Martin (of Tours), Saint (ca. 316-400)

One of the most venerated Christian saints in Europe during the Middle Ages. Most of the Christian luminaries were credited with working miracles, and indeed the great majority of them maintained that if the people were to be won for Christ, the one sure way was to show them extraordinary marvels. Even Columba, most engaging of saints, was not averse to practicing deception with a view to making converts, and it has often been suggested, not without considerable reason, that some of these early thaumaturgists brought science to their aid. Perhaps St. Martin was among those who tried this practice, and certainly the list of miracles attributed to him is formidable, for he is traditionally credited with more than 200.

Martin was born about the year 316 at Sabaria, in Pannonia. His parents were heathen, yet he very soon came into contact with Christians, and their teaching impressed him greatly. As a young man he entered the army, and it was soon after this step that, while stationed with his regiment at Amiens, he performed his famous act of charity, dividing his cloak with a beggar who was shivering with cold. The night after this act he had a vision of Christ appearing to him and giving him his blessing. Thereupon Martin espoused the Christian faith formally, was baptized, and renounced soldiering.

Going to Poitiers, he then made the acquaintance of Hilary, who wished to make him a deacon, but at his own request ordained him to the humbler office of an exorcist. A little later, during a visit to his home, Martin experienced the joy of winning his mother to the new faith. However, his open zeal in opposing the Arians (heterodox Christians) raised persecution against him, and for some time he found it advisable to live at the island of Gallinaria, near Genoa, where he engaged in scientific research and theological studies.

By the year 365 he was back with Hilary at Poitiers, when he founded the Monasterium Locociagense. In 371 the people of Tours chose him as their bishop, and for some time he was active trying to extirpate idolatry in his diocese and extending the monastic system.

Nevertheless, he was no fierce proseletyzer. At Trèves in 385, he entreated that the lives of the Priscillianist heretics should be spared, and afterward he refused to have anything to do with those bishops who had sanctioned their execution.

Meanwhile, being anxious for a period of quiet study, Martin established the monastery of Marmontier les Tours on the banks of the Loire, and here much of his remaining life was spent, although it was at Candes that his death occurred about the year 400.

Martin left no writings behind him, the Confessio with which he is sometimes credited being undoubtedly spurious. His life was written by his ardent disciple, Sulpicius Severus, and it is more a hagiography than a biography, filled with accounts of the miracles and marvels worked by the quondam bishop. Martin was canonized a saint by the church. He is commemorated on November 11, but the feast of Martinmas, which occurs on that date, and which of course derives its name from him, is, nevertheless, a survival of an old pagan festival. It inherited certain pagan usages, which accounts for the fact that Martin is regarded as the patron saint of drinking, joviality, and reformed drunkards.

Certain miracles and other incidents in his life were depicted by noted painters. Perhaps the finest picture of him is one by the Flemish master Hugo van der Goes, which is now in the Municipal Museum at Glasgow.

It should be said that the term "martinet," signifying a severe and punctilious person, is not derived from the saint's name, but from one Jean Martinet, a French soldier who, during the reign of Louis XIV, won fame by his ardor in promoting discipline in his regiment.

Saint Martin c.316–397, bishop of Tours. Born a heathen in Pannonia (in modern Hungary), the son of a soldier, he became a convert and refused to fight Christians. He went (c.360) to St. Hilary of Poitiers and built himself a hermitage. In 371 he was acclaimed bishop, against his will. He continued to live as a monk in the monastery of Marmoutiers, near Tours, which became the training ground for Celtic missions. He was a staunch Catholic, but his zeal for orthodoxy did not prevent his withholding communion from those bishops who connived at the ruthless slaughter of the Priscillianist heretics. St. Martin was universally loved, and his cloak is a symbol of heroic charity (see chapel ). His principal shrine was at Tours. Feast: Nov. 11 (known in England as Martinmas). St. Martin's summer is an English counterpart of the American Indian summer; it occurs in mid-November around the time of Martinmas.

Martin, St (d. 397), Bp. of Tours and a patron saint of France. He was born of pagan parents in Hungary, either c.315 or c.336. Forced to adopt his father's profession of soldiering, he gave half his cloak to a naked beggar in Amiens. A subsequent vision of Christ led him to seek Baptism at the age of 18, though he remained in the Roman army until 356. In 360 he joined Hilary of Poitiers and founded the monastery of Ligugé. Elected Bp. of Tours c.371, he continued to practise and promote monasticism and was active in evangelizing the countryside. Priscillian's condemnation by a secular court led him to denounce secular interference in Church matters.

Feast day in the W., 11 Nov.; in the E., 12 Nov.

Saint Martin , Du. Sint Maarten, island, 37 sq mi (96 sq km), West Indies, one of the Leeward Islands. Since its occupation in 1648 by the Dutch and the French, it has been divided. The northern part (1999 pop. 29,078; 20 sq mi/52 sq km), with the capital at Marigot, is a French overseas collectivity; until 2007 it was part of Guadeloupe . The president of France, represented by a prefect, is the head of state. The government is headed by the president of the unicameral Territorial Council, whose 23 members are elected to five-year terms. The southern part (1989 est. pop. 29,500; 17 sq mi/44 sq km) became an autonomous country in the Kingdom of the Netherlands when the Netherlands Antilles was dissolved in 2010. The capital on the Dutch side is Philipsburg. The monarch of the Netherlands, represented by a governor-general, is the head of state. The prime minister, the head of government, is chosen by the unicameral parliament (Staten), whose 15 members are elected to four-year terms. Both capital towns are free ports. A hilly, scenic island provided with good harbors, St. Martin is a popular tourist resort, and tourism is the main source of income.

Saint Martin, Canada, Channel Islands, France, Leeward Islands, Switzerland Leeward Islands: an island, the southern part of which belongs to the Netherlands Antilles and is called in Dutch Sint Maarten; the northern part belongs to the French Overseas Department of Guadeloupe. The island was discovered by Christopher Columbus^† on 11 November 1493 and named by him after St Martin of Tours (c.316–97) whose feast day this was.

Martin, St (c.520–79), Bp. of the metropolitan see of Braga from c.570. He was active in furthering the conversion of the Sueves of Galicia, who were Arians, to Catholicism, and he opposed the Spanish custom of using only one immersion at Baptism. He wrote several moral treatises, translated a collection of sayings of the Desert Fathers into Latin, and compiled a collection of canons. Feast day, 20 Mar.

Martin, Saint (315–97) Bishop of Tours. Born a heathen, he became a Christian in his youth. As a Roman soldier, Martin is reputed to have torn his cloak to share it with a beggar. From 360, he lived as a monk and was acclaimed Bishop in 371 (against his will). His feast day is known as Martinmas.