older Lutheran congregations are named after St. Martin,
which is unusual (for Lutherans) because he is a saint who
does not appear in the Bible. (Lutherans regularly name
congregations after the evangelists and other saints who
appear in the Bible but are hesitant to name congregations
after post-Biblical saints.)
Martin of Tours is the patron saint of the U.S. Army
Quartermaster Corps, which has a medal in his name.[39]
The Church Lads’ and Church Girls’ Brigade, a 5-7 age
group, was renamed 'Martins’ in his honour in 1998.
Martinitoren, the 97-meter-high Martini Tower in Groningen, the
Netherlands.
8.3 In modern film
The Dutch film Flesh and Blood (1985) prominently fea-
tures a statue of Saint Martin. A mercenary in Renais-
sance Italy, named Martin, finds a statue of Saint Martin [16] A hagiotoponym is a place-name that commemorates a
cutting his cloak and takes it as a sign to desert and rogue saint.
9
around under the saint’s protection.
• St Martin and the Beggar, by El Greco, ca. 1597-99
(National Gallery of Art, Washington)
• Louis Anselme Longa, La charité de saint Martin
• Kloster Wettingen Ost
9 Notes
[1] Lanzi, Fernando (2004). Saints and Their Symbols: Rec-
ognizing Saints in Art and in Popular Images. Liturgical
Press. p. 104. ISBN 0-8146-2970-9. Retrieved 2008-
07-19.
[2] Clugnet, Léon. “St. Martin of Tours.” The Catholic Ency-
clopedia. Vol. 9. New York: Robert Appleton Company,
1910. 4 Jun. 2013
[3] “St Martin of Tours”, Archdiocese for the Military Ser-
vices, USA
[4] Pernoud, Regine (2006). Martin of Tours: Soldier,
Bishop, Saint. p 29.
[5] Kurlansky, Mark (2006). Nonviolence: Twenty-five
Lessons from the History of a Dangerous Idea. pp 26-27.
[6] Crawley, John J. Lives of the Saints, John J. Crawley &
Co. Inc.
[7] Benedict XVI. ""Generous Witness of the Gospel of
Charity”, 11 November 2007
[8] Foley O.F.M., Leonard. Saint of the Day, Lives, Lessons,
and Feast, (revised by Pat McCloskey O.F.M.), Francis-
can Media, ISBN 978-0-86716-887-7
[9] Sulpicius, Vita ch. xiii
[10] Odes ii.13 and .17 and iii.4 (me truncus elapsus cerebro
sustulerat nisi faunus ictum dextra levasset)
[11] Farmer, Sharon (1991). Communities of St. Martin: Leg-
end and Ritual in Medieval Tours, Pp. 78-96.
[12] J.-P. Brunterch, in Un village au temps de Charlemagne,
pp. 90-93, noted in François-Olivier Touati, Maladie et
société au Moyen âge (Paris/Brussels, 1998) p. 216 note
100.
[13] Ducange, Glossarium, s.v “Capella)", noted in Ency-
clopaedia Britannica 1911, s.v. “Chapel”.
[14] MacCulloch, Daimaid (2009). A History of Christianity:
The First Three Thousand Years. Penguin Group. ISBN
1-101-18945-2.
[15] Sulpicius Severus. Life of St. Martin, College of St. Bene-
dict, St. John’s University; St. Joseph, Minnesota
10 12 EXTERNAL LINKS

