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St. Martin of Tours

St. Martin was born in 316 in Pannonia, Hungary, and soon afterwards his parents moved to Pavia, Italy, where he was educated. From his earliest year Martin seemed drawn to God and to have no desire for anything but for His service. It was in Pavia, and when only ten years old, that he found his way to a Christian church and asked to receive instruction in preparation for Baptism.

When his father, an officer in the army, discovered that he was receiving Christian instruction, he determined to take the boy away; he insisted upon sending him into the army, at the early age of fifteen, accompanied by a single servant. In his wandering life, Martin was exposed to many dangers, but always remembered the instructions received from his Christian teachers, and practiced them as best he could. It was this Christian seed in his heart which suddenly sprang forth and blossomed under the imploring look of a beggar at the gate of Amiens.

Giving the Cloak Off His Back

It was during the intensely cold winter of 335, when many persons perished in Northern France for want of proper clothing and exposure, that one day as a regiment of soldiers were marching through the gate of the city of Amiens, a poor man, clothed in rags and shivering with cold, held out his thin hand for charity. Officers and well-clad soldiers passed him without dropping a coin or inquiring about his needs. At length Martin, now a young officer and scarcely eighteen years of age, rode through the gate. A flush passed over his face as this suffering fellow-creature met his eye.

Without a word, the young officer drew his sword from its scabbard and cut his military cloak in two; and while one-half still hung from his own shoulders, the other had been thrown over those of the shivering beggar. Leaning towards the beggar, he said: “It is all I have to give, for I have no money”; and then spurred on with his regiment.

That night the young officer dreamed that Jesus Christ appeared to him wearing on His shoulders the half of his cloak which had been given to the beggar, and He said to Martin: “Look at this cloak, and see if you recognize it”. Then the shining Visitor turned from the young officer to the troop of Angels who accompanied Him, saying: “Martin, though only a catechumen, has clothed Me with this garment”.

Martin lost no time in securing the grace of Baptism. From this time his noble soul was given up entirely to the love of God, and his one desire was to give his mind and body to the service of Jesus Christ. After five years in the army, he revisited his native Hungary and brought about the conversion to Christianity of his own mother. This pious errand accomplished, and at his request, St. Hilary, the Bishop, gave him a piece of land two leagues from the city.

Establishing a Monastary

On this land St. Martin built a monastery, which some think was the first monastery in Gaul (France), to which not only Christians, but those desiring to become Christians, were welcomed. Among the latter was a young man preparing for Baptism. Soon after his arrival, Martin was called from the monastery. On returning he was grief-stricken to find that the young man had died suddenly without Baptism and was being prepared for burial.

After asking the Monks to leave the room, he stretched himself on the dead youth, and after praying fervently he felt the body growing warm under his touch. Restored to life, Baptism was immediately administered, and he lived many years after to be a standing witness to the mercy of God, and to the efficacy of St. Martin’s holy prayers.

In 371 St. Martin was chosen Bishop of Tours. Though henceforth engaged in spreading the Gospel by his zealous labors and by his virtuous life, as well as by the exercise of his gifts of prophecy and miracle working, he strove to the end of his life to observe monastic discipline by retir ing at intervals to the nearby Abbey of Marmoutier. St. Martin died November 11, 397, in a small town on the very borders of his Diocese, but the city of Tours claimed his precious relics. Many churches and towns throughout Western Europe have been placed under his patronage.
St. Martin of Tours Rosary
UPC: 617759859096
Brand: Bliss