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Saint Martin of Tours, (died November 11, 397) a native of Pannonia, served in the Roman army and was stationed in Gaul, then
became a monk in the region of Poitiers.
Martin worked for the conversion to Christianity of the populace, making
many preaching trips through western and central France. In the course of this work he
became extremely popular, and in 371 became bishop
of Tours; he refused to live in the city and instead founded a monastery for his residence a short distance outside the walls. The monastery, known in Latin as the 'Larger Monastery' or Maius monasterium became known as Marmoutier
in later French.
The Legend of the Cloak
While Martin was still a soldier he experienced the vision that became the most-repeated story about his life. He was at the
gates of the city of Amiens when he met a beggar. He impulsively cut his own military cloak in half and shared it with
the beggar. That night he dreamed that Jesus Christ came to him and
returned the half cloak Martin had shared with him - when Martin woke his cloak was restored. The miraculous cloak was preserved
as a relic, and entered the relic-collection of the Merovingian kings of
the Franks. The Latin word for "short cloak", cappella in Latin, was extended
to the people charged with preserving the cloak of St. Martin, the cappellani or "chaplains" and from them was applied
to the royal oratory that was not a regular church, a "chapel".
Folklore
On November 11, Saint Martin's saint's day, children in the Catholic areas
of Germany are doing lantern processions, often a man dressed as Saint Martin is
riding on a horse in front of the procession. The children are singing songs about Saint Martin and about their lantern.
Many churches in Europe are named after Saint Martinus also known
as Saint Martin of Tours.
This is his story: In 316 or 317 Saint Martin (latin: Martinus) was born in Sabaria in Hungary. His father had reached the rank of an important officer in the Roman army. His son was named after the war
god Mars. Martin, the brave, the couragious. The family moved to Pavia in
Italy. When he was 15, as son of an officer, he had to join the Roman army.
He was sent to France and there the following happened.
On a cold and foggy day Martin and his soldiers rode to the city of Amiens. It was
cold and Martin and his soldiers made haste. At the moment Martin rode through the gate, a scarcely dressed beggar stepped
forward. While shivering, the man asked for money. Martin halted while the other soldiers went on. Martin dismounted but he had
no money on him and he thought by himself about what he could do for such a poor man while he had no money.
He cut his soldiers robe into two pieces. The biggest piece he gave to the beggar, who wemt away in good spirits for he was
clad. That night Martin had a dream. In that dream Jesus came to him, clad only in half a
soldiers robe. But that he had given to the poor beggar. Than he heard Jesus say to the angels : "Here is Martin, the Roman
soldier who is not baptised, he has clad me." The dream had such an impact on Saint Martin that he was baptised the next day and
became a Christian. He decided to leave the army and became a monk near the city of Tours. He did a lot of good work so that he became famous in the area, and later even became bishop of Tours.
See also
To be integrated:
- Martin and monasticism in Gaul
- Martin and the episcopacy
- Sulpicius Severus
- The Life of St. Martin
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