[17] Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie and A. Zysberg, “Géographie 10 See also

des hagiotoponymes en France”, Annales E.S.C. (1983),
map p. 1331. • The Community of Saint Martin, an association of
[18] Quoted by Louis Réau, Iconographie de I'art chretien, p. Roman Catholic priests.
902.
• Martin (name)
[19] “Hic aedificavit basilicam parvulam super corpus beati
Martini, in qua et ipse sepultus est” (Gregory, Libri histori-
arum 10.31, quoted in Werner Jacobsen, “Saints’ Tombs 11 References
in Frankish Church Architecture” Speculum 72.4 (Octo-
ber 1997:1107-1143) p. 1108.
• Sulpicius Severus On the Life of St. Martin. Trans-
[20] The details are in Gregory, Libri historiarum 2.14 lation and Notes by Alexander Roberts. In A Se-
lect Library of Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the
[21] May Viellard-Troiëkouroff, “La basilique de Saint-
Christian Church, New York, 1894, available online
Martin de Tours de Perpetuus (470) d'après les fouilles
archéologiques”, Actes du 22e Congrès international • Brennan, Brian (1997). “The Revival of the Cult
d'histoire d'art 1966. (Budapest 1972), vol. 2:839-46); of Martin of Tours in the Third Republic”, Church
Charles Lelong, La basilique de Saint-Martin de Tours
History
(Chambray-lès-Tours 1986).
• Clare Stancliffe, St Martin and his hagiographer:
[22] Jacobsen 1997:1108f.
History and miracle in Sulpicius Severus (Oxford,
[23] Vita Eligii: “miro opificio exaure et gemmis contextuit sepul- Clarendon Press, 1983), pp. xvi+400 (Oxford His-
chrum:; quoted in Jacobsen 1997:1109 note 11. torical Monographs).
[24] Note: Pilgrimage basilicas in comparable Romanesque- • Mark Kurlansky (2006). Nonviolence: twenty-five
Byzantine taste being erected during the same period are lessons from the history of a dangerous idea. Mod-
the Basilique du Sacré-Cœur, Paris and in Lyon the basil- ern Library chronicles book, Random House, Inc.,
ica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière. New York. ISBN 0-679-64335-4.
[25] “Historique”. “Basilique Saint-Martin” (official website)
(in French). Retrieved 2008-09-16.
12 External links
[26] Brennan, pp 489-491.

[27] Brennan, p 499. • “St. Martin, Bishop of Tours, Confessor”, Butler’s

Lives of the Saints
[28] Brennan, pp 491-492.
• The Life and Miracles of Saint Martin of Tours,
[29] Brennan, pp 495-496.
Bishop and Confessor of the Catholic Church
[30] Brennan, Brian (1997). “The Revival of the Cult of Mar-
• The Community of St Martin
tin of Tours in the Third Republic”. Pp 497-499.

[31] Brennan, Brian (1997). “The Revival of the Cult of Mar-

• The Life of St Martin as depicted in the stained glass
tin of Tours in the Third Republic”. Pp 499-501. of Chartres Cathedral (c.1220)

[32] “The Life of St. Martin of Tours”, St. Martin’s Anglican • St Martin’s churches of the world
Church, Eynesford, Kent

[33] “Irish Devotion to Saint Martin of Tours”, Saint Conleth’s

Catholic Heritage Association

[34] Richter, Michael, ''Ireland and Her Neighbours in the Sev-

enth Century, pp. 225-230, Four Courts Press, 1999

[35] L'Abbaye Saint-Martin de Ligugé

[36]

[37] http://www.kaiserslautern.de/tourismus/sehenswertes/
sehenswuerdigkeiten/00996/index.html?lang=en

[38] For instance in Hugh Johnson, Vintage: The Story of Wine

1989, p 97.

[39] Quartermaster Corps: The Order of Saint Martin

 11

13 Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses

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Rebeccavross and Anonymous: 205

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• File:El_Greco_-_San_Martín_y_el_mendigo.jpg Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5b/El_Greco_-_San_
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1. The Yorck Project: 10.000 Meisterwerke der Malerei. DVD-ROM, 2002. ISBN 3936122202. Distributed by DIRECTMEDIA Publish-
ing GmbH.
Original artist: El Greco
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Martin.jpg License: Public domain Contributors: http://expositions.bnf.fr/fouquet/grand/f121.htm Original artist: Jean Fouquet
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